China

Thanks to Kate and William, Christian was able to get away from work for a good chunk of time. We decided to meet up in Dalian where Christian's parents live for 10 days holiday! We had an incredible time and finished up in Beijing which was fascinating. It was so great to spend time with Christian and his parents, and finally get to see where they've been living for 4 years. We had some great food, lots of wine, and a fabulous tour guide! The coast was beautiful, and it was so fun to see all the wedding photography that is very popular along the beach. We enjoyed lots of walks and a lovely relaxing Easter weekend. Linda and Arve took us to a fantastic seafood restaurant where you get to pick all your food from the many many tanks of fish and other things I've never seen before. It was delicious!! After 6 days in Dalian we headed to Beijing for a few days of exploring. Our hostel was great fun, and we made lots of fun friends. We made the most of our few days and packed it full of site seeing! First was Tiananmen Square which gave me a taste of Chinese tourism. The following day with visited The Forbidden City which was really interesting and took a few hours to walk around! Next we had a walk around a BEAUTIFUL garden behind the Forbidden City which we could have taken an equal amount of time to walk around! We had a fantastic peking duck dinner with our friends from the hostel.  Christian and I went to the Great Wall of China and thought it would be worth it to take a longer journey and visit the part of the wall less touristy and get to see some that hasn't been restored yet. It sure was a work-out but absolutely breathtaking!! On the way back to Beijing we had lunch with our coach group which was fun...and different. Our last two evenings we met up with Christian's mum for dinner which was really nice and I made everyone go back for more peking duck!! Christian and I went to see a Chinese acrobatics show which was amazing, and although much lower budget, was better than Cirque du Soleil! We also visited the Summer Palace which was HUGE and lovely to walk around, but we got caught up in a wind storm which was madness and delayed our exploring. The hutongs were great to mozey around and I just really enjoyed exploring Beijing. I feel like there was so much more to see, but it was back to London for Christian, and back to Sydney for me! I managed to get tickets for a ballet at the Royal Opera House called British Liasons. It was really great to see the inside of the building, and the performances were beautiful. I enjoyed my time in Australia, but felt it was time to push on with my travels and even cut them short. Next stop, SF!!

Linda and I picking out our dinner!

all the tanks!

Forbidden City gift shop!

Summer Palace...one of the many bridges

Forbidden City

Christian and I in Dalian

at the Great Wall!!

Having my photo taken with a random

Tiananmen Square

having my photo taken with some more randoms

music in the park!

one of the tanks at the restaurant...get your mind out of the gutter!

next to our hostel!

 photos courtesy of Christian and his snazzy camera!

SYDNEY!!!

life size lego great white shark! - Sydney aquarium

Sydney Opera House!

I LOVE SYDNEY!!! Like Hanoi, this has been one of those cities that I walk into and instantly fall in love with. There is so much to do, and a great feeling around town. The weather has been beautiful, and it's probably helped that I've been able to walk around on my fixing feet! On my first day of exploration I visited Paddy's market, had breakie in Darling Harbour, and went to the National Maritime museum to see an exhibition about the British children who emigrated over here in the 1800's. Then I went to the aquarium which was great, although I felt a bit out of place being a childless adult in there...oh well. I had a wander through the city and found myself across the way from the Harbour bridge and Sydney Opera House. It was getting dark though, so I saved those two for the next day and started my walk back to Chinatown. Yesterday I visited the Wildlife Centre which was terrific, except I didn't get to hold a koala :( I had a walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens and stopped in at the NSW art gallery which was great as they had a photography exhibition on of Australian landscapes and a dance performance by the little ones from the Chinese Cultural centre. The Botanical Gardens pop you out right at the front of the Opera House which was a nice surprise and it was great to see! There are some great nooks and crannies in the city full of funky boutiques and galleries which I love finding, and can't wait to explore some more! Its supposed to be rainy tomorrow, and then sunny for the rest of the week...so here's to hoping!

Singapore to Australia!

 

St. Kilda, Page, and Sentosa

Singapore was fantastic, and it was great to spend time with Lindsey and Rob. The weather was lovely and it was a great place to do some relaxing and exploring! It was definitely strange to be in an even more western setting, and even managed to get myself into a supermarket with Linds to buy CHEESE!!! and WINE!!! No more 50c beers for me! The city has some great parks...and again more and more shopping! We went to the island Sentosa for the day which is a bit of an odd place, but the louge and lunch were great fun! My trip was fleeting, and soon it was time to pack up and head to Melbourne!
My flight was excellent, and I managed to sleep most of the way...except for my inflight video of choice "Tangled." When I got to Melbourne I headed straight up to Canberra to see some friends from Nottingham and also to apply for my visa for China (an impromptu trip planned with Christian to visit his parents over Easter break). Josh came to pick me up from the airport which was fantastic, and then we went out for some yummy food. My hostel was right in the centre of town which was great, although the crazy Korean girls I was in a room with fancied sleeping with all the lights on which was a bit strange. I spent the next few days dealing with the rigmarole that is the Canberra Chinese Embassy, and exploring Canberra; which didn't take very long. My morning walks with a take-out coffee along the bridge and over the lakes was really nice, and it was funny being in a chillier climate again. I think I overreacted to the weather because of my two months in a tropical climate! I caught up with some of the other guys: Jason, Tim, Macca, and Duncan. But as soon as my visa came through I was out of there and headed to Melbourne! My friend Page who I met in Laos let me stay at his place for the first few nights in Melbourne which was great, and I was welcomed to Melbourne with gorgeous sunshine and a BBQ of "snage" and "doodads." Melbourne is a great city, and I'm staying right on the beach in St. Kilda, but I'm finding it hard to figure out how to spend my time as I feel like I could be in San Francisco or London. The dynamic between travelers has also changed from the "oh look, another backpacker...lets be friends" in Asia, to everyone just getting on with their own thing in Australia. I'm off to Sydney today which I'm looking forward to, and will hopefully be meeting up with a friend I met in India. My feet are finally healing after visiting the doctor and getting on a course of antibiotics which will make tourism a lot easier!

Kuala Lumpur

we saw some big

big

BIG gold Buddhas

Christian getting our food at the market for our cooking class

on my way to Koh Tao

When I left Koh Tao, the weather hadn't changed and was still windy and stormy...but I got on the ferry of 300 people anyways despite warnings not to. At first everyone was enjoying the rocky ride like it was a roller coaster, but that soon changed. About 20 minutes in people fell silent, and as soon as one girl was sick the WHOLE boat was sick. I couldn't actually stop laughing because it was like a domino effect and a lot of us couldn't take the situation seriously. We got to Koh Samui safely where I boarded my plane to Kuala Lumpur! I met some great Norwegian guys at the airport and we headed for a hostel that had been recommended to me by one of my dive team members-Monkey Inn. Last night we went out for some curry (actually can't get enough!) and some beers and then it was an early night for me. This morning I set off bright and early to explore the city centre. The weather is REALLY hot here, and the people are incredibly friendly. Its the first time I've been in a modern built-up city for a while, and it was quite a shock really. They have EVERY food chain I've ever seen, along with all the UK shops and even a Marks and Spencers! I wasn't tempted tho and took myself for some noodles. People just sit with you and want to chat which is so lovely, and everyone seems to be very smiley and welcoming. They LOVE their shopping malls here, and there are loooads of them. I like it here, and will probably spend a couple days here to do more exploring(shopping).

Kuala Lumpur

Twin Towers KL

they LOVE their shopping malls! this one has a roller coaster in it...

Koh Tao

Christian and I had a great time in Bangkok, and our cooking class was a success! We started by going to the market to pick our food, and then our group started cookin up a storm at the little school in the city centre. The food was fantastic! (if I do say so myself) and we're looking forward to making more in England!
I'm now in Koh Tao and having a great time. I started my PADI scooba diving course half an hour after getting here and have fallen in love with it! I've met some interesting people on my course, and its been great fun spending time with them. I've also spent lots of time with Finbow which has been great, and lovely to see a familiar face. The course takes four days, and then I'm a qualified open water diver...but only down to 18 metres. So I started my advanced course the 5th day which means I can now go down 30 metres! I had a great diving buddy for the open water course, Swedish Emily, and we had lots of fun together. My diving buddy for the advanced was Swedish Ricardo who was lovely and we had some great dives. We did our underwater photography dives today which was lots of fun and slightly more challenging than being in a studio! I also lucked out with a lovely roomate, Palestinian Lanna who lives in Israel. She was great fun! I'm staying at Ban's which is the largest dive school in the world. Everyone here seems to LOVE diving, and its pretty much all anyone talks about. The island is really lovely, but I haven't exactly had much time to explore! I think I'll be staying a couple more days to see what else this one has to offer before moving on. The weather hasn't been very good, which doesn't matter when you're already in the sea, but not ideal for the beach!

our St. Patricks day Guinnesses!

one year after Bangkok riots

My buddy Emily!

rockin the wet suit

I HEART DIVING!

...MORE PICTURES TO COME!

Cambodia Continued!

Christian and I had the most amazing time in Cambodia! After a good relax on Monkey Island, we returned to Phnom Penh to check out more of the city. We went to the Killing Fields and S21 which I found really hard as they are the places Pol Pot and others imprisoned and killed a lot of the Cambodian people. We also got to see more of the city and had some fantastic food at a couple of restaurants that employ and support street children. One of our starters was tarantulas!! MMmmm! The next morning we jumped on a bus to Siem Reap and instantly warmed to the town. We were greeted at our hotel by a golden retriever named Pickles and a cat named Branston...so cute. Its run by an English guy named Smiley who was really helpful for suggesting things for us to do which was great because we probably saw more than we would have otherwise. Our first day we rented a dune buggy and set off to explore the backroads of the Siem Reap countryside. We were out all day with two guides and got to see some fantastic stuff, including a family making fresh rice noodles, a BEAUTIFUL waterfall, some great stone statues dating back before Angkor Wat, a bat cave, and MILLIONS of smiley waving children! The next day we went up to see the temples of Angkor which was totally breathtaking. They are absolutely enormous and obviously a fantastic site to see! That evening we headed to the floating village which was a nice surprise and was like nothing I'd ever seen before. We were hoping to catch the sunset on the water, but it was a bit too cloudy for that...despite the extreme heat during the day! Next we decided to see more of the temples in a different way...birds eye view! We each went on microlite flights over the temples and Siem Reap which was incredible!!!! Our pilot, Eddie, is an American guy from Virginia and was lots of fun and very informative up in the air! Along with having a lot to say about George Bush, he also filled me in on a lot of the Cambodian culture. Siem Reap as a town is really great, and we both really enjoyed our stay. Like Hanoi, it has a Parisian feel to it with little alleys and side streets, along with a great night market. People were incredibly friendly, especially in the countryside.
We're in Bangkok now after a fun minivan journey with 11 other backpackers. We celebrated St. Patrick's day last night with lots of delicious Thai food and a guiness of course! We went "temple-ing" today and saw more of the centre of Bangkok. We booked in a Thai cooking class tomorrow morning which I'm really excited for!! Unfortunately Christian has to fly back to London tomorrow night :( but we've had a super time!

Tomb Raiders, Angkor Thom

On our way to the floating village

House boat on the lake

floating village

field of lotus flowers

microlite over Siem Reap with Eddie

floating village

Bye Christian!

National Museum in Phnom Penh

crushing rice to make yummy noodles!

mmmm noodles

in our dune buggy

who needs fake tan when you're covered in dust?

mmmm tarantulas!!!