• 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)

We left Padangbai at around 9am once we’d checked in and watched several other ferry and boat companies jet off packed to the rim with tourists and their bags. We were hoping that our boat wouldn’t be so rammed tight! We bought our tickets the night before from a guy operating on behalf of the Ocean Star Express who are one of the companies with International standards, we got a good deal with it being off-peak and paid 950,000 rupees for us both return and with a transfer to Legian at the end. This was an open ticket and so we would just need to reconfirm this when we wanted to leave.

The boat journey was smooth and took around 90 minutes, we sat next to Carryn from South Africa who then became one of our buddies for the week. When we got to Gili Air we grabbed our bags and decided to walk from the jetty to the main street, although on Gili there are no paved roads it’s all sand and people with quite a few donkey carts manoeuvring tourists and their goods around. We went straight to Manta Dive as Carryn had already pre-booked 10 dives and we knew we’d be able to leave our bags there whilst looking for accommodation ourselves. Behind Manta is Nina’s which is a good budget option at around 100 rs a night but we wanted a little more luxury for our Island stay. We checked out a few other options and then happened upon a small collection of newly built “Chillout Bungalows” set back from the beach and busy area. We loved them and chose the first on the left with an open bathroom and big thatched roof, we had our own seating area at the front and it was quite peaceful. For 200,000 a night we were happy with this place.

Once we’d settled into our Island life on Gili Air we took advantage of the good food and fresh fish on offer and before long we were booked onto a snorkel trip around the 3 islands to give us a taste of the shallow waters. It was 70,000 each for the snorkel trip  with the gear, although don’t expect anything too new! The trip was good in that we swam with turtles and got to have fun with our underwater camera, plus we saw the other Islands. Some snorkelling points we better than others and the lunch on Gili Meno was disappointing; we waited an hour for noodles and rice with veg and we were constantly pestered by hawkers!

Back on Gili Air we were starting to make friends and met up with Carryn who then introduced us to her new dive buddies, some of whom were related to a few of the people on the snorkelling trip so it was all starting to fall into place, our little Gili Air community. We also frequented the local Muslim Warung in the village which for 10-15,000 rs you’ll get a well packed veggie, squid, or chicken and rice delight topped off with roasted peanuts and coco-nut shavings.

Helen was also pretty excited at the prospect of attending some yoga classes once she’d noticed that there was a yoga school on the Island. H20 Yoga is not too far from where our bungalows were located and so it was a simple hop across the field or 3 minute walk from us. There are two yoga teachers at H20 at the moment, Natasha who is acting manager offers and Anusara approach and Gene a Vini-yoga style. Natasha also offers a free meditation class on Mondays and there is a teacher training program coming up sometime later this year. It’s a lovely yoga circle with some accommodation surrounding the deck and a cute kitten who by now will be nearly fully grown called Surya!

One thing we have failed to mention is that all three Islands are occupied by cats, and for some reason the ginger cat comes up top! There are no dogs on the Islands and so it’s a nice an easy life for them! We walked around the Island in about an hour but had plenty of stops along the way to catch the low golden sun, the east side of the Island is way more developed but its worth exploring the perimeter and the village within.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, Sony DSC-TX5 underwater camera, processed in Lightroom 3)

People in this part of the world get up early, so you get up early too. We awoke at 6am and decided to watch the sunrise from our floating house looking out across the water. The sunlight colour and luminance changes so fast that its a photographers dream to be somewhere so unique and interesting. Breakfast was provided by our guests and we happily ate yet more fried eggs, bread, jams and fruit which would set us up nicely for another day of boat travel and beach time. This time we headed back on ourselves from the following day and docked at beach 6 which was again very isolated and offered the chance of some snorkeling action. The water was relatively clean, not crystal by any means, and there were a few fish around the rocks which made it interesting. After all feeling the power of the sun on our skin yesterday we had a slightly more sheltered day under the trees on the beach front when not swimming or exploring the beach.

Lunch was again provided by our guide and the boat driver which was amazing again. We think they had learnt that we eat quickly and therefore fill up quickly and they did not produce as much food as yesterdays lunch which was a relief to us all. The boat left at 1.30pm and we made our way around the island, past the homestay and onwards to the Mangrove forests which we did not arrive at until nearly 5.30pm. We walked through the forest along a raised wooden platform exploring the trees and their amazingly alien like roots. Sunset arrived swiftly and we departed for Koh Kong where a tuk-tuk was awaiting our return. We felt the tour was amazing and our guide and driver were great, so we tipped them a few dollars as it was well deserved. The tuk-tuk drove us back to the tour operators and we grabbed our bags from the Dugout hotel as we were moving to a cheaper hostel. Big thanks to the Dugout for allowing us to leave our bags, whilst we were away, however on our return arrogance and rudeness seemed uncalled for, as well as asking for a tip for the girls who apparently looked after and carried our bags, but if tipping was not our thing, don’t worry about it. Even though it is in many review books, we are not sure how long it will last with attitudes like that and at $16 a night in a tired room we did not feel a tip was warranted.

We moved up the road to were Ali and Carl were staying and we got a great room for $7 and then $10 the following night as it was Chinese New Year. We freshened up and all met for some evening food. Ice cream followed from a great place on the water front and then an early night before heading off in the morning on a bike ride into the Cardamon Mountains Conservation Corridor to find the Tatai River and Waterfall.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm 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’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)