We started off the day by eating a fairly good breakfast included in our accommodation at the hostel, we’re not sure how 4 mornings of eggs and toast would go down! We spent a short while documenting the hostel downstairs as it really is a lovely space. Following on we took the number 56 bus to the Chatuchak weekend market which took around 45 minutes to get to. It’s a much cheaper option than taxiing or getting a tuk-tuk there and cost 26 baht between us. When we got there we went straight to the information office for a guide of the area, there are more than 8000 market stalls in a 35 acre area of land so we thought it would be good to know where we were going and plan our route.  We wanted to pick up a few items ready for the south and some replacement clothes for one’s we’ve been wearing over and over since we started travelling in October.

We started by exploring the vintage/second hand section which is any stylists and fashion designers dream. It houses anything from vintage tea dresses to leather bags, retro sports wear and re-worked seconds into new garments. It has to be said that the Thai’s on are top of their game when it comes to vintage trading, they know what sells to Westerners and they have a good depth of stock. Helen was very close to picking up some old tea dresses for when we get back home but managed to resist spending the pennies. We crossed through many fashion stalls and picked up sandals, shorts, t-shirts and vests whilst taking a few shots along the way.

The most memorable photo for us from this collection is of the giant tattooed man sleeping next to his market stall, surrounded by badges, paintings, bags and handmade crafts. He was covered all over in tattoos, piercing’s and leather and was disguised by the goods that swamped him…There were certainly many characters around. We walked by the music area and watched young children playing on their violins and we passed through the antiques section too. Seriously though you can buy pretty much anything you want at this market, we’ve read about illegal animal trading going on here too so if you do see anything you’re not happy about you can always report it to the police that patrol the site. We think we got what we wanted though with little fuss and enjoyed some decent street food too.

Later that night we took the ferry south and made our way to the flower market, it’s a 24 hour place with fresh flowers being prepared day in day out. If you get there late or very early in the morning it will be a real hive of activity. We got there at about 6.30pm at night and wandered through the street area and also some back street warehouses where we saw some of the work that goes on behind the scenes. We did want to go to other markets but with only one weekend in Bangkok most of the better markets take place on Saturdays and Sundays and there’s only so many markets you can get to in 2 days!

We ended the evening at a lovely restaurant overlooking the river right next to our ferry stop in Thewet, we had great views but the service was a bit of a mess, good job we weren’t in much of a rush.

Traveling around China has been easier than either of us had imagined especially after hearing some dodgy stories from travelers in Japan who had come here and left pretty quickly. We left our hostel behind early on the morning and headed to the bus station via the metro. Its a bit of a walk from the metro station to the long distance bus station so be prepared for a walk of around 15-20 minutes with rucksacks. We stopped off at some shops along the way and bought some breaded goods for the journey.

Boarding the bus we were excited to be finally heading off into the country and away from the masses of skyscrapers and crowds of people. The bus left on time and we settled down to a five hour journey. The roads in China are some of the most deadliest in the world with a statistic of 500 deaths a day related to road traffic incidents. This is clear to see from crossing the road, you take your own life into your hands, drivers have little patience for pedestrians or road signs, and over-taking on the smallest of roads with blind hairpins is a fun filled adventure every time. The bus driver on this journey loved to put his foot down and over-take anything and everything. One more thing, they don’t believe in seat belts!

We arrived safely after a few hours and were dropped off right outside the Koala Huangshan YHA. There are two hostels in Tunxi with Koala in their name, according to the map we set off in completely the wrong direction and did a big u-turn to end up back where we started when we got off the bus only to see the YHA right there. It’s a pretty cool building, although in the winter there is no heating and as the space is so vast in the communal areas it gets really chilly. Central heating doesn’t make it much further south than Beijing either so you’re always relying on hot water, air conditioning heating vents and electric blankets. We had a double room booked here and it was bloody freezing!

From the hostel we sorted out our trip to Huangshan Mountain. You can do this from the towns closer to the base of the mountain but there is a good rail and bus link to Tunxi so it’s easy enough to get your sleeper train from here. We had a pick up for the next morning at 7am and from there we would get to the drop off point for the mountain trek.

So up until leaving we had a half day or so in Tunxi and wandered into the town to take a look around. It has a very old part to the town with some tourist shops, but the buildings and alleyways are particularly attractive and fun to explore. We watched the sun set over the river whilst the local ladies washed their clothes at the waters edge and others were leaving their pak-choi to dry out. Over the road was a little cafe tucked nicely into a backstreet called The Ying Yang Cafe, it is recommended in The Lonely Planet and offers a fairly decent range of western and Chinese food. It was a little empty when we arrived but the food was good in the form of a vegetarian pizza and tuna pasta. We’re really looking forward to getting the hostels and guesthouses that have kitchens and or cooking areas as it sucks to have to pay for someone to make it for you!

Back at the hostel we got an early night in preparation for the Huangshan adventure the next day.

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

So the day has arrived to leave Japan and it’s time to live a cheaper life in China. We got up early and packed our bags. The boat was scheduled to leave Kobe at around 11am but we needed to check in before 10am. We ate breakfast in the Hostel 64 room and then headed off to the subway to catch a train to Kobe port. This involved a change onto a kind of monorail which took us to the port destination. We proceeded to head for check-in which involved a laser light shone onto your forehead, checking for any high fever symptoms. We passed with flying colours, paid for our one way ticket which cost 30,000 Yen, £300 (inc fuel surcharge) each for a twin room (special 1st class!) as we wanted to keep the gear with us as safe as possible and then we spotted a couple of Western faces.

We got chatting to Rick and Beth traveling from the UK and who are writing their own travel blog and then we boarded the Yanjing ferry to Tianjin together. The room was damn good and very spacious compared to some of the other rooms we have stayed in. En-suite with a shower and toilet which was ok, put it this way it was better to have this than the shared facilities, which were not that pleasant. You can stay cheaper in a mixed dorm of 12 or 16 people if you want to. We headed for an explore of our new home for the next few days. It takes just over two and a half days to reach China so we headed off around the ship with cameras in hand.

The highlight was a room in the depth of the boat with two table tennis tables. The gymnasium sign made us laugh, a storage room for carpets and knackered video game machines would have been more accurate. There appeared to be plenty of photography opportunities around the boat, the views on top promised to be very good and the other passengers just loved having there photos taken on deck, it felt like something out of a Carry On film. With blue sky and calm seas we headed off and as we left Kobe the sun shone brightly and the sea was very calm, it was a pretty cool experience.

We bought some food bits and bobs from the 7/11 for the trip and had some Japanese Yen, this is the only currency that they accept on board, however we quickly realised that we didn’t really have that much food, so a trip to the on board restaurant would have to be undertaken at some point. We found out from the literature that the breakfast was included in the price of the ticket so at least that was something. Pot Noodle style food from Japan is surprisingly good so this was our lunch on the first day.

We were called on deck for a drill in emergency evacuation, there we all stood in life jackets whilst the wind blasted our faces. The Brits had our own instruction which lasted half the time of the Chinese instructions, not sure what we missed there!? We were 2 of 96 passengers in total on board and found out there are 46 staff, it’s a funny staff to passenger ratio and made us giggle. There is the capacity to have 396 passengers in total on board and we couldn’t work out where they would all be if this was the case as the boat was feeling pretty full at this capacity.

On board we caught up with Rick and Beth and played cards into the evening and as the sun was starting to set we went up onto the top deck for superb views across the sea. We’re not entirely sure of our exact location at this point but it was the south Japanese coastline, the sunset was breathtaking and mesmerizing, the sea was extremely calm and we met our other western traveler JP from France. There was some evening entertainment planned, we were told it would start at 9pm but something that we eventually learned on this trip was that most things started half an hour before they let us know. We heard the singing, cheers and various performances downstairs whilst playing cards, so eventually we made our way down to join in the fun. It was a karaoke event with interludes of the ferry staff performing with musical instruments or singing. The audience cheered loudly and got behind their friends in the karaoke, it was a pretty raucous event for ferry entertainment. We we baffled by it all and carried on with a few more card games before heading to bed.

We decided to listen to some Adam and Joe podcasts that we’ve got with us on our travels before getting off to sleep. Anyone who knows us well will appreciate our love for Adam and Joe, and it kept us feeling all at home in our little cabin up in special first class…ha ha…we did feel a little too privileged.

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