• Day four and five: Sete to Junbessi (rest day) with a high point at Lamjura La 3530m

The upwards slog from Sete continued for a long long time. We knew these past two days of steep uphill trekking was going to be tough but we were always welcomed by fantastic views. After a sturdy porridge and ginger tea breakfast we made our way through some of the higher villages on the climb including Goyam where we stopped to enjoy some hot lemon and were entertained by the hyperactive children.

When we left Goyam we went higher still and eventually we came across snow and ice on the path. At Lamjura-La (3530m / 11,581ft) which was for both of us the highest point we’d ever trekked to, we were greeted by a large Yak or Nak and a fantastic Stupa dressed in prayer flags. It was really cold on the pass, misty and atmospheric with a lovely dog following us all the while. Just before the pass descended we stopped for some noodle soup and poorly made chapatti at the last tea house on the pass. We were ripped off when she told us our bill was 900 rupees! Ah well she was an entertaining chef to watch.

This was a long day of trekking, we were on the go from 7.30am until 4pm and the long downward walk to Junbessi felt like it took forever. We did pass some fantastic mani walls and stones and the weather was nice and moody by this point. We certainly welcomed the sight of Junbessi though and with school children singing their way up the valley on their way home we were enchanted by this beautiful place. We already knew at this point that we would have a rest day in Junbessi.

Thanks to KEEP (Kathmandu Environmental Education Project) we’d made some notes prior to the trek whilst we were staying in the capital. They have notes from trekkers recommending places to stay on the trek, gear, porter and guide advice and so on and we’d jotted down a few of the recommended tea houses and lodges. In Junbessi we wanted to stay at the Ang Chopka as it sounded rather special from the write up. We were welcomed in and actually stayed in Sir Edmund Hilliary’s room, which was so far the nicest room we’d come across.

The family are really welcoming at Chopka and on our first night we were joined by Joshua and Amata who we’d met the day before in Sete. Little did we know they would be our trekking companions for the rest of our trip. We enjoyed some fine food in the family kitchen and by the time our rest day came along we were well and truly fitting in with the furniture. Even more so on their sunny veranda! This is where we spent most of the day in fact, washing clothes, eating, drinking tea, reading and chatting with our new buddies. More trekkers joined us that night including the Singapore lads and a few other solo hikers. There was a good little vibe going on at Ang Chopka.

• Day six: Junbessi to Nuntala with a high point of 2930m

By this point we felt like our bodies had enjoyed a good relaxing day in sunny Junbessi and after a fairly early start we journeyed off with Amata and Joshua for the day. This was perhaps one of the easiest and quickest days of trekking as we pretty much chatted the whole way and time just flew by.

We enjoyed an excellent Nak cheese and crackers stop at the first official place where Everest can be viewed from. The only thing for us was that Everest was in cloud, still we had a really good taste of the vast peaks awaiting our presence in the distance. Plus the little lady at Everest View was very sweet, how could we not buy cheese from her?

Along the trek we stopped in Ringmo for lunch as the wind blasted by us and each of us picked up a mars bar for a later treat. We enjoyed this straight after the pass on our way to Tragshindo. The monastery at Tragshindo is a nice place to stop for a little while along the way. We picked up on the fact that we were probably a little slower trekking with our new friends, mainly as we were chatting about food…A LOT! And we were taking in more sights (and mars bars).

We got to Nunthala at 5.30pm and stayed at the Shangri La Lodge. It’s American/Nepali owned and one man runs the place which did mean that the food service was slow, especially for those ordering momo’s. Our fellow Singapore trekkers were also staying there the night. It’s a pretty over the top colourfully decorated place.

• Day seven: Nunthala to Bupsa

By this point we were undoing a lot of the uphills we’d been trekking earlier in the trek by going down! Much of the trek was averaging at around 2-2500m but on this day we hit a low of 1676m, lower than our starting point in Jiri! However all of the training and going up and down was great for acclimatisation and we knew it would be helping us later on in the trek. After leaving the bizarre Shangri La Lodge we carried on along the easy to find path and criss-crossed through more terraces, tribal villages and donkey trains. We enjoyed more of the wonderful Nak cheese and milk tea before stopping for lunch at the top of Kharikhola.

Kharikhola is a lovely largish village with many options for accommodation. We wanted to continue further though to Bupsa which we could see perched on top of the hill in front of us. So we went up from 2072m to 2350m in a one hour or so hike steeply uphill. We had another long day of trekking and arrived at The Kwangde View Lodge at 4.15pm to the sun going down all around us. It was a lovely golden light across the valley.

Our hosts here were super friendly although the macaroni dishes were a little poor, should have stuck to the Daal Baht! Joshua gave us a great tip about using duct tape in the boot or on the back of the sock for Dave’s bad blister that was taking quite a battering from all the walking in his boots. The evening’s were getting pretty cold, perhaps at around 2C (36F) or so and our down jackets were getting lots of use. Dave also worked out for us that evening that we would be trekking around 170-190km on the trip and by the end of it all of the meters climbed would equate to over the height of Everest!

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

It was our first time back in South-East Asia since we had to make our way home from Thailand last March. It was good to be back. Our pick up from Nirwa Homestay was ready waiting for us at the airport with a sign reading Helen & David and getting through the visa process was pretty straight forward so it didn’t take too long. Our pick up cost 250,000 IRP which is around $25 and the journey from the airport took about an hour to reach our accommodation.

We were greeted by the the mum of the family who offered us fried banana and tea and we enjoyed a good chat with her before making our way to our room. We had a bungalow style accommodation which was very spacious with an open roof, chairs, a lovely bathroom and a great Asian themed outdoor seating area. It was perfect and we were right on the edge of the rice fields.

The great thing about Nirwa is that apart from the fact that they are very accommodating and friendly we were happy to be away from the business of the streets of Ubud but only to be a 5 minute walk and we would be there. They are quietly nestled into the back alleys and it’s very peaceful in their area.

We explored a little of Ubud and it wasn’t long before we got the charm of the Balinese people, they are so friendly and fun loving people. There was a ceremony taking place that day and so the boys of the town were being chased around by the elders dressed in traditional costume. There was a great atmosphere about the place. Most of the streets were quite quiet due to the festival but we found a fairly boutique standard eatery that didn’t blow the budget but perhaps was a little nouveau cuisine for our liking. We had our first taste of the unusual textures of Indonesian food and cheap beer.

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

We arrived at 6.30am overnight from Hoi An, Justin and Jules were with us until this point and followed us to Perfume Grass hotel to see if they could catch John and Lisa. Off they went and we couldn’t check into our room so we walked over the road to the beach and found a spot to have some home made brekkie. We walked along the beach for an hour before heading back to claim our free tea and coffee from the hotel. Still no check in so we left the bags, freshened up and decided to rent a moto for the day at 5$ – not too pricey at all.

Our destination was Doc Let beach, one of the top beaches in Vietnam, it was a little cloudy but we thought we’d go on an adventure. We had some directions outlined in the Lonely Planet and a map from the hotel, we knew it would take us a while so off we went. After about half an hour on the high way we checked at a restaurant to make sure we were on the right tracks. Just keep going straight…so we did, passed through some small towns in the direction of going north and then eventually after stopping to get some more fuel we saw a landmark for Honda Port which was mentioned in the LP. After 20 minutes or so of riding along the coastal road we decided to turn around as we got closer to the Honda factory which we knew wasn’t the location of the beach. We decided to turn back on ourselves and ride through a few small villages, getting hungry we pulled into a small lane which ended at the sea. We saw a family cooking some local food for their stall and asked to sit down there and eat, they fed us amazingly and we even got some wonderful fresh spring rolls thrown in. It was very cheap at aroud a pound for us both and they were very welcoming indeed, they also pointed us towards Doc Let beach, so off we went in the hope of finding our destination.

We rode past the sign after about 5 minutes on the bike and more traveling through lovely little villages, further up the road there is a turning for the beach and we had to pay a 10,000 dong entrance fee each as well as 5,000 dong for parking the bike. Once settled we wandered off into the beach resort which has been set up a little like a summer camp, although not a lot was going on as the weather was closing in and the afternoon was a grey one. We still found beauty in the place though, the sand is powder white and the waves are very soft compared to Nha Trang. We stayed for an hour and then made our way back to Nha Trang without stopping it took us 50 minutes, both arriving with a numb bum! Later on we checked in, showered and went to grab some food – Cafe Des Amis - not a great recommendation by the Lonely Planet to say the least!!

Back to hotel, bed.

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

Got up fairly early and went out for a run along the beach, quite fresh and clear air. Ran for about half an hour and then stopped to stretch on the grassy area near the beach. Helen was doing some yoga and was interrupted by a Swiss yoga teacher – dressed in nothing more than a faded pair of orange shorts and sweatband. Classic! He wanted to talk to us about Ayurvedic Yoga, we’re quite interested in Ayurveda anyway and obviously loving yoga so asking if it was free (which it was) he proceeded to talk to us for about half an hour and we went through some postures. Funny little interruption.

Back to the hotel for a good breakfast – omlette, bread and fruit salad.

We spend most of the day on the beach, Helen had been feeling unwell and we needed some down time. We found a place further up the beach called Louisiane where we were able to hire sun-loungers with umbrella for the day for a pound each including use of the pool. The sea was really rough going out with very few people going into swim so it was an added bonus using the pool.We enjoyed beer and a cocktail and stayed there until about 2.30pm. Afterwards we went for a walk up to the bridge which is around 4 km away heading north on the beach front. Many locals live in shanty town like houses around there so we wanted to head up and see what it was like. The light was quite moody which added a nice rocky feel to the images and the kids were very playful as always.

On our way back we walked via the market and eventually made our way back to Perfume Grass. Later on we went out to Cafe Cyclo – LP recommendation and joined Lisa and John who were already eating there. The food was good and not too pricey either. We went back to the hotel and packed for the following day. We had changed our open bus ticket to go onto Mui Ne as opposed to Dalat as we craved a little more beach time, plus Justin and Jules were there too so we knew we’d have a laugh meeting up with them again. It cost a furhter 100,000 between us to change the ticket which isn’t that much at all.

We finished the night with an ice-cream for Helen , some strange green yoghurt for Dave and an episode of The Peep Show.

We left one big bag behind at Cloudland hostel as they offer a free luggage storage service for 3 days (thereafter its 3yuan per day). So we took advantage of this and packed most things into one main rucksack and had the smaller ones for cameras and so on. The bus left from the one bus station in Kunming which is way out of town, it takes around 45 minutes to get there and will cost 50 yuan by taxi. We were lucky as two girls from the hostel were making their way to the bus station so we shared the taxi ride with them. They were also going all the way to Yuanyang so it was good to know there were more travelers making their way there.

The bus left at 10am but it was a chilly start to the day, much cooler than previous days and all the way to Yuanyang this weather seemed to stick with us. There were a few stops along the cliff edged roads, one of which led us to some interesting outside toilets others were drop offs for extra parcels and passports the driver seemed to be transporting. There was a bit of a traffic jam coming into Xinjie where the main buses will stop at for the terraces and we eventually pulled up at 4pm. Greg from Sunny’s Guesthouse was there to meet us, he’d been staying there for some months helping out and as their English speaking guide for the guesthouse. His English was perfect and this in itself was very helpful in negotiating the mini bus fare back to their village. The two girls we had met on our way to the bus also joined us, so all in all we had managed to save a few yuan by sharing taxis and so on.

It was pretty foggy which we’d heard is very common at the terraces as they are set at altitude so often the mist settles into the valleys and takes a day to clear. We stopped at a few vantage points along the way which gave us a hint of what to expect when the weather clears. Sunny’s Guesthouse is one of very few accommodations in the Douyishi village. It is run by husband and wife and their sun Frank, they are currently doing some renovation work (as is often the case in off season China) and they are limited when it comes to heating, but it has amazing rooftop views and is located at the foot of the rice terraces in the village so we were spoilt for choice! We opted for a double room mainly due to body heat, it was freezing!! We did have an electric blanket though so there was comfort in that. The mist didn’t clear but we got a few shots of the landscape before dinner and two of the other guys staying there turned up from a stroll so there was a good group of us around the table. Dining takes place in a separate outer building from the main guesthouse, Frank is the chef and he kept churning out top quality home-cooked organic dishes one plate after the other. We also enjoyed the red rice which is grown in the Yuanyang rice fields. The family ate at the table next to us which is great in itself as they really do welcome you to their home. We stayed up and chatted next to the little fire in the communal area and then settled in for the night in anticipation of a good sunrise the next morning.

We woke early but the fog was still with us so we stayed in the warm bed a little longer before getting up to join some of the others for breakfast. They were disappointed as the whole time they were there the fog was too! Still even the fog offers some great opportunities pictorially. For breakfast we enjoyed an eggy bread style theme; egg pancakes with jam (very tasty) eggy french bread (good) and fried egg…it did the trick but was a little too stodgy! Still it was hot food and the air was cold. Nathan from San Francisco had arrived at 5am so he joined us and we chatted about plans for later on hoping to catch the sunset if the fog cleared.

After breakfast we went for a stroll into the village. Still foggy, adding atmosphere to the surroundings, we wandered past the pigs, chickens and cows roaming around people’s houses. There is very much a sense of community here and we learned that the rice terraces belong to the villagers and they share out between themselves what they grow, we figured it must be the same for the animals. The houses are very simple, many with straw roofs and it’s a very basic way of living (although we’re sure they have large flat screen TV’s tucked away in some of them!) It’s a very picturesque place and making our way down to the terraces was really rewarding even in the fog. You can walk into them quite far on the small paths, the terraces can be quite abstract too with left over rice plants sticking out of the water. At times the sun peeked through the cloud and offered some strong reflections, but the fog would soon swallow it up again.

We arranged to meet Nathan, Frank and one of the girls at 4pm to head out in search of some better weather later on. This meant we had the day to catch up on editing, the electric blanket was turned on, we wore all the clothes possible and every so often we would pause for a run up onto the roof terrace to catch the views before going back down again. Helen got pretty cold so along to the Chemical Brother’s Push the Button album she had a boogy in the room to warm up!

We met up with the others at 4pm to go in search of a sunset, Frank had heard that the sun was out in a few areas of the region so we went off to find them. Some of the best views were found at roadside platforms where we could catch the terraces for free, the bigger more well known viewing areas are all charged on entry so we had to toy with the plan…if the weather isn’t going to be good over there let’s see what we can find for free rather than getting there, paying and having no views. When we originally came into the Yuanyang region we managed to avoid the entrance fee by sitting in the back of the mini van and being unnoticed by the gateway keepers. To access the villages alone there is a 60yuan per person fee for tourists, but if it’s foggy, the weather is bad or you can hide behind local drivers then you will miss this fee. We were nearly charged on the second day but Frank managed to talk us out of it.

Finally we reached an area that had clear views and strong sunset colours reflecting off the water filled terraces. It was quite a special moment, we could see the fog coming in on different sections of the terraces. Wow! The terraces go on for what seems like miles, and this was only one section!

We did have to pay Frank for ferrying us around but it was only 30yuan per person so that wasn’t too bad at all, he also took off some money for us as he didn’t take us all the way to other viewing areas, this was mainly because the weather wasn’t as clear there anyway so it did us a favour. Back at Sunny’s we enjoyed another family meal, perhaps not as good as the first night, but there was plenty of choice and we were joined by some more guests. We stayed up with Nathan and Greg sipping on hot tea and chatting away until it was bed time. We were leaving early the next day but had vowed to be on the rooftop for the sunrise.

6.30am and we were on the roof watching the sun rise over the mountain tops and Dave shot some more slow shutter imagery on the Olympus Pen. If we’d have had more time we would have loved to stay for that day as we knew the weather was getting better, but we had other plans to go further north from Kunming and we were happy with what we had seen.

A quick breakfast and we were all squashed into the mini van to take us back to the bus station. This time we shared the journey with 4 others so once again costs were reduced. The bus left at 8.30am and along with Nathan we made our way back to Kunming. It was a much warmer day all round and we arrived in Kunming at 5pm, Nathan shared our taxi and covered the costs as a work expense which we were very grateful for. We said our goodbyes and landed at Cloudland at around 6pm in time for dinner.

A few hellos to other travelers we had met in Shanghai and we went out to one of the local eateries for some great cheap local food. This was followed by a quiet night at the hostel and arrangements to take a bus to Dali the following afternoon.

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

We’ve opted for some sightseeing and thrown ourselves headfirst into the height of Beijing’s tourist center; The Forbidden City. Helen came here many years ago on a hot summers day. On this day the sun shone and the sky was blue, but it was very cold. Along with panda hat wearing locals, westerners and street vendors we approached the Forbidden City through the front gates passing under Mao’s portrait and through to the grounds. It’s a massive site built up of several temples, shrines, gardens, halls and statues that were home to the Qing and Ming dynasties many moons ago. It’s a must do in the whole scale of things to do when you visit China. However Dave was expecting a little more!! It is quite tired and the money coming in from the thousands of visitors every day doesn’t appear to be going into the upkeep of the site. However given this it’s still very impressive and is also host to a 4 star toilet facility! Well surely this is enough to go on it’s own merit!!

You can easily spend a day here as there are so many routes within the city, gardens and museums to explore. We opted for a long morning. The colours of the brickwork and walls within the Forbidden City are beautiful and we loved the textures that exist within this environment. Later that evening we ate at The Korean Bistro on Nanluoguxiang, a tourist Hutong area that has a mixture of western and Chinese food, gift shops and bars.

The following day we went on our first of two trips booked with the CCC. This one was for the Great Wall of China and we were going to an area of the wall that isn’t walked often, has no tourist traps and was around an hour and a half away from the city. It was lovely to get out of the city and the weather was again perfect from a photography point of view, although it was bitterly cold in the wind. Our local tour guide is from the village where we started the walk and he along with others from his family had helped to re-build parts of the wall so that people can hike in the area. He had even carried a table to a watch-mans tower so that we could stop there for lunch. We had a lovely group including Trisha and her two children from Portland, Joyce from NYC and Becca from England, our tour guide from the CCC Andy spoke excellent English and had great knowledge about the hike. Both he and the tour co-ordinator Michael were very dedicated in carrying hot water, coffee and snacks all the way. As you can see by the photographs the scenery is quite mystical with a very hazy layer on the horizon. We really enjoyed the walk and were breathtaken by the Great Wall itself.

As we got back down we were invited into the home of our local tour guide. We sat in their living room drinking tea and chatting away, it was a lovely finish to a great walk. When we got back to the CCC we were invited back to Joyce’s for beer and popcorn, Dave, Becca and myself took her up on the offer and before long we were sat in her serviced apartment in Sanlitun. We discovered Joyce is an author of 30+ books!! This is someone who has sheer dedication and is an inspiration to us all. We met up with Trisha minus the kids and went to a very local chinese fast food restaurant for noodles and chinese burgers. We ended the night with a hot chocolate at The Bookworm.

On sunday we went to a charity Christmas gift event at the Canadian International School of Beijing, we bought a few Christmas gifts and soon found ourselves back at The Bookworm using their free wi-fi. This was followed by a spot of shopping before we made our way back to the CCC for their noodle and dumpling making class. This was taught to us by a local professional Chinese chef who specialises in Chinese pastry. We made our dough for the dumplings, left it to rise and in the meantime we had a go at stretching and pulling the dough used for noodle making. This was loads of fun and many people ended up with theirs on the floor as the dough stretched too far. There is a real knack to this and it does take many years to perfect so one lesson wont do much!! For the dumplings there was a meat and veggie option for the filling. The meat is pork and vegetable and the veggie option is egg and spinach. We rolled out our dough, chopped it, flattened it out and then filled it with a little of the stuffing. After this you close the dough in and around the mixture and then make a nice pattern with the dough. We hope that the photos describe it better. Once they were ready they were boiled and then we ate them with a soy dip. They were okay! I’m sure next time they’ll be loads better!! Only a few people got to make the actual noodles but we didn’t cook them so it was more of a demonstration. It was a pretty cool little event, although it would be good to learn how to make the mixture ourselves rather than having it ready to go. We also met Jen from Tinyurbankitchen who is traveling with her husband and writing a food blog.

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