Our stay in Singapore was more of a two night stop over than anything else. We hadn’t quite anticipated how tired we would be after our 3.30am start the morning of our flight and so by the time we’d reached Singapore, enjoyed a chai and a little breakfast at Starbucks, plus the time taken to actually navigate and exit from the airport terminal, we were almost ready for lunch!

Thankfully for us and to Barbara (Dave’s mum) we had booked ourselves a lovely place to stay through the wonderful world of Airbnb. Our hosts Sam, Linda and Phillipe all from the creative sector certainly offer a great alternative to staying in hotels and hostels in Singapore. They’re base just off Club Street is easy to find and only a short walk from the Chinatown metro stop. Staying in their homely apartment didn’t really give us much reason to leave, but we knew we would have to venture out at some stage. On our first day though we were very low key and enjoyed the comforts of our room, called home and ate at an excellent local sushi restaurant. Club Street itself is full of charm and seems to attract the ex-pat crowds, it’s perhaps a little over-rated in terms of eateries, restaurants and bars but the night life is pretty strong there.

We enjoyed exploring the local area which is rich in multi-cultural temples including Hindu, Buddhist and Chinese temples scattered throughout China town. The Hindu one was perhaps the most interesting to us; bold, colourful statues and decor with a daily ceremony taking place to traditional Indian instruments. Quite atmospheric.

We also stumbled upon a very nice independent bookstore called Woods In The Books. Primarily a visual bookstore it sells mainly illustrated books most of which are aimed at children, but it’s a lovely place to explore and absorb. We were more than happy to idle away time going through their collection and noticed some of their own illustrated publications were dotted around too. It’s a lovely concept indeed and we bought ourselves a few items as well.

On day two of Singapore we had a little more motivation to do some sight-seeing and so took off in search of a few famous places. Our first stop was at SAM; Singapore Art Museum, which was a pretty excellent stop for us. They were hosting some really interesting exhibitions and installations. It’s a bold, white colonial building with a melting Superman standing outside the front! Just around the corner at 8Q SAM’s sister gallery we found a contemporary exhibition showcasing young artists work from Singapore.

Moving on from our art-experience we ventured down the street to Raffles, perhaps the other extreme of sight-seeing as this is what most people try to get to when they have only 2 days in Singapore. Raffles is probably the most famous building in Singapore aside from some of the architecture on the harbor front, mainly because of it’s history and it’s infamous Singapore Sling cocktail. We couldn’t really push the boat out to afford a cocktail each but we did find the Leica store and we were also enticed into the little Chinese cake shop on the 2nd floor. Phillipe had told us about it and so we wanted to find it ourselves to experience.

It’s a lovely space with interesting art, old bikes and an all round great concept for a place to come and enjoy tea. The best past is you don’t even need to buy anything, the tea and one piece of their complimentary pineapple cake is free and so we sat there and enjoyed the space. Sunny Hills are solely a cake and tea shop and only sell the one type of cake, they are very successful and provide a unique experience. If you like the cake of course you can buy little boxes of them and they are very beautifully packaged.

So after our tea break we walked onwards to the water-front, a place again where nearly every tourist will visit during their time in Singapore. It is home to the crazy looking Marina Bay Sands resort with a boat on top as well as what seems like hundreds of sky-scrapers! Not to mention the Merlion statue! We simply wandered around, took a few photos and people watched as the rain came down and stopped everyone in their tracks.

When we’d had enough we were already nearly back at our accommodation and so we opted for another low key night. We ate on Club Street at one of the Italian restaurants as we were both a little tender from something we ate on our last day in Bali. A few more calls home and then we were ready for another flight onwards.

Our next flight was taking us to Kathmandu for the next stage of our travels.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8 processed in Lightroom 3)

We were up early and avoided the sand-flies by eating breakfast away from where we camped in the forest area. Today we were journeying to Invercargill, mainly to break up the drive to the Caitlens. We drove through more lush mountains ranged and started passing lots of sheep in the fields, something that Southland is famous for. Our first stop was at Colac Bay, famous for its surf and antarctic winds, which we felt straight away. The only nice thing going on was a wedding on the beach, it was a chilly day for this though and so we quickly got back in the van to continue on. Our next port of call was in Riverton where we had a little wander around the streets and drank chai at the Beach House Cafe, it was a good place for us to stop a while.

When we eventually got to Invercargill we were starting to get used to the cooler air but we happily hid in the van for lunch before going into the Southland Museum for a spot of culture. Its a free museum which is always a bonus and is home to New Zealand’s endemic reptile the Tuatara Lizard. They have around 25 at the museum with an area for each stage of their lives. Tuatara have been around for around 200 million years and the oldest there is around 111 years old and still reproductively active! Good going Henry!

So after we spectacled at the lizards we had a look at the art. There was some insightful imagery taken from one of New Zealand’s heroes Burt Munro along with some very cool block prints influenced by Maori and Polynesian culture.

When we left the museum we nipped up to the water-tower a place recommended to us by the I-Site staff saying it was open today so we must go up and have a look. In all fairness it was really quite good, the interior of the water-tower itself is very interesting and we were more than happy to photograph the views looking out across flat Invercargill.

As we were heading out of Invercargill we had a look at the town and then decided to camp out towards the Beach Road Holiday Park close to Oreti Beach. We thought they offered a really good price for their facilities at $11 each and the owners were very friendly even though the lady at the I-Site said this place was a little…rough! So we enjoyed a good evening here along with some wine and some nice food cooked in their canteen style kitchen.

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

As we had previously booked our north island to south ferry online we were getting short on time and wanted to explore Wellington before leaving. This therefore required a 160km drive to arrive in Wellington at lunch time and find somewhere to park the van which allowed us to sleep inside. Rowena’s lodge offered this and at $15 per person per night was the cheapest offering in the city.

Upon checking in there was a heated argument between the proprietor and a fellow guest which involved a slanging match ending in the guy being kicked out. First impressions are so important. The hostel is a bit rough around the edges, some eclectic staff members and has some very funky smells in the communal areas, but it was cheap enough to get past this and we always had the safety of the van to hide away in.

For most of the day it rained so we opted for a visit to the Te Papa Museum located on the waterfront. Home to the relics and tales of New Zealand’s past Te Papa is a big museum and would require half a day if you were to explore the whole place. We only had 2 hours and some of the exhibits were closed so we made our way from the top back down to the bottom taking in contemporary New Zealand art to 20th Century paintings. This led into more of a museum layout with life-size exhibits of people’s homes during the war, the effect of the Commonwealth and then going way back from Maori living and to the Dinosaurs. It is a pretty comprehensive museum and plays host to the only Gigantic Squid on show in the world.

When we left the museum it was still raining so we had a stroll around the waterfront and back into the city passing by another Occupy event and the City Gallery before meandering around the outdoor shops. We’re getting ideas for our big trekking expedition in Nepal so nearly every outdoor shop draws us in. On our way back to the hostel we stopped off for a drink at a quirky bar next door to a theatre in the artsy district. When we crossed over the road there was an artists exhibition taking place, the opening night was the week before but the artist wanted to conjure more interest by hosting a live installation. As soon as we were in the gallery the artist introduced himself Jon Drypnz and for the next hour or so we stood chatting about travel, art, politics amongst other things whilst enjoying a complimentary beer. He had a nice big space to work with as an artist in residence and used the space to play with the contrasts in liberal v’s conservative. We added our own illustration to the wall art taking place. The wall was very clear at that point so we did feel a little self-conscious but what the hell…Helen did a Fine Art degree and Dave design so we were sure we could contribute something!! ha ha!

Back at the hostel we stayed in and cooked along with the rest of the backpackers before escaping to our van.

We had a morning in Wellington to kill before going to get our ferry at 1.30pm so we went out in search of a few items that we’d been meaning to get for a while. One was to swap our first Jo Nesbo Harry Hole novel, but for some reason this was proving to be difficult! We wanted to swap the first book for the third, but nowhere had any Nesbo’s in stock. Helen was trying to educate the booksellers but to no avail. Eventually we settled on a swap with a ‘Rough Guide to Nepal’ in order to start planning a little for our trip there in Spring, we bartered and managed to get 2 extra dollars off the price! Bargaining in a Western country, it can be done!

We then bought some DVDR’s to catch up on burning our work to disc and we also picked up our Christmas cards to send home from a lovely gift and card shop on one of the main shopping streets. At the top end of Cuba Street we found a cool coffee house that was once an old clothing shop, there were lots of vintage boutiques, and good little places to explore. In terms of the city and what it has to offer we really enjoyed exploring the streets and the coffee really is good!!

So following on from our morning we drove to the Bluebridge Ferry Terminal which is very close to the centre of town and we ended up parking and waiting for over an hour before boarding the ferry. The ferry crossing to start with was choppy and neither of us really felt like moving from our seats, but a few hours into the crossing it did settle down so we explored the outside decks and enjoyed a very good hot chocolate and gingerbread kiwi to settle the sea sickness! It seemed to do the trick!

We got into Picton after a slow pace cruising through the beautiful Malborough Sounds and from there we made our way to Blenheim to meet up with friends Vic and Dave who we know from the UK. It was Vic’s birthday and so we joined in with the celebrations which involved champagne, a family meal cooked by the other Dave, speeches, wine and a birthday cake. Our first taste of a New Zealand home and it was a lovely evening indeed. Thanks to the Gillan’s for making us feel so welcome.

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

We had the car with us for the next two days, and as we had both been ill that week we hadn’t planned to do too much in Phoenix. Our first day saw us drive out to Scottsdale where we enjoyed good sandwiches at The Orange Table next to the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMOCA). When we had finished our lunch we headed into the SMOCA as it is free on Thursdays! It was a good job that the gallery was free that day as we weren’t very impressed by the People’s Biennial exhibit and other installations were in progress so we couldn’t see much further into the museum. They do have a nice outdoor elliptical sky space and some lovely cacti around!

Leaving slightly uninspired we made our way to Tempe to check out ASU and the Art Museum there. Helen had pretty much been raving on about it all morning saying how nice the architecture is there and the museum is really interesting etc. So I think Dave was pretty impressed when we did arrive and go round the museum. Some of the art is perhaps a little too over the top for us, but they do have an anaconda on exhibit there at the moment who has been rescued from its owner and the architecture didn’t disappoint. We explored the campus some more before making our way back to Dave’s and cooking up a lovely fish dinner! Oh to be cooking in a proper kitchen again!

The next morning we were up early and Helen enjoyed an excellent massage from Massage Envy located in the Mayo area. She’s been having some neck pain so it was long anticipated! Dave meanwhile occupied a cafe and edited our imagery! When we left we realised we hadn’t actually had the car booked until friday but it was supposed to go back on Wednesday! Stooooopid! After we rang and explained they just charged us for the extra days rental and  so after a little longer journey to drop the car off (they advertise the drop off as down town Phoenix when it is around 19 miles north of downtown!!) and a taxi to the nearest light rail stop, we eventually took the light rail to downtown. For the rest of the afternoon we stopped at Starbucks and took advantage of wifi use before Dave joined us for a mighty meal at Same’s Cafe in the Arizona Center.

On the 29th October it was Dave’s birthday! WOOOO! Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! etc! Another birthday overseas, can’t be too bad going for us! This time we enjoyed the company of cousin Dave who took us on a steep hike up Flat Iron’s Rock. The hike took around 5 hours and it was tough in parts, especially if you weren’t used to scrambling up rocks! The views up top were awesome! The descent was harder still because of the steepness so we knew we would be feeling stiff the next day.

When we got back from the hike we enjoyed some home-cooked birthday cake and got ready for a night out in Scotsdale. We ate at A Touch of Thai, where the food was really tasty but the atmosphere was poor. This was followed though by excellent atmosphere and pretty cheap drinks at Dos Gringos. An 80′s famous fancy dress party was taking place and we didn’t quite fit in (not dressed for the occasion) but that didn’t matter!

On the 30th heads were sore and we anticipated the arrival of Jill and Joe, who would be helping us out massively again by bringing us back to LA the next morning. We had a pretty chilled day whilst Joe and Dave tackled some DIY and we walked through some local hills to wake ourselves up a bit. Cheap food at Chuuy’s and we were ready for bed! Thanks to cousin Dave for having us stay!!

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

After a noisy camp at the Caribou RV Park in Burnaby, (the trains that had been following us all trip were still there!) we were up relatively early and cleaned out the cooler’s we’d been using for the trip. We left to head into downtown Vancouver at around 10.30 and headed in the direction of Granville Island. We spent the first hour wandering around the market and getting a few items for a picnic lunch, then the next 2.5 hours were spent cycling around Stanley Park and enjoying our picnic lunch. Stanley Park is a beautiful area on the north-western edge of Vancouver facing Vancouver Island, it was a very sunny day once again and so many people were out doing the same thing. There is even a beach on one side of Stanely Park and locals were soaking up the rays.

We followed the bike tour with a walk through the city and into downtown and we ended this with a karaf of white wine at the Vancouver Art Gallery. It was too expensive for us to go in at $24 each, but the terrace, wine and live jazz was far more enticing in the cafe. We spent a good hour or so here and then set off in the direction of Gastown where we bumped into a few of the boys. Gastown houses the older buildings of Vancouver and has a lot of character and characters hanging around. This is where most of the tourist shops are too, but it’s all easy enough to avoid, we along with Lee found a fairly decent Thai restaurant heading away from Gastown in the direction of Granville Island. More of the Vietnamese, Thai and Chinese restaurants are in this area. After a satisfying feed we enjoyed a beer back in Gastown before meeting up with the rest of the group to head back to Burnaby. This was our last night together and a few of the group had already left us so we were very much feeling like it was coming to an end.

The next day we were up early, and packed our tents away…the last time we would be staying in our sorry green tent, although it did do us pretty well! We piled into the van and took a 4 hour journey back to Seattle. We got back into Seattle at midday and said our goodbye’s! What a wicked few weeks it’s been for us both and we’re delighted to be sharing these images with you!

Moving on from Intrepid though we had other things to sort out…get a bus back to Kirsten and Danny’s, pick up our car, get to REI and Trader Joe’s all in preparation for our next big road trip! Gradually ticking off the boxes we had to add a visit to Camera Tech on the Fremont side of Seattle so we could get the Leica sensor cleaned, thanks to them for fitting us in just before closing time! Fortunately there was a good Pho restaurant over the road so we did more than go to the Camera shop! We ended the evening with a home-cooked meal, catching up with emails and backing up imagery before a well-earned first night’s sleep in a comfy bed! Better not get used to this though!!

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

We left HCMC at 8am, as always it took a while to get out of the city as the bus kept stopping to pick people up but once we were on our way it took around 2.5 hours to get to the Cambodian border, we had quite a smooth route through passport control as the bus company took our passports, visa fees as well as a $5 admin fee which we only assumed meant that we weren’t hanging around as much as we were through both departure and arrival points within half an hour. It’s always a little nerve racking when someone takes your passport but it worked and next minute we were in Cambodia. After only 15 minutes or so the bus stopped for lunch for 20 minutes and then we left in the direction of Phnom Penh. On this side it took around 4 hours in the end to get to the bus station near one of the big markets in central Phnom Penh, we were a little bombarded by tuk-tuk drivers and saw one of them holding a sign for Sweethome Guesthouse which is where we had made a reservation, they’re not actually from the guesthouse itself but if you’re not booked in and they take you around they will get a commission from the guesthouse, we stupidly agreed to pay $4 for our fist tuk-tuk ride, he seemed to go the long way round we later discovered and we should have only paid a dollar each. It was find though and he got us to the guesthouse, we had a standard double booked for 2 nights with bathrooms for $10.

After settling in and being pestered for booking tuk-tuk tours with the hotel staff we went for a little walk in the city and took in the sunset over the Royal Palace. The guesthouse is very conveniently located south Royal Palace and of the main hustle and bustle of the riverfront, down a quieter street with some good choices of restaurants.

We made our way to the market and bought a very sugar laden fruit shake which helped with our current sugar-low state. It was also very filling and did the trick for a while before we got hungry. We stayed out for some food and ate at a very local noodle-street style restaurant, it only cost us a dollar for the two of us so it was nice to have a cheap start.

Back at Sweethome we arranged a tuk-tuk driver for the following day to take us, John and Lisa (John is Jules’s brother and we did the Halong Bay tour with them in Vietnam) to the Killing Fields and The Slung Treng Museum, we agreed a price of $6 each which we again later realised it was more than we should have paid. Anyway you have to figure these things out when you arrive in new places. We’re learning all the time.

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

29th January – Sightseeing in Phnom Penh

John and Lisa arrived at just after 8am and our cheeky choppy tuk-tuk driver was ready and waiting with a tuk-tuk that appeared to be borrowed from one of his pals, they were all joking about the size of it and fitting us all in but it was fine. Perhaps the most amusing thing was that his fuel tank was made from a plastic container!!

It took around half and hour to get to Cheung Ek where the Killing Fields are, arriving early is again better as most tourists start turning up after 9am or so. The entrance fee is $2 per person and we decided to have a guided tour which you pay for based on donation. The area is smaller than we imagined, it was previously an orchard and retains many trees making the area quite serene. The large monument erected for the remembrance of the dead is a powerful reminder of what took place in Cambodia just over 40 years ago! Bones, skulls and clothes which have been found here can been seen, brightly coloured clothes indicated that you were wealthy or educated so therefore you did not stand a chance. Everyone who was brought here by truck was never going to leave!

We were informed by our guide about wooden structures that once stood and what happened inside, from admin to overnight people storage in sealed and dark cells as they couldn’t exterminate them all in one day! Even tormenting them by allowing them to hear the fate of others before their fate was concluded. Pits of mass graves remain and after each rainy season more bones, teeth and pieces of clothes come to the surface of the dirt. You can see pieces sticking out of the ground which makes it all the more real.

Absolutely horrific events took place here to ordinary citizens which makes no sense whatsoever, all in the idea of trying a new political system in order to make Pol-pot a god, produce rice to buy weapons and then spread their influence/extermination far and wide. Even the soldiers who, most of which were brainwashed children, were killed to try and cover up what had taken place.

We left here feeling sombre but with more understanding of the historical events that unfolded. The area is open to educate both foreigners and locals into the history of Cambodia, for people to learn and not let things like this ever happen again. The only downside is that the area is apparently owned by a private firm, maintaining the site but also quite possibly making money from the “tourist attraction” which is wrong and should be funded by the state in our opinion.

Our tuk-tuk driver was waiting for us and we headed off back into Phnom Penh to visit the S-21 prison, used for imprisonment, interrogation and torture of people. This had been converted from a school into the prison camp under the orders of Pol-pot and processed many people who ended up in the Cheung Ek killing fields. Vast empty rooms remind us of the horrors that also took place here along with photographs of victims who were meticulously catalogued and numbered ready for torture and extermination. There are also some written stories from people who are still alive today with stories of their participation in the Khmer Rouge army and their feelings on trial, retribution and the future.

After a sad and truthful morning we went back to grab some lunch at our guesthouse and waited for the Palace to open after their lunch break. We got to the Palace for afternoon opening, Helen wearing a sleeveless top had to cover her shoulders and then we were allowed in. It’s a 5$ entrance fee to the Palace and it is a big site so you can easily spend a morning or afternoon in there, it’s very reminiscent to the Royal Palace in Thailand and has played host to many kings over time, although in the past few decades the royal family have been based in China (or thailand), we heard guides talking of the current king being a monk, it’s always fun eaves-dropping into the tourist groups and making sense from it what we can. Some of the buildings are undergoing renovations; another occurring sight in many cities throughout South-East Asia and China. The main temples and Pagodas are open and the structures are beautifully exquisite in the late afternoon golden light.

We were at the Palace for the main bulk of the afternoon before ending up at one of the markets looking for simples things like sun tan lotion and shampoo, it was difficult finding anything we wanted so ended up going for a drink nearby. After more walking around the city and the sunsetting we found a restaurant mentioned in the LP which served some excellent Khmer food, perhaps a little more pricey and well presented than we were used to but it was good to have something different.

We said our goodbyes to John and Lisa who were moving north in the next few days. We had decided to put our passports in at the hotel for the Laos visas and bought a bus ticket to Koh Kong leaving at 7am the next morning.

On the morning of the 8th we enjoyed a good breakfast from the Hotel including a choice of eggs, bread, fruit and juice. Afterwards we set off to research a few options for tours in the area. We had planned to do a tour to Ninh Binh and Tam Coc with Maayke and Paul so were shopping around the various fake Sinh Cafe‘s across the city to find out the best deals. They’d already sourced somewhere that would do the trip for $16 with bikes included for one part of the trip. After a while and battling through the many scooters we ended up back at the same place and booked the trip for the price they’d agreed. We’d arranged a part-payment trip in case there was anything we weren’t happy with; often you’ll find there are many cheap tours and you’ll never know which one is better than the other. We thought it would be a good day out of the city anyway so went along with this.

Afterwards we went off to do some more research into the other part of our trip interest: the Halong Bay tour. Helen had read up on a few more reputable companies offering slightly better value tours so we started with Ethnic travel who didn’t really have a very welcoming atmosphere and soon decided we wouldn’t be booking with them. We found Ocean tours around the corner who’s 3 day 2 night tour with one night on the Island in a bungalow to be the best on offer but still had a look around. In doing so we met Justin and Jules who were doing the same research as us, Dave stopped them as soon as they walked out of one of the other tour agencies and we started chatting about what information that have and so on. Before long we were enjoying lunch with them and went back to Ocean Tours to get a better feel for what they were offering.

After a few more drinks, a walk around the city into the French Quarter and then back to Ocean Tours we’d decided this was THE tour for us and we all booked it together! We knew that at $175 we were paying a lot more than many other tours on offer but decided that it sounded far better than some of the other less tailored trips and we liked the sound of staying in a bungalow for the night!!

So with that sorted we went back to our now hostel Gecko (we’d moved out that morning as we wanted to save some money by staying in a dorm and rendezvous had no more availability) met up with the others and went out for food to Koto, a restaurant in the south-west of the city which trains up street-kids and the homeless to be chefs and working in the kitchens. The food was very good indeed and it was packed so it was good to see the restaurant supported in this way.

On the 9th we were picked up at 8am for our day trip to Ninh Binh and Tam Coc. The weather had been pretty chilly since we’d arrived in Hanoi although we were acclimatised to this and to us it felt okay, but there was some rain forecast for the day so we took extra layers with us. Leaving Hanoi the bus stopped several times to pick up other people and groups on the tour and before long there were around 20 on the bus. It took around 2.5 hours to get to Ninh Binh with one stop and we spent a lot of this time chatting to Bekka and her husband from America who are now living in Beijing, we exchanged stories of China and it passed the time nicely.

Our first stop was at 2 temples, which held the first and second Emperors of Vietnam. A few people on the bus were a little annoyed as they’d been sold the bus ticket as bus fare to Ninh Binh and not a tour, they had to go to the temples first before being dropped off in Ninh Binh…be warned this happens quite a lot over here!

The temples were okay but we have seen many amazing shrines and temples over our time traveling, so it takes an amazing day with the weather and a spectacular site to impress us! Have we become Temple snobs…?

We were supposed to be cycling from the temple site to Tam Coc where the rest of the tour bus was traveling to for lunch. As it was raining and very windy we decided against this and joined the bus to go straight to the restaurant. It was a good job we did as it would have taken us much longer to reach the port than the tour allowed for and would probably have missed our lunch…to be fair though that wouldn’t have been such a bad thing. The vegetarian option for Helen and a few others was quite poor with the best thing on offer being a plate of chips for 7 to share. We mentioned this to the tour guide and he was very apologetic but it’s more down to the restaurant than him.

Following lunch we went over the road to the rowing boat tour and met the lady driver who took us out on her boat. She was quite agile often using her feet to row and we had a paddle each so we could both add some gusto to the pace. We passed under caves and one by one the boats traveled along the river. It’s supposed to be the land version of Halong Bay with many karst peaks engulfing the landscape. It was quite similar to what had surrounded us in Yangshou and we both felt Yangshou is a more impressive place.

The boat tour was good fun, and we even bought our guide a drink and snack which she shared with us, we had to bargain for this and the woman selling the goods on her own boat wouldn’t leave us alone until we did! We didn’t mind too much though as we felt our guide was doing a very good job indeed.

At the end of the tour we were pressured into giving a tip to our guide but we felt we’d already tipped her in buying her drinks and snacks along the way so made for a sharp exit to the bus. There were people selling souvenirs and market items along the pier front and some were selling dog meat. By now we have become used to seeing this sort of thing on sale, funny how you get used to customs so quickly but its always the topic of conversation when you first see it.

We had a small confrontation with our tour guide on the bus back to Hanoi. As we had monies outstanding to pay he was asking for us to complete the payment. We mentioned that we’d agreed a price including bike hire but as we didn’t use the bikes then we wanted to pay the price quoted to us excluding bike rental. He got quite angry about this and said we have to pay for the bikes as the restaurant paid for fuel to get them to the site for us to cycle, but we saw many bikes there so we felt this was not the case. We were happy to pay but just not for the whole fee and he didn’t say when we said we weren’t taking the bikes that we would still have to pay for their rental. He rang our tour company and Helen agreed a price over the phone which mean’t we paid some of the cost towards the bike but not all. Our chirpy tour guide was no longer quite so happy and he settled into a grump until the bus stopped to pick up his girlfriend.

Another lesson learned! Still we had managed to get back some of the money so it was good to know there are some principles in place. When we got back we ate at a great local restaurant and for a good price. We went back and packed ready for our Halong Bay trip leaving at 8am the next day.

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

After a much needed lie in we got up and enjoyed a Wada breakfast eventually getting out at around midday to see some of Guilin’s sights. We booked ourselves onto a boat tour to take us to Yangshou the following day, the tour costs were pretty pricey but we thought it would be a nice alternative to getting another bus. So with this booked we went out on the local buses to central Guilin and made our way to the scenic Solitary Beauty Peak based at the very centre of all the Karst peaks in Guilin and now with the University Campus set around it. It was quite a pleasant walk to this area through side streets and alleys, close to the Li River. Guilin is built in and around these peaks and the central peak is supposed to be this one with a small shrine and temple on top. The peaks aren’t very high but they are extremely steep, the more touristy ones have steps up (like this one), and they don’t take very long to climb but as they jut out of the ground so suddenly you will always get good views up there.

This one was a little busy with other tourists but we took our time around the campus and tried to avoid the tourist traps. On top of the peak are a few souvenir shops one of which occupied a girl who was sleeping over her stall. They will fall asleep anywhere over here!

After the peak we took in a few more sights around the city and went to a slightly more westernised local restaurant but did enjoy the food and it was nice and cosy in there too. We continued to walk along the river side towards Elephant mountain which looked like a nicer area to walk but we’d already paid for the entrance to the Beauty Peak and decided to save a few pennies by bypassing other peaks. The Elephant peak area does look really nice though and is perhaps a better value walk for your money.

We found our bus back to Wada and went back to the hostel to chill out. Later on we enjoyed a few drinks in the bar and then went to the local shopping mall for some food in Japanese form. We finished the evening off with a walk back to the hostel and got an early night ready for our early pick up the next morning.

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

We packed up and were ready to check out at around 11am. We’d read that we could leave our bags in luggage storage at the MTR station at Kowloon’s Hung Hom so that we could make the most of having some more time in Hong-Kong. Getting there is fairly easy on the metro with a few stops and walking distance. There is a little problem in that when you buy a through ticket to Hung Hom from Causeway Bay you’ll have to go through an unpaid walking zone to reach the connection to the western line. You wont find this out though until you’re ready to change lines at Tsim Shu Tsha and the machine takes your ticket and you have to buy another one way to Hung Hom!! We tried to explain that we didn’t know about this but they didn’t really want to know and told us we would need to buy another ticket to get there!! So we lost some more dollars on this and gritted our teeth in fury! Well Helen did but the moment soon passed and we found ourselves at Hung Hom with a decent one off fee of 20 HKD per bag for the day which isn’t too bad.

We walked across to the main strip in Kowloon via the Hollywood stars walk along the sea front. It was good to have clear views across to Hong-Kong Island and we enjoyed this along with several other tourists. The sun was out and it was very pleasant indeed. As we wandered through the streets and endless shopping malls we found ourselves a good little knife shop and bought us a wee Christmas gift in the form of a Swiss army pen knife. Sad but these things do make your lives a little easier when traveling and having those practical items to hand. It didn’t stretch the budget too much either which was a nice bonus.

After the excitement of buying our little present we went on the search for some food before our over night bus journey. We found a street that had a mix of establishments and chose Red Ant, which appeared to have some nice rice, noodle and soup dishes. The food was average with Helens particularly bland. Not what you expect really but it did the job. Afterwards we made our way back to Hung Hom station, collected the bags and went for the next train to Shenzen. It’s a much cheaper method of getting to and from Hong Kong than using the Kowloon express from Guangzhou. For 33 HKD each we got the MTR to the furthest stop on the line Lo Wu, from here it was clearly signposted to get to Shenzen and the bus station, there are exit and entry points from Hong Kong to back into China and the whole process took around an hour and a half from leaving Hung Hom. When we arrived at the bus station we had another hours wait, so we proceeded to play some more card games. We thought we’d lost our other pack and managed to pick up a new pack of cards for around 20p! Bargain! The bus left at 7.30pm and we were pleasantly surprised to see that the bus wasn’t as bad as the reports we’d heard and also seen on the roads. We didn’t realise but this was the luxury bus and not the cheaper 3 tier sleeper option. The bedding was clean and fresh on and it was only a two tier bunk bed layout with only a handful of people on there. You need to use the seat belts as you’ll get jerked around quite a bit and there were a few stops coming out of Shenzen before we were well on our way.

Our destination was Guilin and we were told the bus would get in at around 6am, but we were way ahead of time and arrived at 4.15am. Luckily the station was very much anticipating the arrival of the buses so we weren’t alone at the drop off. It was a little confusing but we walked out of the station, found ourselves a taxi driver who knew where we were going and landed at the Wada hostel at around 5am. The hostel was all locked up and in the dark but eventually someone came out to let us in, fortunately the room was available and she checked us in at no additional cost. This is one thing that we’ve found to be really helpful in China, you can arrive at pretty much any time of the day/night and get into your room as long as the date is the same as your check in date then there’s no extra charges for getting your room early. So we were able to get some sleep and set the alarm for 10am.

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

Boxing Day is traditionally a time for eating the left overs from Christmas day, watching some great films and playing games with family and friends. However this year we wanted beach, sand and sea with some lovely sunshine, especially after coming from the north of China! Lamma Island was our choice as it has good reviews a nice walk from one village to the next and has a good reputation for being a million miles away from Hong-Kong’s manic streets. During the morning we sorted out or next tickets for traveling back in China, Shenzhen to Guilin on a 10 hour sleeper bus which would be our first sleeper bus journey!

The boat over to the island takes around 20/25 minutes. If you want to buy a ticket you need change for the entrance barriers, there are change machines if you don’t have enough coins with you. You can walk from Yung Shue Wan to Sok Kwu Wan in around 90 minutes or so and it’s an easy walk along a custom concrete path. There are shops and restaurants in the villages and we found a great little organic shop which even sold flapjacks and wine which was very reasonably priced, even cheaper than on Hong-Kong Island. We found a beach, ate our packed lunch of sardines on Rivita bread and bought an ice cream for dessert. One caveat however, when there is beauty there is quite often some unappealing elements, such as a coal fired power station just across the bay. It’s a pretty big eye sore but you would hope that the waters are safe, people were swimming and everywhere was pretty clean. If you can ignore the beast on the horizon then this is a little gem of a place away from the shops and manic life in the city.

Continuing our walking we headed over the hills and towards the other village. Its a nice little walk with some great views out to sea (when looking away from the power station!) and the sun was slowly turning our skin golden even in December so plenty of suncream is required. Another beach called Lo Shing off the beaten track can be found and we had it all to ourselves pretty much, a nice jetty with a BBQ area was occupied by a family cooking all sorts of fish and meats. We settled onto our towels and Dave dragged, well carried, Helen into the sea against her wishes! Dave got his punishment after slipping on a rock and slicing off some layers of skin on his heal which stung quite a bit, that was the sea fun over with for him!

After some anti-septic wipes and a “little” bit of sympathy from Helen we hobbled off to the village to head back to Hong-Kong Island. Stopping on the way at a restaurant called Shark Fin Seafood Restaurant we had some awesome fresh fish and prawns, the best fresh seafood we’ve enjoyed on the trip so far! We don’t like the name but it was damn good food.

We made our way back to the guest house, bought some essentials for the next part of the trip, toothpaste, earplugs etc and after the first real sun and beach in months we were knackered! We snuggled down in bed and watched a new episode of E4′s MisFits. A great boxing day, one to remember!

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