Today was to be our sightseeing day with a half day stint at the Grand Palace. We took the boat again to Tha Chang stop not far from the Palace area and followed some of the Lonely Planet’s walking tour for the area. We followed the first part of the route to the Bangkok’s Fine Art school which is located opposite the front gate of the palace, what a great place to study art and be inspired! Unfortunately there weren’t any exhibitions on so we sat in the courtyard for a while people watching and photographing the area. We crossed over the road to the Palace and as we passed through the gates were told we would both have to queue for longer length clothes to cover arms and legs all the way to our shoes. Helen thought she would need something but Dave’s passed the knee cropped trousers didn’t make the cut either so we both had to queue for half an hour for an assortment of sweaty shirts and skirts that had been worn by other tourists earlier that day. Nice! The annoying thing was that it was so hot, it was difficult wearing simply shorts and a vest let along trousers, a sarong and a shirt!!

Once dressed we continued onto the ticket office and purchased 2 tickets costing 350 Baht each. It is a very impressive sight indeed starting with pagoda’s, temples and shrines that glisten and sparkle in the sun. Vibrant golds, emeralds an ruby’s dominate the area with intricate gold leaf descriptive paintings along walls. You can’t go into the actual Palace or residence but walking around the grounds and visiting museum rooms, enthroning rooms and various formal occasion temples is pleasant enough if you don’t mind queuing with the many tourists who are also there. We watched the changing of the guards and after about 2 hours we decided to move on. It’s on a similar level to the Grand Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in terms of decadence, architectural design and intricate detailing.

There is a market around the corner from the Palace near to the ferry stop which we wandered through and people watched as they bargained for small collectible amulets. We also explored some back alleys where we got a glimpse of old Bangkok, houses on stilts on the river side and children playing in the narrow streets. After the long queue’s and heat of the day we’d had enough of sightseeing already and decided to head back to the hostel for a few hours as we were planning to make tracks on the sky-train later on to check out the night market and get some food.

We got a taxi to take us to the Ratchathewi sky train stop and from there took the sky train to Nana. This is the stop for the Paptong weekend market, perhaps an area that should be described as Bangkok’s red-light district! Although since 2004 Helen has noticed that things have been toned down a little and although there are many ping pong shows available it’s perhaps not thrown in your face as it used to be. We had a little wander through the streets and then got back on the sky-train for one more stop to Asok where we had planned to find a Tapas restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet. We decided this would be our date night and we would spend over budget for our meal. The Tapas restaurant is located next door to Suk II hostel, a place Helen has stayed at many a time when she has been in Bangkok before. So we had a look around after enjoying a buy 2 get one free deal at the restaurant, it didn’t really soften the final bill but we did enjoy some lovely western food for a change. The main reason we didn’t book to stay at Suk is that they’re prices are now quite high starting at 700 Baht for a double with shared bathroom, we were paying 430 Baht a night at our hostel with our own bathroom.

On our last full day in Bangkok we went off in the direction of Siam, the business and shopping district. We directed our attention onto buying a few items for our camera gear, and purchased a tripod and a small camera bag from the MBK shopping mall. We also bargained for the first series of The Wire as well as experiencing their food hall which is a must-do if you’re having a long day shopping in Bangkok!

We had a few galleries earmarked on the map that we were intending to visit, the main problem being that we couldn’t find 2 of them, one was in between exhibitions and one was housing a small photographic exhibition. So Wooden Postcards at the La Lanta Fine Art Gallery was the only one that was open.

After this slightly disappointing search for off-the wall Fine Art we promptly found a taxi and decided to head back. Our taxi driver had only been driving for 2 weeks in Bangkok and didn’t know where we were heading to, but he was determined to get us there so we gave him a chance, he made a few calls and got on the right tracks. It started raining heavily too so we were happy to be out of the down pour. We couldn’t get dropped off at our hostel as their was a problem with a demonstration taking up the top end of the Phitsanulok Rd. We thought we would walk right through it on our way back and were amazed by the amount of demonstrators there were, it seemed to be a peaceful demonstration taking place outside government buildings and the UN building. We managed to pick up on something to do with the release of Thai Nationals, but we couldn’t get this confirmed. As soon as we stepped out from under cover the rain came down hard and we were drenched by the time we’d walked 100m back to the hostel. The rain halted our plans that night so we stayed at the hostel and caught up on the blog.

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

As the weather and temperature was so good in Kunming we thought it would be a great chance to hire some bikes and get out and about. We made a packed lunch and hired the bikes from Cloudland Hostel. They were decent mountain bikes and the hostel provided a map and written instructions on a few routes, one of which was a ride to Dian Chi Lake a massive lake in the south of Kunming, which we decided upon.

We arrived at the lake after some 2 hours of cycling, mostly on the highway for the first hour, Dave got some Seagull sick dropped on his head so we decided to head to the park and get away from the flying sick and poop machines and have some quiet time. Lunch consisted of tuna mayo sandwiches, oranges, egg tart and a pastry desert filled with chocolate. We continued on around the park exploring and photographing which was great in the sunshine. After an hour or two of riding around we started to make our way back which takes around an hour.

The Unemployed Life stickers kept making an appearance around the hostel, as well as other destinations that we have visited, so we knew we were following in the foot steps of fellow travellers Will and co who we had met previously in Xi’an.

We needed some supplies for making breakfast cheaper rather than buying hostel/restaurant food all the time. We found a local Walmart superstore and stocked up on cereals, fruit and veg, cans of tuna, noodles and a few cakes! The Walmart is located behind a multi-storey market so you need to walk through to the back of this and you cannot miss the Walmart sign! Afterwards we chilled out at Cloudland, ate some substandard food and packed ready for our trip to Dali the next day.

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

The train arrived at Kunming station at around 8am and we fought our way through the masses of crowds out of the station and towards the bus station which is around a 10 minute walk. Our destination was the Cloudland Hostel which provided information about which bus to get and where to get dropped off. We got off at the correct bus stop and then proceeded to wander around the area for nearly an hour looking for the hostel, luckily is was fairly warm and the sun was shining. Eventually we found it and thankfully it was a really nice place with an open area for pool, table tennis and a nice cafe/restaurant.

We had booked a double room which was a nice size and lovely sitting on the bed in the warmth of the sunshine. Whilst traveling you do accrue lots of smelly clothes and when we have the use of a washing machine we most definitely make good use. The room was covered in drying clothes whilst we did some editing and writing. After having some breakfast in the cafe we headed out to explore the local area. A local attraction at this time of year is Green Lake which draws in the crowds to see the first Seagulls arrive in the winter and then they feed them bread which can be brought from dedicated street bread vendors. Only China could turn a load of Seagulls flying around a lake into a tourist trap, with stalls of dried fruits and souvenirs.

We headed towards a vegetarian fake meat Buddhist restaurant. We struggled to find the venue as the maps provided by The Lonely Planet and local maps put the restaurant on the other side of the street. We popped into the Yuantong Temple for a wander around which was nice, apart from the building work, with Turtles swimming in the lake. Eventually we decided that the vegetarian restaurant on the side of the temple was more than likely the one we were looking for. We headed inside and ordered our food, which you would struggle to tell that it wasn’t meat. The Peppered Beef was really beefy and the texture was spot on, the fake prawns with fake ham were ok but not our favourite. If you get the chance, either if you are a vegetarian or meat lover we would recommended giving it a go.

We went back to the hostel and had a drink in the bar and then had a quick game of table tennis before bed.

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

We woke up to another morning of blue skies and broad sunlight, funny that it all comes as you’re about to leave! We had the Hostel 64 breakfast which consisted of orange juice, some home-made bread, jam and coffee (for Helen) although it was okay it didn’t live up to some of the breakfasts we’ve been eating here in Japan.

We didn’t want to give ourselves too much to do today as the following morning we planned on making an early start with a train connection to Tianjin where we would leave on our slow boat to China. So with that in mind we picked up a usefully alternative guide to Osaka called the Osaka Field Trip, listing art and music venues along with cafe’s and various sights across the city. Had we been able to spend more time here this would have come in very handy indeed, but for one day we managed to pick out a few places of interest and started off with a local nearby park. The park was surrounded by tower blocks and busy roads but managed to carry a peaceful harmony, with many people taking a break on park benches, girls catching up with gossip and dog walkers taking some time out of work. The dog portraits certainly kept us entertained! We love to idle through these kind of spaces, with the flower gardens drawing in people from all around the local area, it’s great for a photo-opportunities. From here we set out towards the main river passing through Osaka and in search of somewhere to grab a cup of tea. We found an artsy complex next to the Museum of Art called Graf, although it was a cool place and the environment was really welcoming we didn’t particularly enjoy the sting of the cost of a cup of tea at around £7, it wasn’t your average cup of tea but we are supposed to be on some kind of budget here!!

So after this we set off in search of another cafe recommended in the guide called Coco, this one situated on the 2nd floor of a building block overlooked the park we had spent the morning in and had views of treetops, buildings and a crossing; somewhere you can watch the world and sky go by. Here Dave had a fabulous burger made freshly with pork mince, a Japanese style sauce and a fried egg on top, it looked pretty immense. For Helen though there were no veggie or fish options so she stuck to a milkshake and a piece of cake. Still it was a lovely little place, very quirky and attracted a pleasant bunch of customers.

From Coco we set off in the direction of Osaka castle via some the downtown shopping district Shinsaibashi. Here Helen found a Freshness Burger company, something we had enjoyed very much in Harajuku Tokyo, earlier in the month, so a veggie burger it was and then a walk into the mass of signs and shoppers. Already Christmas stands are setting up selling trees and decorations. Place all this in a centre with signs promoting beauty, food, clothes, DIY, supermarkets, sweets, bakeries and shoes it was a pretty intense place after our quiet experience of the park, but another side worth seeing if you make it to Osaka. It’s very different from walking around the tower block streets.

After purchasing some flip-flop socks for a bargain of £3 (perhaps the cheapest thing we have found whilst in Japan) we started the walk towards the castle. The route took us down backstreets with a mix of department stores, coffee shops, apartment blocks, older factory outlets, bridges, murals and busy traffic. We eventually found ourselves at the castle park situated in the centre of concrete and skyscrapers. It is very much separated off from all of this via a moat and does have land surrounding the grounds of the castle so you do manage to escape the busy streets. We didn’t go into the castle, instead deciding to photograph from the outside it’s bold structure and the people it attracted. We sat with an ice-cream in the sun, photographed and again watched the passers by.

We found a metro route back and got the first connection to our nearest tube stop. When we got back we loaded up another blog post, double checked our itinerary for the next day and decided we would try to find this Korean restaurant now we had got our bearings for the area. We managed to find the place around a 5 minute walk from Hostel 64, it was pretty small and cosy with only a few other customers in their having a post work feast. We still decided to give it a go as we had spent so long trying to find it the night before, the menu was all in Japanese with pictures but you couldn’t really make out what the meat was. He described a few things to us by making actions and sounds of a cow and pointing to his stomach, alarm bells should have been ringing by this point but we found some tofu and Dave went for a meaty looking dish. The beer was cheap and the company was good so it kind of shadowed the fact that Dave’s dish did in fact contain cow’s stomach or tripe as we call it back home. It was petty tough and chewy and he managed about 5 pieces before giving the rest a miss! Helen’s was a tofu dish with bacon on top, so off came the bacon and she managed to get through the rest. We did however have a great pancake dish with vegetables and squid and the owner brought out a few drinks on the house. It was definitely a food experience not worth repeating but all part of the fun that we’ve had in trying different foods whilst in Japan.

On our way home and a little giddy on booze we got our boat money out of an ATM at a nearby 7/11 store, some cheeky pudding and then went back to get ready for an early start the next day. What a time we’ve had in Japan. It’s been tough on a budget but it really has been an experience worth while with the variety of what we have seen, experienced, eaten and photographed.

We’re a little excited and nervous about the two day boat journey to Tianjin but there is a sense of adventure as we embark on the next stage of our trip to China.

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