We arrived into New Orleans late. After my first Amtrak train had dropped us off an hour early I guess things needed to be brought back to reality. My second picked us up 2 hours late from Tucson and then […]
The gateway to Indochina
The purpose of our visit to Kunming was to get our Vietnamese visa. Judging by the people we met in the hostel, this seems like a fairly typical reason to visit. Kunming is positioned in a convenient location to travel […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Farewell Korea
Today we leave Busan in South Korea for Japan. We have been in Korea for 1 month, 3 days in Seoul and then 4 weeks in Busan. We arrived here with an embarrassingly small amount of knowledge about the place, […]
Pingyao – The Turtle Town
The 16 hour train journey into Pingyao was possibly the lowest point of the trip so far. In a fit of thriftyness we chose to travel by hard seat, the cheapest fare available with a guaranteed seat. Our preferred option, […]
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. […]
“Neither Europe, nor Asia”
It was a rocky start to our stay in Yekaterinburg. After feeling uncomfortable staying, we decided to leave our couch surfer after 11pm and head into the city centre to find a hostel. We got the last metro on […]
Truly Danish Pastries
We arrived off the coach at around 20:30. I quickly checked the map to the hostel on my phone and then confidently led us in the wrong direction. In my defense it was because I’d assumed the coach would drop […]