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August 12th 2006
Goodbye China Getting into Vietnam from China was smooth sailing 99% of the way. I stayed at the boarder town Hekou and all I needed to do was walk 200m into a new country. "What can possibly go wrong??" Well in my experience, pretty much anything. This morning I was detained at the chinese checkpoint by Chinese Army officials!! At the Chinese checkpoint my bags were screened as per normal security measures. But then the Chinese army who was looking at the screen told me to go into the room. I quickly did as I was told and did a brain check...Do I have drugs?? (No). Did someone put drugs in mybag?? (Hope not) Am i carrying a knife?? (No). Hmmmmm I wondered. Then after a few minutes the chinese army guy comes into the room ... read more
August 1st 2006
Tibet I miss you so so much!! Second day out and I miss you already. My 1 month in Tibet has been an incredible journey and I'm so glad to have had the chance to experience it--Tibet is changing fast. I arrived in Lhasa a few days after the new opening of a train line that connects Tibet to the rest of China. It marks a serious sea change to come that travellers who have been to Lhasa 5, 15 years ago can only fathom. Tibet today in 2006 is already a haven for backpackers. There are trendy cafes lining the streets and shops selling trinkets from India and Nepal. Many people speak english, and after the Southern Silk Road, I am definately back on the Banana Pancake trail in Lhasa. Outside of Lhasa though, Tibet ... read more
July 5th 2006
Before you Buy the Ticket * Please reconsider if you are taller than 5 foot; * Please forget about it if you are 6 foot; * If you are 6 foot and above (eg. Tom) please ask yourself, "Am I feeling suicidal today? or is life really not that bad?" The Truth about the Bus Most sleeper buses I've travelled on in China have been very comfortable. You get a bunk bed allocated with a blanket and sometimes even a pillow. There is enough leg room for me (I am tiny though) and even room for me to store a day bag and shoes. The sleeper buses we were on in Tibet though were ancient, it is more cramped and I couldnt even stretch out my legs fully on the bed, and I'm a midgit. ... read more
July 2nd 2006
Six days of travel along the Southern Silk Road in taxis, a jeep, minibuses, and a sleeper bus, and I have made it in one piece across the boarder to Golmud. The intention is to make it across to Tibet... It has been a bizarre 6 days on the road...So many things happened where we stare at each other and utter, "What is going on?? Why is this happening?" Only in China can you check into a bus station hotel and come back an hour later and the room be conveniently transformed into a construction site. As a once wise aussie politician would say.... "Please explain??" Only in China can a genuinely helpful local turn into what seemed like a serial stalker when she would not leave us alone until we had decided which hotel we ... read more
June 30th 2006
Kashgar is an amazing place to just wander... Here are some images from a day at the Livestock market and the backstreets of its Old Town. ... read more
June 24th 2006
Hi Mum, I'm in Afganistan Just kidding....I have spent just 2 days in a remote town called Karakul, 3hrs from the boarder of Pakistan and Afgan. It was the first time I really felt the contradictions of this land in every sense of the word. Travelling 6hrs through rough terrain, I watched the landscape change from desert to ice mountians. The most incredible was a scene of fireary red mountains against a backdrop of glaciers. Where else do u see camels on a sand dune and a huge glacial melt behind it? At Karakul, I lived with a family with ancestery from Kyrgyzstan. We stayed in yurts (huts) by the lake surrounded by ice mountains with green pastures, grazing yaks and goats. It was a place I thought I could only visit through the pages of ... read more
June 21st 2006
It's been along time coming but I can finally say I am loving China! I'm in a bizarre place, a province called "Xinjiang" north of the Middle Kingdom. Xinjiang is boardered by Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. This amazing cross road in Asia has an incredible mix of middle eastern, central asian and chinese culture. Here are some of my notes along the silk road. The Green Eyed "Chinese" Yeah there really are -- and they are called the "Uigher" (Weegar) people. Here, the "chinese" sometimes have long wavey brown hair, piercing blue/ green eyes and middle eastern/ central asian features. The Uigher people have Turkish roots and speak a language that is derived from Turkish. Walking down the street I see women with head pieces and some in the head to toe outfit ... read more
June 16th 2006
In my usual last minute style, I found myself on a bus heading towards Songpan. I met the only other backpacker on the bus and decided to head down together to Huanglong National Park--another of China's jewels that I am so glad to have seen with my own eyes. Unbelievable colored limestone ponds of blue but in strange and large honey comb pool like formations. Ohh did i feel like jumping in. It was fantasy world again, just so prestine, so incredibly beautiful. It must have been amazing to live here as a tibetan many moons ago. On the way to this nature reserve, King, my new travel buddy & I decided to hire a ride from one of the locals. It was the only way to get there since we missed the local bus. Our ... read more
June 14th 2006
I took a walk today about 4km off the main street in Jiuzhagou. I saw the huge Tibetan flags on a hill and decided to explore the village. A mixture of old wooden shaks, Tibetan houses and the newer chinese tiled buildings. Heard the sounds of kids playing.... trouble. They were playing skip the roap and screamed their lungs off, running like headless chooks when i took photos of them. They loved playing hide and seek with my camera and running over to see their faces on my digital screen. Kids, these ones were pretty crazy! Parents were no where to be seen, I played with them for at least an hour. ... read more
June 12th 2006
Hello, hello from the most beautiful place on earth! Two days at the Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve, and I don't want to leave. I had never imagined a place so amazing its untrue... travellers raved about it, but I had to see it to believe it. I headed up to Northern Sichuan from Chengdu on a 10 hour bus ride, and the journey was worth it. Saw the worst toilets EVER, (You just squat in a shared cubical gutter thing, so you see everything flowing past!!).... BUT also saw some a m a z i n g views-- ice mountain peaks, alphine valleys and tibetan villages along the way. Jiu Zhai Gou is located in the North of Schiuan province, which was once part of Tibet. It was my first glimpse into Tibetan culture, food and its ... read more
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