We had decided that today would be a beach day especially as Barbara had come all the way to sunny California and not been to a beach yet, so this was long overdue! And for us too, we’d been on the go camping and hiking until reaching San Fran so it was good to have a nothing day! We went south to Avila Beach first and lounged on the sand for a good few hours, enjoyed our lunch and walked along the pier. There were a group a ladies on a religious retreat carrying out Baptisims in the sea! It was all pretty full on but they were enjoying themselves immensely. Helen didn’t quite think that they were doing religious baptisms and was surprised when this was confirmed! It was a little awkard when she was asked ‘are you religious’ and to which Helen’s reply was ‘not really no….’ awkward!!

The next beach was Pismo Beach, again coming with a pier (as most Californian beaches do!) although this place was far from the calmness of Avila Bay! It was fairly tacky, very busy and extremely windy! After enjoying a packed ice cream we walked to the sand dunes, Helen left Dave and Barbara to take in the vast sandunes and watch some kite surfing and when reunited the 3 of us went for a drink. That night we ate at a great little restaurant in Cambria called Indigo Moon and we enjoyed some good seafood, meat and vegetarian options! This was our last night in Cambria and we’d really enjoyed our home from home! Plus the hospitality of Jill and Joe – a big thank you to them!

Up fairly early the next day we started making tracks to San Fran. This time instead of the 1 we opted for Highway 101 as it was way quicker! We had one stop for lunch and the sun was with us all the way to San Francisco and when we arrived we drove over the Golden Gate to the Marin Headlands where the HI was welcoming us! Although there was a bit boat race taking place so it was rammed with cars and roads were closed meaning it took us an hour longer! When we checked into the old barrack’s style accommodation we drove to Sausilito on the west side of the bay. Sausilito is a little Italy, with lots of boutiques, a harbour of expensive boats and packed out Italian restaurants and bistros! Very swish! We walked along the path to take in the views looking back toward the San Francisco skyline before enjoying our own Italian feast at Roma.

On the way back to our hostel for the evening we stopped at a vantage point to get some night views of the bridge. This is well worth doing especially if it is a clear evening as the view of the bridge is pretty spectacular.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

The MacBook has been working over-time recently, working on some fairly hefty image resolutions and demanding spot removal editing techniques (must remember to always clean the lens!). The 2TB hard drives are filling up fast and our online gallery is slowly increasing in size as we work hard editin’ the night away! (Helen does indeed have a good assortment of slacks!)

Here’s a man in evenin’ clothes,
how he got here, i don’t know, but
man, you oughta see him go,
editin’ the night away-ay,
he’s dancin’ with the chick in slacks,
she’s a-movin’ up and back,
oh man, there ain’t nothin’ like,
editin’ the night away

they’re! editin’, editin’, everybody’s feelin’ great
they’re editin’, editin’, they’re editin’ the night away

Anyway enough larking around… Since we got back we have spent some dedicated time and effort to work up some China images. Workflow amends… Levels. Colour correction (using a gradient map or colour balance). Contrast. Spot removals. Save TIFF. Engarge to desired size. A touch of unsharp mask if it’s required. Save JPG.

Here are a few to pay homage to Sam Cooke, twisting the night away and hopefully some inspiration for you guys to get out there and do something notworkrelated. Enjoy!

Well it’s been just over four months since we returned home from Koh Phangan Island in Thailand due to unexpected circumstances and during this time we have had the chance to rest a little from the stresses of travelling, reminisce about all the great times in Asia and work on our photographs. The plan for having our photos on stock libraries is proving particularity difficult for many reasons, however selling prints of our work is now a possibility if anyone so desires a print for their wall.

We have also been lucky enough to get some paid work since returning home which is all going in the money pot for part two (continuation) of our adventures. We wanted to aim for a year travelling, so notworkrelated part two will hopefully last between 7 and 9 months. You can read an itinerary in our about section with an abridged version here…

What we know so far… London to LA flight. Two weeks in Venice Beach area. Fly to Seattle. Canadian Rockies camping tour for 15 days. Hire a vehicle in Seattle and head to the Olympic peninsula. Zig zag down the west coast dipping into oceans and hiking in national parks for 28 days or so. Meet some friends flying into San Francisco. Road-trip with them to Vegas, Grand Canyon Etc. Phoenix to see Helen’s relative. Back to LA for flight to New Zealand. Phew and that’s 2-3 months done!

We both hope you can follow our travels (which resume 3 weeks today) and enjoy them with us. The Leica and Olympus will most definitely be put through their paces once again! We will update you again soon with our now much more relaxed packing of rucksacks and pre-trip preparation.

Best regards. David and Helen xx

Hello and welcome…

This is part three of our top tips for travelling which we learnt whilst on our first five months away in Asia. Not long now until we head off to Los Angeles USA for some yoga teaching training workshops and exploration of Venice Beach. New travelling posts will start appearing in August. Here’s part 3 of 3! We hope you find something useful…

Whilst on our travels we heard tales of survival and health remedies from lots of fellow comrades and we wanted to share the hints, tips and advice that we now take for granted. Part 3 of 3!

Bus Journeys!
Throughout your travels you will travel overland using buses, as these are a great way to see the country and also save some pennies as they are normally cheaper than trains and definitely planes! Vietnam has a good value ticket that allows you to travel the whole length of this surprisingly long country. This open ticket allows you to choose from a selection of places along the way you might want to stop at and then jump back on and head to the next destination.

We went from north to south (Hanoi, (Hue – a few hours stop over waiting for the next bus), Hoi An, Nha Trang, Mui Ne, Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City) for $49 USD. You give them 24 hours notice and if the bus isn’t full then you can normally get a seat for the following day! The ticket is valid for three months.

From our experience in many places in South East Asia buy the cheapest ticket that you find. There may be two options for a slightly better “VIP”/”King of Buses” bus, but at most times you will buy a ticket and no matter the price from various sales offices you will be on the same bus as everyone else! Bus journeys that advertise breakfast included – Avoid!! Also your ticket does not guarantee you a seat, sometimes when the bus is oversold or they ram the bus with locals, you may end up sitting in the aisle on a plastic stool or your backpack!

Security!
We did not have any issues whilst travelling through Japan, China, Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos. Common sense will get you through most situations without too much fuss. Thailand, relatively well off in financial terms compared to some of the other countries, was the only place we had a problem. At Surat Thani, where you get a short bus journey to the port to access Koh Pha-Ngan, Ko Samui and To Tao islands, the bus drives suspiciously slowly and when we got to the port we realised that our backpacks in the underneath luggage hold had been tampered with.

Confrontation of the bus driver, assistant (thief) and port staff just made them all do a vanishing act and loose all memory of the English language. On the boat across to the islands we learnt of other peoples fate, £200 missing and a gold ring missing! Luckily our bags had padlocks and any valuables were in smaller backpacks which we kept with us at all times. A document wallet which goes around your waist keeps passports and money safe.

Exactly the same happened on the way back after we had visited the islands, same bus driver and two assistants this time. Be careful and don’t leave anything expensive in your main backpacks when they are separated from you.

Hiring a scooter.
Make sure that your insurance covers you for the power of the scooter as it can be less than 125cc only etc. Also make sure that you wear a helmet and follow all the rules of the road and local laws. Scooters are a great way to travel around the local area, although we did see lots of people in bandages and hobbling around so be careful.

The only issue that we had was during TET, Lunar New Year in Vietnam, when we got pulled over by the police. No speeding, helmets on heads and driving safely we proceeded to stop when instructed to. The bike was impounded with the reason that the UK licence was not appropriate and we should have a Vietnamese licence (all excuses under the sun come out)! We had to walk back to the hostel luckily only about 3km.

We soon learnt that three weeks before TET and two weeks afterwards the police stop lots of people and impound bikes to basically get beer money. Lots of people were driving around, we were just one of the unlucky ones. Frustrating at a $50 USD fine which we split $25 each with the owner of the bike!

Mosquito Net.
A simple one this but take your own net that can stretch over a double bed, lots of provided nets have holes and tears in which most mosquitoes will find!

Re-hydration… (Tip from Corinne Walker)
It is possible to make your own rehydration solution. Put four teaspoons of sugar and one teaspoon of salt in one litre of water. It is very easy to do and the ingredients are easily accessible from almost any guesthouse. (Good for a hangover cure too!)

Part 1 is here! Part 2 is here! Do you have any top tips? Comment below or drop us an email and we can add your suggestions to this post.

Hello and welcome…

This is part two of our top tips for travelling learnt whilst on our first five months away in Asia. Hopefully some of them will also come in use for our next adventure which we have planned for August 2011. More to come on that. So here’s part 2 of 3! Hope you find something useful.

Whilst on our travels we heard tales of survival and health remedies from lots of fellow comrades and we wanted to share the hints, tips and advice that we now take for granted. Part 2 of 3!

Japan Rail sites.
Japan was our first destination back in October 2010. As relative novices to this travelling lark we were thrown into the deep end with a non Latin character country such as Japan. Everyone here is refreshingly friendly and will help you as much as possible. Just a look of mild confusion upon oneself will be enough of an excuse for someone to lend a hand. Two sites that proved really useful for planning the train journeys around Japan are japantravel.co.uk and hyperdia.com.

Japantravel.co.uk has some great information on the Japan Rail Pass, unlimited use on all Japan Rail operated trains, valid for either 7, 14 or 21 days. We had a 14 day pass and travelled from Tokyo to Mount Fuji to Takayama to Kanazawa to Nanao back to Kanazawa to Kyoto to Koyasan to Kyoto to Osaka and finally to Kobe. Even use of the bullet train is permitted! As long as you travel far enough to make it worth while then it’s a great way to see Japan.

Hyperdia.com is a great resource which allows you to plan your journey on the trains around Japan with lots of routes and precise timetables to maximise the Japan Rail pass.

Tokyo subway.
Keeping with the Japanese travel theme there is a golden rule to remember when using the subway in Tokyo. Two companies run the whole network. This can easily cause a problem as we found out the first time we attempted to use it early one morning on our way to the Tsukiji Fish Market.

Tokyo Metro is a privately run section of the subway with 168 stations and 9 lines. TOEI is run by the government and operates 106 stations over four lines. Both are roughly the same price. Just check where you are going and make sure you buy the correct ticket, it is easy, just remember that’s its not all the same network.

The subways are indicated by station name, number and line colour/name. There are English Fare charts near the ticket vending machines. Some lines have adopted female only cars so check when you board to make sure you’re allowed on that cabin. If you traveled further than the ticket you bought allows, pay the extra fare at a fare adjustment machine located near the fare gates. At the exits of the station are really detailed maps that show you which exit you need to continue your journey.

Travellers diarrhoea, rehydration sachets and charcoal tablets.
Travellers diarrhoea is eventually going to happen at some stage on a round the world adventure. We found out that as well as taking a medical bag with the usual essentials (don’t forget an assortment of clean needles from dental to hypodermic etc which you can give to medical staff to use so you know they are safe) you will need plenty of rehydration sachets and possibly constipation and diarrhoea tablets to cover various eventualities. We were informed that pure charcoal tablets can really help when taking anti-diarrhoea tablets. They were quite pricey and huge in size, however they help to kill the bugs that are been held inside your gut due to the firming up medication! Oh and rehydration sachets are amazing at helping to get you through a hangover! (Do check with a pharmacist first…we are not medical experts!!)

Hot water everywhere, noodles, China.
In China and South-East Asia it’s normally not safe to drink the local tap water supply. Remember not to have drinks with ice and also clean your teeth with bottled water. Drinking bottled water may seem expensive, but in China is is relatively cheap to buy and they have plenty of boiling water supplies at most public places, hostels, and even on trains! The locals don’t drink the tap water, they use boiled water for making tea in flasks and for their favourite travel meal, rehydrated noodles which come in a vast array of flavours. They are actually quite nice and much better than the chicken feet they munch on! So get yourself a seal-able thermal flask for hot and clean water along with a box or two of noodles for no fuss, easy snacking.

Sleeping bag liner / pillow case.
A lightweight cotton sleeping bag liner is a must if you can squeeze one into your backpack. It means that any dodgy looking mattresses or blankets can be forgotten about, sleeper buses and trains are much more comfortable as you just don’t know how well they are cleaned, they are easy to wash and quick to dry! A pillow case does the same job, just stuff it with a hoodie etc and you have a makeshift pillow. Also with both of these, they can make great section dividers in your backpack which are easy to grab, e.g. dirty washing can be stored separately from everything else and all washed together / cooler climate clothes can be kept out of the way in the sleeping bag liner so not to get mixed up with everything else.

Part three will be coming soon! Part 1 is here! Do you have any top tips? Comment below or drop us an email and we can add your suggestions to the next post.

Here are our top FIVE tours from our Notworkrelated adventure in Asia…

1: Cambodia – Boat trip, beaches and fishing village, Koh Kong Island

Company: Koh Kong Eco Tours, organiser Mr T booked from their office next to the Dug Out Guesthouse in Koh Kong.

We met Ali and Carl and the 4 of us wanted to visit Koh Kong Island – our main reason for travelling to the area. After much discussion and debate Mr T customised a tour for us the night we arrived for a departure the following day. We paid $55 each for a 2 day 1 night tour over to the Island, with 2 bbq lunches. one evening meal, one breakfast and a home stay. The Island was breathtaking, with around 6 beaches to explore, on which stood no other tourists other than us, we had the place to ourselves! With one guide and one boat driver they cooked us excellent fresh seafood, taxied us from one beach to another and delivered us back to Koh Kong via a rare and huge Mangrove forest arriving safe and sound.

The reason this was our number one tour is that it was so personal to what we wanted to do and we had the most authentic experience of Cambodian hospitality in the form of a floating fishing village homestay. The children loved us being there, we ate with the families, played pool on a snooker table and slept in their home. A true homestay and a very humbling one. The beaches are also idyllic on the Island.

This tour was excellent value for money, we received great hospitality and it was a wonderful experience.

We booked the tour once we arrived in Koh Kong at Koh Kong Eco Tours office based at The Dug Out hotel on street 3 (although we wouldn’t recommend the Dug Out for customer service they do have a great tour company positioned right on their doorstep) A bus from Phnom Penh took 5 hours and cost around $10 each. Our blog post for this tour is featured here.

2: China – Trekking and exploring The Great Wall

We booked our Great Wall tour through the Chinese Cultural Centre based in Bejing and paid around £22 for a one day trip with no food. We visited a remote part of the wall called JianKou Great Wall and we only passed 3 other people the entire time we were there! It’s 73km north of Beijing and is a truly wild and beautiful section of the wall and described as being one of the most dangerous parts of the entire Great Wall.

Why did we put this as number 2? We had a local tour guide from the village from where the walk started who provided us with information about the history of this part of the wall and what it meant to the village. We walked for around 3-4 hours taking in the immense scale of the wall in a very autumnal landscape. Afterwards sitting in the tour guides home with his family was a great way to finish the day. You can view our full write up on this tour along with a few other China Highlights here.

3: Vietnam – From Ho Chi Minh City, cycling in The Mekong Delta

A 3 days 2 nights cycling tour booked through Sinhbalo Adventure taking us through the  Inner Mekong region. A fantastic tour that saw us take in wonderful parts of the Mekong in a way that most people don’t – on a bike. Most tours tend to operate in the form of bus and boat transport and we fancied something different. There were 4 of us on the tour with one tour guide named Du-at, a driver and our own bikes. Our bags were transported from one destination to the other which was a great help when cycling.

We travelled on a variety of boats to various parts of the Mekong, visited a traditional Mekong Delta house and kitchen, ate seasonal fruits, tea and rice cakes, had 3 lunches, 2 evening meals and 2 breakfasts included in the price, as well as our own branded Sinh Balo cycling top! Our tour guide had excellent knowledge of local routes and trials through the delta and villages. Accommodation comprised of one night in an eco-lodge and one night in a hotel in Cantho city.

On day 3 of the tour we were up early for a visit to the Cai Rang Floating Market, if you ever have the chance it’s best to get there early as many tourists make their way from 9am onwards. Children followed us and ran shouting ‘Hello’ at the top of their lungs. It’s a very welcoming place indeed and this type of tour certainly offers an alternative route through the Delta.

If your wallets can stretch that little bit more and you fancy the exercise we’d highly recommend it. 3 days, 2 nights starts at $165/person. View our Notworkrelated write up for this tour here.

4: Laos – Trekking in Tha Khaek

We booked this 2 days one night tour through the Thakek tourist information, our guides were called Mii and Sawadee (me and Hello in English) we think they might have made their names up!!

The Tha Kek tourist information office is listed in the Laos Lonely Planet and are far cheaper than rivals Green Discovery Laos. We went to Phu Hin Bun NPA for 2 days including transfers, food, eco-lodge accommodation, cave exploration, hiking and an amazing blue lagoon. The food wasn’t as good as any on the top three tours but we did have 2 very cheeky tour guides who provided us with lots of local knowledge and new card games.

We stayed at a village in the national park and participated in a traditional Baci ceremony. The people on the tour with us were loads of fun too which always adds to the enjoyment factor. We paid $70 per person for this tour. There is no official website for the tourist information office but you can compare similar tours with Green Discovery Laos for the area. For more of how we got on visit the blog post here.

5: Thailand – Boat trip, jungle trek and cave discovery, Khao Sok

A wonderful tour booked at the end of our travels in Asia from our accommodation at Nungs house in Khao Sok National park. The tour cost 1500 Baht each which is around £32, it was difficult to find anything cheaper in the area.

The tour comprised of a one hour transfer to Chiaw Lan Lake where we had an hour long boat journey on a long tail boat via various wildlife and amazing karst peaks. An excellent lunch, kayaks and snacks were included along with a 2 hour jungle trek and exploration of the Tham Nam Thalu Cave. The cave was fantastic, we had no idea what to expect and it certainly thrilled and excited us with rivers flowing throughout, bats and spiders to scare us and a spot of swimming!

This again was a great value tour arriving back at our lodge at around 8pm so we certainly got good time out of it. The tour guide was another cheeky chappy who entertained us along the way. Getting to Khao Sok is fairly easy, we arrived on an overnight train from Bangkok to Surat Thani and ended up getting a minibus to the national park, you can also get a local bus if you don’t mind hanging around and being packed in! Our write up for this tour is feature here.

If you have any comments or further Top Tour Tips you’d like to add, we’d love to hear from you!

Hello and welcome…

As you may or may not know we are currently residing back in the UK! This has given us some time to catch up with family, friends and start sorting through the thousands of photos that we have taken on our five month journey through Asia. We are both hoping to submit some of our photographs on stock libraries and also create some prints which will be available for people to purchase.

Whilst on our travels we heard tales of survival and health remedies from lots of fellow comrades and we wanted to share the hints, tips and advice which we now take for granted. Part 1 of 3!

A strong constitution?
We have no proof of this, however we were informed that Pro-Biotic yoghurts and drinks really help with the good bacteria in your stomach and gut, thus helping to combat travellers diarrhea! Just a spoonful or so each day keeps you topped up with these helpful bacteria. In Asia it can be hard to find Pro-Biotic yoghurt so look out for Yakult style drinks. David had only one slight “issue” so he swears by it. Helen had a few rough days and occasionally weeks, but it could be worth a try.

A weak constitution?
On the same topic as above we heard that flat Coca Cola can help with settling an upset stomach. Get a straw and blow bubbles through it to remove the fizz and then drink it down. Medicine never tasted so good.

The language barrier!
In China generally speaking the hostels are great, some of the best accommodation that we stayed in during the trip with the majority of staff speaking English, which you can easily take advantage of. Train and bus ticket sales people seldom speak English and having the translation written down from your hostel receptionist is a great help. Using websites such as Seat61.com and Chinahighlights.com give good indications of time tables in China but surely this technique can be used anywhere in the world.

Making the journey go that little bit faster!
When you are on a train or bus for sometimes over fifteen hours it can be tough to keep the mind active once the excitement of looking out of the window has faded. Therefore we would not set off without a good book (be careful of travel sickness, hold the book at eye level in front of you) and an MP3 player with both music and some podcasts from your home country. This keeps you, if you desire, in touch with current events and/or laughing along to your favorite radio comedians etc. Our favourite pod-casts are The Daily Bacon on 5live, Desert Island Discs BBC radio 4 and The Adam and Joe BBC 6 music show.

A sense of safety!
We fortunately had no real issues with safety at all throughout Asia. We travelled through rich and poor nations and the only problem we had was in Thailand with bus assistants riffling through the baggage in the compartment underneath the bus. This occurred on  the journey from Surat Thani to the boat crossing for the islands such as Ko Phangan, Ko Tao and Ko Samui. The bus drove unusually slow and our bags were blatantly opened. On the boat people were talking and soon realised things were missing from a gold ring to 8000 Thai bahts (£160). Keep anything valuable on this journey and really any journey with you at all times in a locked bag, with vital items (passports, tickets, money etc) in a hidden money belt with your common-sense always in tune with your surroundings.

Lost and found?
We lost a lens cap for one of the lenses which we didn’t have a lens bag for as most of the time it was attached to the camera body. For some added protection when floating around in your bag use a sock to protect the lens, it actually works great!

Part 2 is here! Do you have any top tips? Comment below or drop us an email and we can add your suggestions to the next post.

We had a sleep in to recoup some energy from the past few days and then had some breakfast in the room and ordered some bread and jam from the restaurant downstairs. Our pickup mini bus arrived at Sweethome at 10am for our 10.45am bus journey to Battambang. The bus pulled up into the station and it looked pretty battered from the outside and the inside wasn’t much better. The vents were just open holes and the seat in front had no real back support so was almost in Dave’s lap. After a delayed start, we left 45mins late and headed off on our journey.

Upon arriving in Battambang we were hounded by the tuk-tuk drivers however as Battambang is quite small its easy to walk to where you want to go and not have to pay a few dollars for the privilege. We checked out a few hotels however they had limited rooms and were over $12 so we kept looking for something cheaper. We ended up at the Chhaya Hotel which cost $5 a night for a twin, it was a decent size with a bathroom, looking and feeling a little cell like, but it did the trick. We continued with some more blog work and headed out for some food. The White Rose restaurant is in the Lonely Planet and we stumbled across it, their cheap menu has lots of choice and for a reasonable price. The fresh spring rolls were OK, lacking in flavour a little, the curry was a large portion with plenty of vegetables and Helen’s dish we think was something different to what she ordered but it was OK; the mixed fruit shake was a good call!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

The 5th February was another day of exploration via the transport medium of bikes, we will surely have thighs of steel by the end of our trip. We headed along the river and found old villages around 2km out of Battambang itself, Wat Kor Village contains some of the oldest houses in Cambodia, some of which you can pay to have a little tour inside of, we just cycled by and took it all in. Dave’s bike suffered from a puncture after 4km which was treated by one of the many small repair shops that are on the side of the roads. They fixed the leaky valve for 500r and off we went, however within a few hundred meters the tyre was flat again so we decided to head back and get a new bike from the hotel. Frustrating to say the least. New bike selected and we started again, searching for the Bamboo Train which was tricky to find as the signs aren’t that frequent and the locals all told us or pointed us in the opposite directions to the last person we asked.

Upon searching for the train Dave’s second bike suffered from a fatal haemorrhage with the inner tube bursting through the front tyre! There was no quick fix for this and it would surely be pricey. Helen went ahead and Dave pushed his bike and finally we found the station for the “train”. $5 each on a bamboo fence panel, engine and two axles that held us onto the tracks. It was a good experience and is fun when you meet on coming traffic. If the oncoming bamboo train has more people, weight (rice delivery etc) or multiple trains are coming through you have to jump off and the driver deconstructs the train within seconds. There are no bolts or clips to be undone, it all just fits together! We had to disembark 5 times, but that’s half the fun. The tracks are in terrible state, however apart from rattled bones, no injuries were sustained.

At the end of the tracks we stopped and were greeted by some local children and market stalls. The driver would not leave his hammock until we bought something from one of the vendors so with a drink purchased he hopped onto the train and off we went. We sorted out some tuk-tuk transport back into town with the bikes rammed in and only paid the hotel for hire of one of the bikes, which they agreed was fair. Relaxation time and sunset on the roof of the hotel and then for our evening meal we headed to the The Smokin’ Pot restaurant and even though the portions appeared small, they were enough to satisfy. Lemon juice, curry and rice.

Our train left Tunxi at around 11pm so it was a long wait at the hostel until this time. Even in a quiet town there will always be lots of people waiting to get trains. It was pretty smooth as when we boarded the train most people were already sleeping so we found our bunks and got off to sleep. The next day was quite a long one, we weren’t due to arrive at Huaihua until 4pm but the train was delayed by two hours which meant that we got in at 6. There was a heated debate with our fellow Chinese passengers as to whether we would be able to make it to Fenghuang that night. Some were saying we wouldn’t make it, the roads are too bad, the buses don’t drive safely at night etc…One lady offered to help us barter for a taxi to get us there as this would be the safest option given the circumstances. We thought we’d try this option as it would cost us a lot to stay for one night in Huaihua.

She was very true to her word and managed to get us a taxi for 280RMB, although she couldn’t speak any English we managed to get by and she took down the taxi drivers phone number in case there were any problems. We soon realised this was not going to be a short trip, after an hour or so we were still a good 40km away from Fenghuang. The roads were terrible and the rain kept coming down, we decided to give him 300RMB because the trip was a lot longer and more difficult than we had imagined. After 80km we came to stop…there was a road blockage up ahead with no way of getting around it, a group of people in a small shack were communicating information across the area and we st with them for a short while before deciding we would have to turn around. The lady who had helped us was pretty distressed and her friend who spoke English was on the phone apologising on her behalf and saying they have arranged one of their close friends to help us find a hotel in the next town. This was 30km or so away!

We eventually got to the hotel after several phone calls going back and forth between the taxi driver and our Chinese helper and met Mr Wu. It was getting late and the hotel informed us they only had business suites available at 400RMB. Some cheap night this was turning out to be!! A few minutes later another man appeared on the scene, he took us to one side and showed us his police badge, he was trying to get us to go with him. We had no idea what to do or whether he really was a real policeman. There was a lot of chatting on phones and not a lot of doing. We tried ringing the hostel in Fenghuang but the number on hostelworld didn’t work so we were stuck. After a lot of debating and a little panic from Helen we finally got a room and the policeman had managed to get it for us at half price. They said they would meet us at 9am the following day to arrange for us to get to Fenghuang. Another thing we would like to point out is that the email address for the hostel we had reserved was also incorrect as we received no response back from them!!

We managed to get some sleep and then the morning came along with a 9am knock at the door from Mr Wu. He took us to the bus station but here we found out the buses were going to the area of the road blockage but then we would have to get off and walk across to get taxis. We weren’t convinced so we decided the best thing to do would be take the bus back to Huaihua and get the next available train to Kunming.

After a 2 hour bus journey we got to the station and luck was on our side. We bought tickets for a sleeper train leaving at 2.40pm that afternoon!! YES!!! So off we went to buy snacks for the train and get a hot meal before leaving. This is where things started getting better for us. The food in a local eatery was really good, we simply pointed at our phrase book saying we like fish, tofu and vegetables and that’s what we got with some good flavours all for around £4.

We picked up our usual noodle snacks for the train and then got ready for the next leg of the journey. Around 18 hours later and we arrived in sunny Kunming. This was a very nice feeling to be walking into the sunshine capitol of Yunnan. We found Cloudland our hostel via a bus journey and some instructions from The lonely Planet, checked in and chilled out.

In the space of around 48 hours we spent a total 40 hours on two trains, a taxi and one bus. We spent money we didn’t want to spend and only saw the rain and landslides in Hunan province. But like we always say this is all part of the experience and adds to a good story at times.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

Once upon a time, on our 6th date, sitting in The Vine pub, Wombourne, over a glass of dry white wine & a pint of lager Helen & I began to discuss the idea of going traveling.

Helen has some travel experience to parts of Asia, America & Australasia but has always craved the long trip away. I on the other hand have traveled little further east than Cyprus! Ever since leaving University I’ve focused on my career as a designer & up until more recently I have become quietly passionate about the possibilities photography has to offer. After being introduced to Helen, already working as a freelance photographer, possessing a free spirit & a strong inclination to travel, I realised that perhaps traveling was something we could do together.

A few glasses later & we were pretty certain that heading off for a year or so would be the best thing we could ever do at this moment in our lives.

So… How are we going to do this? Where do we want to go? And how do we get there?