This was not our first visit to Brussels. Because it is located at the end of the eurostar line we’d been to the station many times before on trips to Amsterdam and further afield. If you want to go east […]
The Diamond Capitol of the World
Antwerp was a great city to enter Europe. Being in Belgium we were surrounded by delicious food and beer, and as it is situated in the north of the country we could practice our rusty Dutch. I mean Flemish. Actually […]
We The North
After visiting New York, Toronto was bliss. The food was affordable, the metro navigable and the place names familiarly British. From York University to Don Valley Trail, it was clearly Yorkshire folk who settled in the area. We arrived on […]
Lessons Learnt: Japan
[If I have timed this right we will currently be halfway across the Pacific, enjoy this blog post while we enjoy the seemingly endless ocean!] 1: Book ahead We have tried where ever possible to let this trip develop […]
Between Rivers
The name Hanoi means “Inside [the] river”. It was given this name in 1831 having previously been known as ‘Dragon Belly’, ‘Big Net’ and ‘Eastern Metropolis’, among others. It is apparently sometimes referred to as the Paris of the east, […]
Sailing into Shanghai
I was really looking forward to returning to China and especially entering through Shanghai by boat as many did so in the past. It was better than I could have hoped for, I assumed the ferry would drop us off […]
Hokkaido: the north island
Japan consists of four main islands: Honshu (the largest containing Tokyo), Kyushu (the westernmost closest to South Korea), Shikuko (the smallest and most rural underneath Honshu) and finally Hokkaido in the north. From this northern island it is possible to […]
Beer City
Qingdao is apparently one of the cleanest, most livable cities in China. It was definitely our favourite city on our first trip through China. You may have seen it in the news recently for its new controversial one-dog policy. It’s by […]
A City of Friends
Ok, it’s a corny title but it was true. I was fully prepared to dislike Beijing with its notoriously bad air pollution and traffic jams. Originally thinking we would come for just a couple of days to see the history […]
Dilly Dalian
Dalian was the second stop in our visit to China (if you discount the few hours spent in Manzhouli). It is a port town on the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula which juts into the north of the Yellow Sea. […]
