I'm currently in Chengdu, Sichuan province, after spending about a week in and around Yangshuo admiring karst peaks and educating myself on the differences between different Chinese local beers. The train ride here from Yangshuo (Guanxi province) took almost 24 hours, but like most Chinese trains, it was actually remarkably comfortable and I even managed to get a good nights sleep. I started writing this blog entry in Yangshuo but didn't end up finishing it as I was too busy rushing around relaxing everywhere. I had heard from other travellers that Yangshuo was a cool place and a bit of a [View Full Entry]

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So, finally I get round to writing my first blog entry for China. My flight out of here leaves in four days, but obviously I've been busy getting that changed to a more suitable/sensible date. By now I have my sights set on staying here for a while to do some teaching, but my first taste of China wasn't that positive. I had read in my guide book that the chinese border police occasionally confiscated China lonely planets, so I heeded their advice and put a different cover on the book. I even checked with the Sapa post office to see [View Full Entry]

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Well, China is still awesome. It's also still taking me a long time to get anywhere, as i seem to have been having fun wherever I go and sticking around. That's not necessarily a problem, but it does mean I only just left Yunnan province a few days ago after spending an entire month there. For once lonely planet was totally right, when visiting Yunnan first be prepared you might not end up seeing anywhere else in China. Im taking a slightly different approach. Seeing as I've spent the majority of my planned 6 weeks in China in Yunnan province, and [View Full Entry]

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This blog entry covers 'Nam from China beach up to Halong Bay. I was expecting to live a little like a hermit for my first few weeks in China as I had heard stories of people not seeing any foreigners for weeks on end etc. This would have allowed me to get completely up to date on my bloggy wogging, but instead I have been having a wicked time meeting loads of decent people. Hence the lack of blog updates recently. I haven't actually got any further in China than Dali, my second stop after spending 11 days in Kunming¡­ Dali [View Full Entry]

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Well, who likes mornings anyway? I'm currently writing this from my hostel in Kunming, China, listening to a loop tape of Irish jigs, which is perfect. I've had a less than ideal border crossing into China from Vietnam, but I'll elaborate on that further in a later blog entry. China has been quite a change from Vietnam, not least because I find myself suddenly completely illiterate here. I'm picking up a few essential words, phrases and characters pretty quickly though and I must say it's quite fun learning a bit of such a different language. Enough about China anyway, back to [View Full Entry]

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The title refers both to my general attitude to travel and the Cambodian currency, the Riel. This blog entry has unfortunately not been the easiest to publish. The internet connections have been decidedly rubbish more often than not, and a recurring problem in Vietnam seems to be failing spacebars... Howveryveryannoying... I started writing this entry from an internet cafe in Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City, but I'm finishing it now from Hoi An, a town famous for its tailors and its old world charm. Having learnt my lesson from Thailand a few years ago, this time I managed to just [View Full Entry]

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My last blog entry was written from Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Since then we have been taking a little less long over things, as we are already about a month behind on our original schedule. That's okay, there was enough margin anyway. It just means there will be a little less time for China... It does mean I'm a little behind on the blogging too, as I'm now only writing the last entry for Laos from an internet cafe in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, having already travelled through Cambodia in the meantime. Back to Luang Prabang then... After our [View Full Entry]

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Well, that's what the t-shirts say anyway... "Laos, jewel of the Mekong". Sabaidee is the Lao word for hello, which gets you a long way here together with "kawp jai" for thank you :). So far we've made it down to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. There isn't a great deal to do here, which is why we're getting the bus down to the south of Laos tonight. Three nights in Vientiane is easily enough. My last blog entry was written when we had only just arrived in Luang Prabang, the ancient capital and on the Unesco world heritage list. We [View Full Entry]

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Im currently soaking up some serious world heritage in a little place called Luang Prabang in Laos. It's on the Unesco world heritage list for being an example of blending colonial architecture (in this case, French) with traditional Lao architecture. This sounds a little academic to me, but I can say it is a thoroughly chilled out place and definitely deserves to be exempt from lorries and trucks (an added bonus that comes with the Unesco listing). However, this blog entry will only go up to arriving in Luang Prabang as we have only been here a day and I need [View Full Entry]

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Well, once again I'm sitting in the same Bangkok internet cafe writing my blog entry. It's been a while since I last wrote one, but spending time on the beautiful island of Koh Phi Phi had more priority than sitting inside in an internet cafe. In Bangkok we're dealing with searing oppressive heat once more, although for the first time in a week and a half or so we no longer have the option of cooling down in clear blue-green water... It's been a really good week and a half anyway, and Koh Phi Phi is simply the nicest beach location [View Full Entry]

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