China

The good

• Amazing ancient history and culture, when preserved!
• Dim sum, mountain noodles and moon cakes
• Chinese tea and beer
• The Beijing Olympics - the national pride this has created is evident across China. Their Olympic logo is also a little stronger than ours!
• The outdoor dance and Thai Chi classes
• The majong, domino, card and chess games that entertain folks on street corners around the clock
• Natural beauty of the Yangzi River gorges.
• The awesome Yangzi Dam project. Parking the moral and green issues associated with the project, the dam will create hydro-electric power equivalent to that of 14 nuclear power stations.

The bad

• The big Chinese tom cat that appears to have sprayed urine over the entire country
• No peace and quiet, why talk when you can shout?
• Lack of vacuum cleaners and carpet stain removal products
• Babies outfits with a hole cut out of the bottom for easy defecation, anywhere, anytime!
• Chinese mops - any visitor to China will know what I mean
• With a population of 1.3 Billion, not surprising that it is difficult to avoid crowds
• Trying to sleep on a long-distance train

The ugly

• Hoicking and spitting
• Pollution hanging like a yellow blanket over major cities
• Public toilets where ladies go about their business freely with doors wide open!
• Industrial wreckage blotting the landscape
• Queuing, or lack of it. Elbows out and watch out for the 4ft tall grannies
• Angry, Chinese women. Avoid at all costs! More scary than the average Sunbury bird.

Xi'an, 16th - 20th August

A surprisingly clean bus collected us from the roadside in Pingyao, for the six hour journey to Xian. Our budget hotel was well located, in the shadow of city's Drum Tower. Alas, the flooring was more stain than carpet! Yuk. First things first, a visit to Pizza Hut. Never knew pizza could taste sooo good. The main attraction to the east of Xi'an, the Army of Terracotta Warriors.

Quick facts about the Terracotta Warriors:

- The Terracotta Warriors were discovered in 1974 by farmers drilling a well.
- What are the Terracotta Warriors? Guardians of the Emperor Qin Shi Huang's tomb (the first person to unify China and the man behind the Great Wall). The underground vault contains over seven thousand soldiers, horses and chariots in battle formation. The site is still being excavated today.
- Why? Archaeologists believe the emperor expected his rule to continue in death as it had in life. He clearly didn't fancy taking on the spirits awaiting him in the afterlife alone.
- Age? The site dates back to 221BC
- Each terracotta warrior has been individually crafted with different form and facial features.

Pingyao, 14th - 16th August

Possibly the best preserved ancient walled city in China and AT LAST we found some charm in China. Pingyao was a thriving merchant town during the Ming dynasty and centre of a large network of trade. Local business had become so successful that they created the country's first banks and cheques in order to facilitate the transfer of enormous amounts of silver from one place to another. The city fell into poverty in the 20th century and without the cash to modernise, Pingyao's streets have remained unchanged. Thank goodness for that. They now have a thriving tourist trade, particularly since UNESCO firmly placed them on Chinese heritage map.

We had a great couple of days wandering around the atmospheric city and enjoyed some delicious food in romantic lantern-lit courtyards. Phew!

Above: Dusty street filled with bikes and swinging red lanterns. View towards central gate of the city.

Above: Walk along the ancient city walls.

Above: What a cute, scruffy little dog! Has probably been stir-fried by now.

Above: Local residents practice Thai Chi with city wall as back drop. Not as easy as it looks, as I have recently discovered.

Wutai Shan, 12th - 14th August

Wutai Shan, or 'the Five Terrace Mountain,' Buddhism's sacred mountain range is home to countless temples. A place of pilgrimage and study.

Above: On pilgrimage from Tibet (believe me that is a long way from this mountain), these monks take just 3 steps before stretching out and touching the ground with their foreheads. Exhausting to watch. Chinese tourists stuff their pouches with bank notes.

Above: Views of Wutai Shan's hilltop temples and historic streets.

Above: Bus journey from Datong to Wutai Shan. Blot on the landscape. All too frequent view from the bus window. Chimneys billowing smoke, coal trucks and ugly towns. At least the moto driver looks happy with life!

China - August

Datong, 10th - 12th August

Above: The amazing Yungang Caves, showing earliest Buddhist carvings in China, AD 460. The perfectly preserved large Buddha above is also known as the 'minister of tourism' because he appears so frequently in promotional material.
Above: Hanging monastery, built precariously into the side of a cliff. The temple was raised over the centuries to protect it from floods. Where is that health and safety certificate?

Beijing, 5th - 10th August

Above: The Great Wall of China. The original wall was begun over 2,000 years ago when China was first unified to keep out 'marauding nomads.' However, as Genghis Khan said, 'The strength of the wall depends on the courage of those that defend it.' Sentries could be bribed.

'He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man'. - Mao Zedong

The fact that we got most of the way up on a comedy 'sliding car,' probably does not count. I hasten to add, we will return to the Great Wall and plan to do a 10km walk along a quieter stretch to avoid the 'mauriding tourists' and the smell of wee!

Above: View into the Forbidden City, the largest and best-preserved cluster of ancient buildings in China. It was home to two dynasties of emperors, the Ming and the Qing, who didn't stray from this pleasure dome unless they absolutely had to. And who could blame them!! Great halls, imperial gardens, temples and more concubines than you could shake a stick at. Above: Views from Tianamen Square toward Chairman Mao's famous portrait on gate of the Forbidden City. Note, clear blue sky in top picture, following the efforts to improve air quality prior to Olympic countdown celebrations. Measures included shutdown of factories, removing cars from the road and cloud busting chemicals fired into the atmosphere to create rain clouds to clear the smog. Picture immediately above is a truer reflection of the shocking smog. Pass the gas mask.

Above: Starfish on a stick anyone? Even Adam didn't go for one of these tasty snacks.

New and modified travelling skills:

After 10 months on the road I have now perfected some essential travelling skills.

1. Split second ability to switch off sense of smell and breath through the mouth. Protection from varied nasal offenses, including rotting rice, open sewers and fish markets.

2. Sixth sense that detects presence of cockroaches and rats. Still room for improvement, have recently been surprised by cockroach in toilet bag and rat running at me whilst buying bananas.

3. Highly tuned 'genuine beggar' versus 'dress up' beggar radar.

4. Black hair (straight or curly) blind spot. In order to preserve inner peace, have had to learn to turn a blind eye to stray black hairs which I can ordinarily spot at 50 meters. If normal black hair sensor was operational, would not have stayed at a single guest house or hotel in Asia.

5. Con artist blanking ability - expert aversion tactics deployed instantaneously, tactics include, death stare, ducking and weaving or 'go away or I will attack' body language.

6. Elbow body blow and rucksack shunt - required for survival in China. If you cant beat 'em!

7. 5,4,3,2,1 - ability to detect eateries that will be responsible for a 5-second dash to the nearest toilet. Still working on this one!

Borneo, 25th July - 3rd August

From Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Not a great deal to see in KK as it is known, a busy working city. We planned our Borneo trip and had our laundry done for a cost of 50 pence - horay. During our first lunch stop we were presented with two egg sandwiches, which on arrival appeared to be moving. They were full of ants!! Blaah!

From KK, we got a close look at Mount Kinabalu driving through the mountains, before arriving 5 hours later at Sepilok. Sadly, for much of the journey the view consisted of neat rows of palm trees. The natural jungle has been devastated by palm oil plantations. Easy to criticise, but hopefully conservation organisations and the government will continue to secure the future of the wonderful wildlife of Borneo.

Above: Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. The centre cares for orphan orangutans, its purpose to release them back into the protected reserve to live independently. They do have a number of feeding platforms throughout the reserve, where they present a snack of bananas and milk for those who wish to partake. We were lucky to see around 10 orangutans, a variety of ages, swing by for a lovely bunch of bananas. Orangutans only exist today in Malaysia, Indonesia and on islands of Borneo and Sumatra.

Once the orangutans were full, the macaque monkeys moved in. A bit of nit-picking action above.



From Sepilok we travelled a bumby road south to the Kinabatangan River. Over three days we hiked by day and night and took several boat safaris. Borneo has a healthy population of Proboscis Monkeys, with comical konks. The males look as if they are wearing white pants and a puffer jacket. Also spotted one very impressive male orangutan, hundreds of silver and macaque monkeys, as well as loads of birdlife. One the creepy crawly front there were lots of spiders, crickets, scorpions and leeches. Our hikes were constantly interupted by squeels as someone discovered a leech attached to a part of their body. Adam was very brave swatting off leeches from our fellow hikers, although a little less composed as he tried to remove a sucker attached to his bicep.


Above: Misty morning boat cruise


Above: Jungle lodge, read 'shed with 2 inch gaps between floor boards and no roof on the bathroom, with a giant spider making a nest next to my head.' Very long nights surrounded by jungle sound track. Get me outta here!

Above: Adam and a lovely black scorpion. Will only use venomous tail tip if attacked from above. That's ok then!!

From the jungle to Semporna and some spectacular beaches and diving spots





Above: Sibuan island. A number of Phillipine refugees have made this island their home. No adult males to be seen, but hundreds of kids. So how did that happen? A small Malaysian army base on the island and long boring days to fill. Very sad situation as who knows what the future holds for these gorgeous children.

Above: Mabul island. Our first 'drift' dive was incredible. We simply floated over the reef for an hour, it was like watching an episode of the Blue Planet, and no kicking required.

Above: From top, a Box Fish, shoal of Jack Fish, giant Green Turtle, an impressive shoal of large Bump-head Parrot fish and a tornado of Barracuda. Thanks to Dave on our dive trip for the pics. All taken at Barracuda Point off of Sepilok island, one of the worlds top dive spots. We know why!!

Langkawi Island, Malaysia - 22nd July

Excuse me, I am 36 and engaged!

Happy Birthday to me. I turned 36 on the island of Langkawi, to the west of Kuala Lumpur. Adam had insisted we were somewhere special for my Birthday. I didn't argue of course. Adam presented me with a box of belgian chocolates and my birthday cards in bed. After reading my cards and eating far too many chocs, we had a busy day lazing around the pool and walking on the beach. I treated myself to a gorgeous massage and returned to find champagne on ice and a big birthday cake. Lovely. Adam kept insisting that we make it to the beach to watch the sun go down.

As we sat on the beach, poor Filby seemed to have a little problem with his throat. Down on one knee, he popped the question and presented a beautiful engagement ring. He was pleased with my quick reply, no 'ummm, let me have a think about that.' After tears and champagne we hit the bar. Luckily for us, the hotel bar had already selected the 'worlds most cheesy love songs' which were playing in the background. We had a great evening, interupted by my random outbursts of tears. After I hyjacked a golf cart, (I was busy showing the delivery man my ring whilst Adam sprinted behind) we called our family to tell them our news. My Dad asked Adam when he was planning on getting a job ;-) More tears and finally we collapsed into bed. Awoke nursing a champers hangover but still smiling. Can not believe we are going to get married - hee hee!

Above: Celebrating our engagement


Above: Beach on Langkawi

Above: Happy Birthday to me!