For the first time since arriving in China, the stopover in Guilin provided some beautiful scenic views without highrise buildings, swarms of people or too much smog. We stayed in Guilin but spent a day over in Yangshuo where most of these photos are from. It was there that we were able to take a bamboo raft down the Li River, mentioned among the few destinations in China in the book "1,000 places to see before you die". It really is picturesque and we made it there and back just before the storm hit... We reluctantly booked another one of those [View Full Entry]

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Chengdu was our next stop. I was hoping that the further we'd go in China, the further we'd get away from all the cities and high rise buildings but no such luck. We did manage to find a cool little hostel though called the Mix and met some likeminded travellers. Got to watch the the England - Portuagal match at an Irish pub with a great atmosphere. The main attraction in Chengdu as far as I'm aware is the Giant Panadas. They run a Giant Panda Breeding Research Base not too far away from where we were staying so we spent [View Full Entry]

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Xian was the shortest stopover on the entire trip, only 12 hours. We'd spoken to several people who'd gone there and then been stuck for days on end as all the transport out of Xian was fully booked. In China you can only book a train ticket 3 days in advance and you have to get the ticket from the place you intend to leave from which really restricts any forward planning. So, we arrived early that morning and left late that night. The people ahead of me in the ticket line had to purchase standing tickets for the 26 hour [View Full Entry]

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From Shanghai we headed straight to Beijing. By this stage, our travels in China were starting to feel like a city tour as all we seemed to be seeing was congestion and high rise buildings. Beijing is huge and already undergoing a lot of contruction and maintence in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. In fact, we even saw a massive coundown clock, counting the years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds until the olympics starts! It was great to see Thomas again and he was very hospitable. I would also count Beijing to be one of the main highlights for me [View Full Entry]

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Hello everyone! I do apologise for taking so long getting these photos out to you. I actually have to start a week in to my China trip as the first set of photos are on a CD that is refusing to load - fingers crossed we can get some copies. We started out in Macau, Hong Kong and Lantau but the blog has to start in Shanghai. Unfortunatly Catherine and I were both pretty sick by the time we got there. We managed to drag ourselves out of bed to see a few of the sights. Most of our time was [View Full Entry]

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It was really exciting to get to Hong Kong and feel the buzz of a big city and it is only an hour or so ferry ride away from Macau. We found a nice little guesthouse in an apartment building in Causeway Bay and soon learned some of the bus and tram routes. Got to experience the Hong Kong nightlife and enjoy the world cup. Some pretty cool sightseeing to do around the place as well and it was just a matter of choosing a few of the highlights to see in the time we had. It was there that we [View Full Entry]

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From Bangkok, I flew with Catherine to Macau on budget airline Air Asia. It was already raining as we arrived and we both got completely soaked while looking for a guest house. Hardly anyone spoke English and we had to rely on a small map and some luck to get us to where we wanted to be. Macau is an interesting place for its architecture and Portuguese influence. The Chinese allowed the Protuguese to establish a settlement in Macau in exchange for conquering the pirates who plauged the area in 1557. Since that time, Macau had become a central trading point [View Full Entry]

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Hello again! This is my last day in Chiang Mai before heading to Bangkok tonight and flying into Macau, China tomorrow morning. I have really enjoyed the time here to catch up with the family and have a chance to relax. One of the highlights of course has been finally getting to meet Catherine, who I will be travelling through China with. I was also surprised to see Amy (Devenny) who I went to school with. Her sister Emily graduated this year so Amy and her husband Matt flew over from California to be at graduation. I got to go to [View Full Entry]

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After living in Auckland for the past 5 years, it is difficult to choose any one thing that stands out for me besides the friendships I have made during that time. The photos shown here depict the events of my last month in Auckland, and the people who I was able to share that with. I am currently in Thailand spending time with my parents and sister Becca who are living here in Chiang Mai. I head to China soon for a month or so then hopefully on to Burma before finally moving to the UK at the end of August. [View Full Entry]

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