Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, is famous for two things – spicy hot-pot and giant panda bears. We had an interesting trip into the metropolis which we can only laugh about now. A local we met at the workaway […]
Back to work
For two weeks in October we decided to do another workaway. It was our first in China and also our first which did not mention cleaning anywhere in the job description. It was billed as an aquaponics farm on the […]
In the throat of China
Jiayuguan, where the great wall ends, or starts, depending on your point of view. Here is a map to explain the area clearly, there is a wall going north to south defending the “throat of China” which does not quite […]
Xiahe, not quite Tibet
After looking at prices and travel times for the trip to Urumqi, plus how few unreserved spaces remained due to us travelling during Golden Week (the 7 day period that encompasses October 1st, the founding of the Peoples Republic of […]
Cradle of Chinese Civilisation
Visiting Xi’an felt like completing a journey. Many tourists we met in Beijing went on to see Xi’an, only around 5 hours away by high-speed rail. Those we kept in contact with told us how much fun the city was […]
Amongst the paddy fields
We couldn’t travel through China again without stopping and settling at an attempt to experience more of Chinese life. Our third workaway of the trip is on a farm focusing on aquaponics. And yes, we assumed hydroponics too, but aquaponics […]
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 […]
Sayounara Japan
Mixed feelings on this warm September morning. We leave Japan shortly and it represents a significant change in our journey. For the first time we are heading back west, returning to a country we already visited. Japan was the goal […]
Taking a train in China
Taking the train in China is a variable experience as many different train classes exist. We thought the only way to understand would be to try as many as we could! Who knows, the ‘hard seat’ might not be all […]
Lessons Learnt: China
The first few days in China were a humbling experience. The confidence that we gained from successfully navigating the largest country on the planet was quickly replaced with an understanding of just how little that qualified us to travel in […]
