Varkala was to be our place of rest, a holiday within our travels and we wanted to have a little base here for a while before moving on within Kerala. The train journey from Kochi was pretty good, we got there in about 4 hours, the only down side was that we didn’t have a seat where our ticket said our seats were.

This is because on sleeper class during the day people just sit anywhere regardless of whether they’re ticket says so or not. In our actual seats there were around 12 people crammed onto the lower beds. We opted for the upper deck with the bags and hid away, the plus side of this being that no-one tried to sit next to us. It was a hot and fun journey but we were more than happy to be getting off at Varkala.

We got a rickshaw to the North Cliff, under the impression that we would be staying at Shiva Garden Guesthouse, who had offered a free pick up. The only thing we had to do was make a call from the station area to get them to pick us up, we couldn’t find a phone anywhere and people were not very willing to help. So we just made our own way there and were pleased we didn’t get them to pick us up as we decided not to stay there after all. We wanted something a little nicer, after all we were on our holiday time! So we moved on and had a look at a few places in that area at the top of the North Cliff and settled for a 800rs room at the Clafouti Resort, we thought we’d do one night here and then move on. The room was nice and the location not too bad but the owners are not the most hospitable and we wanted to be on the quieter side of Varkala cliff.

Varkala wasn’t quite what we imagined it to be, it had been over-rated by fellow friends and travellers we’d met along the way. We now realised that we actually had it quite good up in Palolem. It’s a busy cliff resort full of bright signs, craft sellers, hotels and resorts, most of the restaurants cater for the tourist with western menus and the beach, hmmm! Still we thought we’d give Varkala time to grow on us. The first thing we did was grab some food at Clafouti restaurant, with a nice cool breeze coming from the wild ocean below we enjoyed a massive mexican meal, we just wanted a light lunch! We then ventured out to find another place to stay for the rest of our time there. We had read about Varkala Villas on South Cliff and so went for a stroll out along the cliff to the area.

En-route we passed a man demonstrating para-gliding as he was attempting to take off on the section of cliff between north and south. We helped him untangle his kite strings from a car and then he was off with the birds watched by several Indian tourists in amazement. We found Varkala Villas on the South Cliff and negotiated to stay with them for 3 nights at 1500rs/night for their lovely bungalow overlooking their beautiful garden. The owners are very accommodating and friendly with it which helps.

After we moved to the bungalow we spent much of our time relaxing, decided not to take breakfast with the owners (500rs extra) we did our own in the form of curd (yoghurt), fruit and muesli. We’d been carrying the muesli with purpose since buying it in Kathmandu when we first got to Nepal, we HAD to use it! Plus it meant we weren’t spending so much money on food every day plus they had a small kitchen with a fridge we could us too. We enjoyed the hammocks in the garden and would spend time in the middle of the day on the beach. When we were on the beach we were surrounded by other tourists and backpackers taking the time to soak up the rays. We rented an umbrella each time for 150rs and picked our spot where we would read in between dips into the ocean and naps. It’s a hard life!

The sea at Varkala beach is a little wild, you can’t really swim out very far as the currents are strong and the waves fierce. On our first swim Helen got a little scared as she kept having to dive under massive waves and was getting further and further away from Dave. But after time we both over-came wave-scared moments and enjoyed them like they were roller coasters, often washed up and tossed around. The North Cliff end of the beach is where most tourists gather and so this is also a prime spot for local male onlookers having a good ‘perv’ at the girls in bikini’s. It’s quite off-putting and at the same time laughable but they don’t ever see so much flesh on show so who can blame the?!

We took 3 yoga classes whilst we were there, one with the local ayurvedic doctor who’s Hatha style session was a little un-rehearsed, Dave was urging Helen to take over. The main problem really though was the language barrier as the next 2 days we attended an intense Ashtanga Yoga class with a teacher who’s English was much better and his practice was very focused. This second class based with Namaste on the North Cliff in front of Juice Shack was much easier to follow, although we ended up in buckets of sweat each time.

We followed our yoga sessions with a very good omelette and juice at Coffee Temple a few doors down. Although it took over an hour one day to receive the omelette it was very good and they do a fantastic chai-latte too. As Varkala grew on us we ended up staying 6 nights in the end and enjoyed our little routine during the day. One evening we went to the Varkala annual festival along with what felt like thousands of others. The atmosphere was building and building, with dressed elephants, musicians, dancers and folk in tradition costume. The only thing was not much was actually going on. There was a problem with the amount of people on the sides of the road and traffic was making it’s way through at speed, so much so that at one point one of the locals was hit by a passing vehicle which didn’t stop. It was quite a moment, being witness to a hit and run accident and how it was dealt with afterwards. The police went off after the car whilst the injured man was quickly rammed into the back of a van, we assumed he was being taken to hospital. Crazy times!

Other things did come of the festival though in the form of fire crackers and fire-works, they were so loud we could feel the ground shake, and they continued on throughout the night. We found solace at Oceano, an Ayurvedic resort who also offer a great menu of what we found to be delicious Keralan and other Indian food. We ended up eating there 3 times in the end as the food was so good and it was very rarely occupied. Oceano is on the South Cliff next door to KR’s Guesthouse. (Whilst this was our favorite jaunt for food we did also have an award for Cafe Del Mar’s smoothies on South Cliff).

Halfway into our stay in Varkala we met Andy and Lisa who through the power of Facebook were introduced to us via a mutual friend back home. We were staying 30 seconds walk away and so it was easy to meet up with them and we enjoyed beers, food, smoothies, yoga and beach time with them too. Next door to where they were staying at Villa Jacadera is Absolute Ayurveda a clinic that had been highly recommended to us by the family staying in the bungalow next to us. I knew they had to be good as Katrin is an ayurvedic practitioner back in Germany.

Based on her recommendation we chose a day package (it’s actually 2 hours ish). For 2700rs we enjoyed a full body massage, a chidroreah treatment involving 45 minutes worth of buttermilk, honey and other medicinal things being dripped onto our forehead. This was followed by a herbal wash (for Helen) and a facial for the both of us. Bear in mind that you are completely naked during this kind of treatment aside from a very small cloth thing! We both felt really good afterwards though an our skin felt amazing. Any of these treatments back home would cost a fortune so we figured we may as well do it in the home of Ayurveda.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8, Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 processed in Lightroom 3)

Our train to Ernakalum left at 10am (ish) from Kannur and so after another wonderful breakfast we sadly said our goodbyes to the friendly hosts at Kannur Beach House and to the other travelers and guests that had accumulated during our stay. We thought about staying longer but also wanted to move onwards.

The doctor’s got the same train as us and accompanied us in the reserved seat section. They had only paid for a non-reserved seat and so upgraded at a measly cost of 43rs for the 3 of them! Crazy that you can travel so far for so little here in India, train and bus travel is such a cost effective way to get around. Our journey took around 6 hours to reach Ernakalum and we were ready to get off the packed train when it did. Simply trying to get off the train can be quite a hassle (these are the downsides of cheaper public transport). When we got outside of the station our rickshaw driver from Mother Tree Inn was waiting for us and it took nearly an hour for the underpowered machine to reach the guesthouse in Fort Kochi. We didn’t end up at Mother Tree though, instead he took us to The Good Kharma Inn which is the sister guesthouse of Mother Tree. We didn’t mind and the young owner Anu was pretty amusing with it. The room came to 700rs/night with breakfast included, bargain.

We didn’t have much time to see any of Fort Kochi that night but we walked along the fort area people watching what seemed like hundreds of locals there for the evening. We also ate at the highly recommended Dal Roti; ginger, lemon soda and 2 paneer thali’s and we knew we would be back here the next night. The food is really good, the layout is pretty rustic and the maitre’d quite a character.

For our first full day in Kochi and after a satisfying scrambled eggs, toast and jam we took a walk out to the Chinese fishing nets located on the water front. It was pretty rammed full of cruise liner tourists that we weren’t feeling the authenticity of the nets at all, they are there really for tourism now and try to get you to buy fish from them and to go up and take photographs etc. From here we took a rickshaw to The Dutch Palace also known as (Manchetterry Palace) which we timed very badly as it seemed that all the cruise ship tourists had been bused in. We could hardly move in there and it’s not a very big museum at all, so for us we wanted to get out as soon as we arrived and managed to stick it out for 15 minutes before making tracks. At the Synagogue we were also faced with problems, they wouldn’t let us take our cameras in, regardless of whether or not we would take photographs there was no way we would leave our beloved Leica anywhere we weren’t!

However we did find some very nice items at Crafters in Jew town in the form of antique printing blocks which we thought would work nicely as decorative art back home. We actually wanted to get a wooden carved piece and found a beautiful old window cover but to ship it home would have been nearly 3 times as much as it was to buy! So we settled for the intricate designs of the printing blocks and bought 4 pieces for 1600rs. We also ate at the cafe upstairs mainly because we were hungry and didn’t want to be shopping around for food in a tourist area.

When we left Jew Town after exploring some more of the back streets we took a rickshaw to The Indo-Portuguese Museum only to find out that it was closed on Mondays! So instead we went to a shop on Lilly Street a few doors down from Dal Roti and bargained for a few more household items in the form of 2 very bold and contemporary block patterned bed covers and a material wall hanging. We followed our shopping trip by enjoying tea at Tpot Cafe another colourful rustic joint. We were finding more things that we liked about Fort Kochi! We once again ate at Dal Roti with a German couple we’d met at breakfast, this was followed by cheap Kingfisher at one of the drinking bars.

One our third day we went on a tour, our first tour in India and for 650rs each we paid to visit the Kerelan backwaters on a traditional wicker style boat. We opted to see the backwaters from Kochi rather than Allepey as we’d heard it gets very busy down there and so we hoped for a tranquil tour. We had a very friendly young guide who was also quite assertive and informative when required. With two boatmen using the punting technique we ambled through bigger canals down to very narrow ones throughout the day. It was a very relaxing tour, all we had to do was sit and take it all in. Along the route we stopped off at spice plantations, rope making, coconut farm and a calcium cement factory. A real mixture of the type of trade that occurs in the backwaters of Kerela. We also enjoyed our first banana leaf style lunch; the traditional way to serve a thali.

By the end of the day we were back in Kochi enjoying our final evening there, we had booked a train for the next day to take us to Varkala leaving at 9am. We ended up having food in the bazaar where a cool cafe place sits on top of the tourist information office. Although the presentation of the cafe is very in keeping with the yellow antique effect seen all over town, the dosa didn’t live up to earlier one’s we’d tried. We followed this with more tea at the Tpot (when we got back from the tour we nipped into Tpot for a juice and some of their delicious cheescake!) before heading back and preparing for another move the next day.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8, Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 processed in Lightroom 3)

The 3 tier non-AC sleeper was very basic. The windows provided plenty of ventilation and it actually got a little chilly, however a lack of curtain deprived any kind of privacy and no sheet on a plastic covered mattress completed the uncomfortable set. Non the less we did get some earplug assisted sleep and awoke with only 1hr until we were due to arrive  in Kannur, our first steps in India’s laid back state of Kerala. Breakfast was bought at the train station in a vegetarian restaurant and we devoured Masala Dosa’s (thin crispy bread, spicy potato filling and curry on the side) and Masala tea – 25rs, amazing value at 30p each.

After researching on the internet we discovered Kannur Beach House Home-stay which looked great and got very high ratings from previous guests. An 8km rickshaw ride south of Kannur to the beachfront of Thottado Beach and we arrived at the guesthouse situated on a stretch of backwaters. An annual Kerelan festival was taking place called Theyyam, it is local only to Kannur and takes places between October to May across each temple in the area. We caught the tail end of a 48 hour ceremony visited and observed the local population taking part and utilising traditional costumes, amazing facial painting and some trance (not the hard-house variety) based ritualistic dance.

Heading back to the home-stay we explored beautiful hidden beaches with golden sands, palm tree shade and then retreated to some well deserved hammock action. It did not take long to see why people love this home-stay. The food was some of the best we have ever eaten and we have eaten a lot! The 2500rs per room fee includes breakfast and evening meal which are Ayurvedic Kerelan home cooked in variety and you can have lunch for only 100rs each extra. The owners were equally accommodating and loaned us yoga mats as well as being able to observe their chef in action in the kitchen. A family of 4 and very close to each other they used to work in IT but have now built this lovely home-stay which attracts repeat visitors year in year out. We could see why.

Our fellow travellers also appreciated the surroundings and the food, it was really great to share this experience with Ture & Revital (London based conceptual designers/artists) and three graduated doctors from the UK. We cannot speak highly enough of the food. Each meal was a buffet selection, eaten outdoors frequently with the hosts and family and all washed down with herbal water and hot tea. To use a Master Chef quote… Vegetarian food does not get better than this! Yum!

We didn’t really want to leave but we were tied into a train ticket, although only costing around £2 so we could have easily discarded it, but at the same time we had a little bit of momentum going and didn’t want to settle just yet. On our last evening we enjoyed a longish walk along the quiet stretch of beach which just seems to go on and on. Some of the locals were out sorting out fishing boats and so on, whilst others were out to enjoy the views like us. We stopped for a group photograph with some girls from Kannur before making our way back for our last night of fantastic food and company.

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

After 30 days in Nepal, we were due to depart from one of the best countries that we have visited. We were sorry to have to leave and not see more of the country, however our Visa was due to expire, our Indian visa had begun its 30 day countdown and we were ready for some relaxation and nice beaches (hopefully)!

After saying goodbye to Joshua and Amata and departing from Pilgrims we headed for the airport. Our flight to Mumbai was not on any of the boards and for a second panicked as we thought we had the wrong day. Alas the flight was scheduled but maybe for security reasons it was not listed. After around 7 checks of our passport and documents we boarded the 3.5hr flight to India. A swift and easy baggage collection, checkin and transport to another terminal we waited in Mumbai for our internal connection flight to Goa.

Another swift and pain-free departure of Goa airport we hired a taxi without an issue! This was all too easy, we thought India would be chaos! We paid 1400rs to get us to Palolem in a private taxi, arriving at 8pm. Our hotel of choice was full but by the look of the streets of Palolem, neon lights, tourist tat, restaurants galore, a hotel would not be hard to find and a “man with a hotel” walked us to his establishment. The room was basic and we opted to try a fan only option for 700rs per night. An average indian meal of tandoori cauliflower and vegetarian kebab sufficed before we could get our bearings the following day.

Palolem appeared to be very touristy and was not the small local village on the beach that we expected. The beach looked nice enough in the dark of the night and we retreated to bed quite quickly. The following day gave us the chance to see Palolem in the cold hard light of day which confirmed our suspicion that the village was geared towards tourists with very little cultural aesthetics. However for beach relaxation and plentiful food options it was in someways what we were looking for after our Himalayan exertions.

We opted for a great cafe breakfast which overdosed our fruit cravings and set us up for a day at the beach. Queue plenty of reading and lazing on sun-loungers with cold drinks and cold beer a stones through away. Awesome! We also began planning our journey onwards and booked two south-bound train tickets with a local agent, one to Kannur (to stay for two nights) and another to Fort Cochi.

On the 28th we walked to Patnam beach for more relaxing and beach hut food. Our sleeper train to Kannur was due to depart at 11.25pm however it didn’t arrive until 12.25am, luckily we met some other backpackers to pass the time with and then boarded our first sleeper train since Thailand!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8, Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 processed in Lightroom 3)

We stayed at a great hostel in Bangkok called Hostelling International Bangkok, it’s around half and hour from Khao San road heading up river. It’s a little tricky to find, especially at 5 in the morning but once we got our bearings we thought the location was pretty good. We didn’t want to be in the hustle and bustle of Khao San and we had a ferry stop nearby at Thawet in the Dusit district.

We couldn’t check in until after midday so we decided to take the ferry south and head towards China town so we could get absorbed in some street photography. We always like getting to a big city after ambling through rural areas as there is an energy and buzz that definitely inspires us photographically. Bangkok did just this for us, we weren’t particularly interested in doing too many touristy things as per usual but we were quite happy to get lost in the streets and photograph people, places, food of course!

China town is busy at any time of day with no exception at 10am in the morning, we found alleyways with beautiful light, bizarre funeral gifts, food stalls and bizarre crafts. It’s dirty, hectic and a little tacky but all the while we took it in and enjoyed being flies on the wall. We spent a good few hours making our way through the Lonely Planet walking tour before hopping on the ferry back to our stop so we could check in.

The hostel houses some very nice retro 70′s wooden furniture and the retro theme runs throughout. Our room was very Germanesque in style with a nice hint of art deco in the decor, we loved it and thought it would definitely be a good place to hide away from the busy streets of Bangkok. We made a few plans for the next few days and caught up on some sleep before heading out to catch up with some friends on Khao San road. Nicola was Helen’s old neighbour in Leicester so it was lovely to finally catch up with her and Matt on their travels across the globe. We were relieved not to be staying in this area as the streets were packed and it’s really hit and miss for the accommodation around there. However we do know there are some good options if you don’t want to travel too far away from the backpackers hub of Bangkok.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 processed in Lightroom 3)

Today we gave up on the idea of yet more bike riding misfortune and decided to use our legs. After an early morning run around Battambang and some breakfast we headed out to look at the french influenced buildings around the town and stop by at more temples. In the afternoon we headed out to the train tracks once more but this time to the abandoned railway tracks. Children playing in the wasteland that was once a French operated train yard, which is now home to people living on the perimeter of the town and is a dumping ground for their rubbish. We headed back towards the hotel with cameras poised. Toyota must have a huge market share in Cambodia, almost every car you see is a Toyota Camry, they love the Camry! More work time on the roof and a few drinks before heading off to the White Rose again for some cheap food, one vegetable and one fish Khmer curry.

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

We had a sleep in to recoup some energy from the past few days and then had some breakfast in the room and ordered some bread and jam from the restaurant downstairs. Our pickup mini bus arrived at Sweethome at 10am for our 10.45am bus journey to Battambang. The bus pulled up into the station and it looked pretty battered from the outside and the inside wasn’t much better. The vents were just open holes and the seat in front had no real back support so was almost in Dave’s lap. After a delayed start, we left 45mins late and headed off on our journey.

Upon arriving in Battambang we were hounded by the tuk-tuk drivers however as Battambang is quite small its easy to walk to where you want to go and not have to pay a few dollars for the privilege. We checked out a few hotels however they had limited rooms and were over $12 so we kept looking for something cheaper. We ended up at the Chhaya Hotel which cost $5 a night for a twin, it was a decent size with a bathroom, looking and feeling a little cell like, but it did the trick. We continued with some more blog work and headed out for some food. The White Rose restaurant is in the Lonely Planet and we stumbled across it, their cheap menu has lots of choice and for a reasonable price. The fresh spring rolls were OK, lacking in flavour a little, the curry was a large portion with plenty of vegetables and Helen’s dish we think was something different to what she ordered but it was OK; the mixed fruit shake was a good call!

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

The 5th February was another day of exploration via the transport medium of bikes, we will surely have thighs of steel by the end of our trip. We headed along the river and found old villages around 2km out of Battambang itself, Wat Kor Village contains some of the oldest houses in Cambodia, some of which you can pay to have a little tour inside of, we just cycled by and took it all in. Dave’s bike suffered from a puncture after 4km which was treated by one of the many small repair shops that are on the side of the roads. They fixed the leaky valve for 500r and off we went, however within a few hundred meters the tyre was flat again so we decided to head back and get a new bike from the hotel. Frustrating to say the least. New bike selected and we started again, searching for the Bamboo Train which was tricky to find as the signs aren’t that frequent and the locals all told us or pointed us in the opposite directions to the last person we asked.

Upon searching for the train Dave’s second bike suffered from a fatal haemorrhage with the inner tube bursting through the front tyre! There was no quick fix for this and it would surely be pricey. Helen went ahead and Dave pushed his bike and finally we found the station for the “train”. $5 each on a bamboo fence panel, engine and two axles that held us onto the tracks. It was a good experience and is fun when you meet on coming traffic. If the oncoming bamboo train has more people, weight (rice delivery etc) or multiple trains are coming through you have to jump off and the driver deconstructs the train within seconds. There are no bolts or clips to be undone, it all just fits together! We had to disembark 5 times, but that’s half the fun. The tracks are in terrible state, however apart from rattled bones, no injuries were sustained.

At the end of the tracks we stopped and were greeted by some local children and market stalls. The driver would not leave his hammock until we bought something from one of the vendors so with a drink purchased he hopped onto the train and off we went. We sorted out some tuk-tuk transport back into town with the bikes rammed in and only paid the hotel for hire of one of the bikes, which they agreed was fair. Relaxation time and sunset on the roof of the hotel and then for our evening meal we headed to the The Smokin’ Pot restaurant and even though the portions appeared small, they were enough to satisfy. Lemon juice, curry and rice.

Our train left Tunxi at around 11pm so it was a long wait at the hostel until this time. Even in a quiet town there will always be lots of people waiting to get trains. It was pretty smooth as when we boarded the train most people were already sleeping so we found our bunks and got off to sleep. The next day was quite a long one, we weren’t due to arrive at Huaihua until 4pm but the train was delayed by two hours which meant that we got in at 6. There was a heated debate with our fellow Chinese passengers as to whether we would be able to make it to Fenghuang that night. Some were saying we wouldn’t make it, the roads are too bad, the buses don’t drive safely at night etc…One lady offered to help us barter for a taxi to get us there as this would be the safest option given the circumstances. We thought we’d try this option as it would cost us a lot to stay for one night in Huaihua.

She was very true to her word and managed to get us a taxi for 280RMB, although she couldn’t speak any English we managed to get by and she took down the taxi drivers phone number in case there were any problems. We soon realised this was not going to be a short trip, after an hour or so we were still a good 40km away from Fenghuang. The roads were terrible and the rain kept coming down, we decided to give him 300RMB because the trip was a lot longer and more difficult than we had imagined. After 80km we came to stop…there was a road blockage up ahead with no way of getting around it, a group of people in a small shack were communicating information across the area and we st with them for a short while before deciding we would have to turn around. The lady who had helped us was pretty distressed and her friend who spoke English was on the phone apologising on her behalf and saying they have arranged one of their close friends to help us find a hotel in the next town. This was 30km or so away!

We eventually got to the hotel after several phone calls going back and forth between the taxi driver and our Chinese helper and met Mr Wu. It was getting late and the hotel informed us they only had business suites available at 400RMB. Some cheap night this was turning out to be!! A few minutes later another man appeared on the scene, he took us to one side and showed us his police badge, he was trying to get us to go with him. We had no idea what to do or whether he really was a real policeman. There was a lot of chatting on phones and not a lot of doing. We tried ringing the hostel in Fenghuang but the number on hostelworld didn’t work so we were stuck. After a lot of debating and a little panic from Helen we finally got a room and the policeman had managed to get it for us at half price. They said they would meet us at 9am the following day to arrange for us to get to Fenghuang. Another thing we would like to point out is that the email address for the hostel we had reserved was also incorrect as we received no response back from them!!

We managed to get some sleep and then the morning came along with a 9am knock at the door from Mr Wu. He took us to the bus station but here we found out the buses were going to the area of the road blockage but then we would have to get off and walk across to get taxis. We weren’t convinced so we decided the best thing to do would be take the bus back to Huaihua and get the next available train to Kunming.

After a 2 hour bus journey we got to the station and luck was on our side. We bought tickets for a sleeper train leaving at 2.40pm that afternoon!! YES!!! So off we went to buy snacks for the train and get a hot meal before leaving. This is where things started getting better for us. The food in a local eatery was really good, we simply pointed at our phrase book saying we like fish, tofu and vegetables and that’s what we got with some good flavours all for around £4.

We picked up our usual noodle snacks for the train and then got ready for the next leg of the journey. Around 18 hours later and we arrived in sunny Kunming. This was a very nice feeling to be walking into the sunshine capitol of Yunnan. We found Cloudland our hostel via a bus journey and some instructions from The lonely Planet, checked in and chilled out.

In the space of around 48 hours we spent a total 40 hours on two trains, a taxi and one bus. We spent money we didn’t want to spend and only saw the rain and landslides in Hunan province. But like we always say this is all part of the experience and adds to a good story at times.

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

We have quite a lot to fit in on this post so here we go…

We had a night train booked to go to Xian, leaving Beijing West on a hardsleeper. The train was full and we were 2 of 6 in our cabin in a carriage that houses around 10 or so cabins! There are also around 20 carriages so the trains are pretty massive. The price for our bottom bunk was 275 RMB each, not bad as it’s our accommodation and travel in one. Once we were ready to get into bed the lights went out and everyone went to sleep until our arrival the following morning at 8am.

When we got to Xian station our hostel Shiyuan were waiting with a sign saying Helen Roecoe…we knew it was for us! There were a few other backpackers on the taxi bus to the hostels, most were dropped off at Yin Tang Inn a few streets away from us. Shiyuan is a YHA hostel located near to the South Gate of the city wall. It’s a pretty good location and they were really helpful. We were impressed at being able to check into our room at 8.30 in the morning. For our time in Xian we booked a mixed dorm room so we could save some money and meet a few other backpackers. On the first night though we had the place to ourselves. They have a decent cafe at the hostel and breakfast is fairly substantial and at a good price. You also get free coffee and beer every day you’re there!! Not bad!

We had a few things to sort out when we got there – our ticket back to Beijing was one, breakfast another and looking into the tour to the Terracotta Warriors. Getting the train tickets was easy once we found the little ticket office a few streets away!! It’s well located to the hostel but it is tricky to find – appearing as a kiosk to an ICBC branch. You can’t buy return journeys over here, so each time you arrive in a place you need to pick up your return or the connection to your next destination. We got back to our hostel having purchased two hardsleeper tickets for two days time. After some breakfast at the cafe we went to the reception desk to book ourselves onto their tour the next day. We know we could have done this ourselves and got the bus to the site for a lot less, but we wanted to book a tour so that we could meet a few other backpackers/travellers in Xian. Having sorted this out we then walked up to the South Gate entrance to the City Wall, paid the entrance fee of 40 yuan each and then found a bike rental service quite easily once we were on top.

Cycling on the XIan city wall was really good fun and we stopped plenty of times for sights that we wanted to photograph. Construction of the city, demolition areas, temple rooftops, large apartment blocks on the other side of the wall, lanterns and a strange collection of animal shaped floats left on the top after some type of carnival…we couldn’t quite figure out how long they’d been left there and whether they’re still in use!! All of this mean’t that we were stopping every 50 meters or so at some points! We even managed to set up the self-timer on the Olympus to get a shot of us cycling toward the camera! Oh fun!

We cycled the wall for around 2.5 hours and paid an extra 10 yuan for the privilege. We would recommend doing this if you get to Xian! Later on we went for some street food in the city’s manic Muslim quarter. This is quite an experience with so much food being cooked right on the street under burning flames, hot pots and local delicacies are thrown into the limelight and under your nose. Mixed in with the food are a few streets of tourism gift stalls, dried fruit and restaurants. Again probably a must if you get to go. We had some of the Cool noodles, which is supposed to be a famous local snack but it is what it is…cold noodles!! Helen had a vegetable hot pot dish and Dave opted for the Chinese sandwich with beef. We got back to the hostel at a good time and Dave rang home.

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

26th – Terracotta warriors

We left at 9am for the trip to the Terracotta Warriors with a few people from our hostel and went onto Yin Tang Inn to pick up some more people on the tour. We met a great group who’d all met at the hostel the night before, most of whom were traveling around China and had loads of tales to tell of their experiences. After some brief bonding we were interrupted by our tour guide Jha Jha (“Lady Jha Jha” apparently) who proceeded to inform us about the warriors and the local area that we were traveling through. She is quite a character and well known amongst travellers as she loves the line, “My name is Jha Jha, I’m 27 and single!” which made us all chuckle. Our fellow sight-seer Sam was her target on this trip and we all teased him about this as the day progressed.

Make sure you take some photo ID with you when you visit the warriors as security is tight and you have to go through airport style security twice before you get anywhere near. Whilst walking to the entrance from the bus drop-off point you have to walk through an 80′s style English pedestrianized shopping mall! It’s pretty kitsch!

The warriors are located in bunkers that are covered by huge structures. It did feel a little Indiana Jones with a smattering of easy tourism thrown in. Bunker 3 is the biggest and best site so with that in mind we were taken to 2,1,3 bunkers, saving the best until last.

It’s an impressive site with excavations continuing to be undertaken which all happens after 6pm when the sites close. The visit is a worthwhile one however we were expecting more!? We felt that you would be able to get closer to the masses of warriors, that it would be more of an under ground cave system and that in-fact there would be more warriors. We did learn that there are more sites around the area however they have not been officially located yet. The background story is an impressive one involving Mercury ingestion by a power hungry/eternal life seeking emperor and ultimate death for the workers under his control.

As we are in China and we are tourists we were taken to a gift shop selling various things such as jade jewellery, warriors and the man who discovered the site itself was sat behind a desk signing books for those seeking that extra special touch! We couldn’t quite believe that he was there…it was a little surreal but very typical of the levels tourism have reached here.

Following on from the trip to the warriors site we had a brief journey to the tomb where the crazed emperor is buried, it sounds like an amazing site, but it is yet to be reached due to the dangers of a mercury moat and oxygen damaging the hidden artefacts with his body. So you can see a hill in the distance and after about 5 minutes we went back to the bus to leave! On our way back we stopped at a hotel for a big lunch all at a bargain of 25 yuan. As Helen and Ian don’t eat meat they had to sit on a separate table to the rest of the group…romantic meal for two! The restaurant was huge and only had about 3 tables full so this looked pretty funny! David and the meat eaters gouged on pork and other unknown meat-like objects whilst Helen and Ian were very civilised in their Pak Choi and sticky potatoe spread.

When we got back to Xian we decided to get a taxi over to their hostel a little later on as there would be a dumpling making party! A couple games of pool some beer and a few snacks later and we were all making speed dumplings! We’d say a little more atmospheric than the one at the CCC earlier in the month…Jackson 5 on the soundsystem and we were on our way to dumpling heaven!! They weren’t much better though than the last one’s we made and after a while when they’re cooked they do tend to be very samey! Still it’s all in the fun of making them!!

A couple we’d met the day before came to join us for beers at the bar after the dumpling making session and we chatted about plans for China travel, we are doing a very similar route but at a different time so it was good to get some ideas. We then went to the bar street…hmmm not really Liverpool’s Matthew St but there were a few bars offering cheap beer so we went in for an hour or so before saying goodbye to our warrior buddies and went back to our dorm.

27th – Next day Helen was ill, we didn’t do much as she had some kind of tummy bug so it was a light and slightly teary stroll to the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, which was a lot further than we had anticipated, we followed this up with a taxi back to the hostel where we managed to get a room for the day. We decided later on that it wasn’t a good idea for us to leave that night for the train. The hostel were very accommodating and let us have a dorm room for 4 just for the two of us. Helen slept and Dave went out for food. We didn’t know this at the time but we could have taken our train tickets back up to 2 hours before leaving Xian in exchange for a refund with only a fifth of the price lost. We didn’t know this so we did loose out on some money and had to buy tickets for the next night. 28th – Helen was feeling better the following day although we laid low in Xian and ventured to a local park in between hanging out at the hostel for most of the day. We could only get a soft sleeper back to Beijing, which was okay but not that much better than a hardsleeper! Still it mean’t we had a quitter cabin. The train left Xian at 8.34pm and arrived in Beijing at around 7am. It took us around half an hour to catch the metro back to Xinjeikou on line 1 as the rush hour was pretty crazy! We literally only just managed to squeeze on with our bags after watching several locals climbing their way off the train. Madness.

On the 29th we spent the main part of the day at the apartment resting, writing, washing clothes, watching Peep Show and only ventured out once to the supermarket. Sometimes you just need to have a lazy day (and have a washing day)! We followed this up the next day with a spot of Christmas Shopping at the Yashow clothing market on the other side of town, it was fun bartering and we managed to buy most of our prezzies too. Good times! The bookworm also delighted us by providing some nice solid western food. We also went out for food with our hosts the chen family, but for some stupid reason we forgot to take our cameras out with us!! What were we thinking! The food was really good aswell…ah well we think you are enjoying the food pics so we will have plenty more to show and we had a very enjoyable evening – big thanks to them for helping us out with our accommodation whilst we have been staying in Beijing.

We had over 30 hours to go when we woke up the following morning ready for our complimentary breakfast. Although the food announcements were made in English it seemed that the Chinese announcement was always much earlier, so by the time we arrived at the canteen they were already tucking in and the food left our for us was a little lukewarm. So we decided we would turn up for food 10-15 minutes before the scheduled timings and low and behold the food was always a little hotter and we were there at the same time as everyone else. For breakfast though we shouldn’t have bothered and on the second day Helen opted for porridge that we brought with us, whilst Dave had the left over cereal. We did have a few bowls and spoons with us which helped on the self-catering side. Chinese breakfast on the Yanjing consisted of Chinese porridge which is like a soupy rice and on this occasion flavourless broth, accompanied with some eggs that looked like they’d been boiled weeks ago. The fruit wasn’t free but was a good bonus to this poor meal. It would be good to experience Chinese porridge whilst we stay in China so that we don’t only have this experience to go by.

The only full day we had on the boat saw us catch up on our editing and writing whilst in between doing some more research and reading for China. We would pop out every so often to get some sea air on deck and noticed that the weather was changing. Leaving the calm seas of Japan led us out into some low-visibility conditions where we felt we were literally in the middle of no-where. The temperature up top had also dropped, but it was dry and we could still get outside as the sea was still calm.

We had bought a series of Peep Show, Misfits and The Hangover Movie from i-Tunes before we left Japan, however we didn’t authorise them on the laptop, so when we realised that we wouldn’t be able to watch them on the boat (no internet to authorise) we resorted back to more editing, writing and podcasts we already have. Still we did remember about the table tennis room and after hiring bats and a ping pong ball we had a few games following our own made up rules…Dave won best of 3 but Helen was starting to feel giddy due to the lack of oxygen down that part of the boat (excuses!) we were certainly better than the Chinese guys playing next to us!! Beth and Rick were busy writing but later on we arranged to meet them for another “tasty” Yanjing dinner followed by some more card games. We picked up a few more games for our travels that hopefully we’ll pass on and play with others, especially now Helen has written down the rules.

In between our working and walking around the ship we would photograph parts of the boat as there was always something to document. From the rescue boats, piping, old rope, left chairs, signs and the worn interior to the guests on board playing cards, learning their dance moves and posing for photos on deck. It was worth doing this journey for the content we have captured. A little like being in a Carry on Film at times! The staff who were all dressed in uniform aimlessly pursued jobs that didn’t really exist. We did watch one girl clean the upstairs area over and over again eventually she was tested for the cleanliness of the space, the finger test was complete and she seemed to pass with flying colours. Why they didn’t pay this kind of attention to the wash and toilet areas was beyond us.

On our final day on the boat we looked forward to arriving at the port in Tianjin at around 2pm. Our own supplied breakfast did the trick and we did manage some more editing and writing followed by another walk on deck. It had certainly become our little home for a few days but it was definitely time to leave. We noticed that the Chinese guests were dressed and ready for the arrival many having been in tracksuits and pyjamas for a few days. Bags were already starting to pile up next to the exit door in the lobby area. We still had a fair few hours left though so we weren’t in a rush to pack just yet. We had great pleasure in photographing some ladies practising Tai chi and ballroom dancing upstairs for an hour and they loved the fact that we wanted to photograph them. They all seemed to really enjoy their time on the ferry and the endless episodes of a Chinese soap opera had definitely kept most people enthralled for at least half a day. Apparently they even had it on full blast in the dorms for the entirety of the night, oh how special class did us proud.

Getting closer to the port we traveled through hundreds of anchored trawler, container and fishing boats, it was really surreal traveling through the middle of this and felt a little like no-mans land. The wind up on the very top deck was immense, Helen had to run through it to avoid being blown over. Close to the front was Beth, Rick and JP all enjoying the blast so we joined them in what felt a little like being on a roller coaster; arms in the air facing the sea at the front of the boat, hair standing up on end due to the blast of the wind. It felt amazing and pretty invigorating, Dave snapped away as our mouths were shaped by the wind.

We were ready to leave and the boat eventually got into Tianjin port at around 2.30pm. After we got off the boat we passed through passport control and stepped out to the front of the building only to by hounded by taxi drivers pushing us into their cabs. We travelled with Beth and Rick to the station in Tianjin which is a good 40 minute journey from the port. This was our first experience of Chinese driving and the manic layout of the roads in this area, something I’m sure we will get used to but after a 48 hour boat journey we weren’t quite ready for. We met up with JP at the station and we all boarded the high speed bullet train to Beijing south station together. Arriving at Beijing south we said our goodbyes to our Yanjing travel buddies and decided to get the tube to our stop as it was right on the same line as the train station.

We looked at the underground map and used the ticket machine to select where we wanted to go. It came up as 4 Yuan for two tickets which equals 40p, we were not sure if this was correct as it seemed so cheap! Xisi was our stop on line 4 and the hostel was not too far to walk from here so we jumped on the subway. We were booked into a hostel in the heart of the hutong area and when we eventually found the place in a dimly lit street, we were informed that they could upgrade us to their Templeside lodgings which is their luxury house a few streets away for no extra charge. It sounded like an offer we couldn’t refuse so our host walked us through the streets to Templeside and showed us to our room. Once again we have been spoiled on this trip, the room was huge with a bed twice the size of any standard double. It felt a little like some of the furnishings had been taken from Neverland, especially the fittings in the bathroom. The only downside was the drain smell. Something again I think we will be getting used to during our stay here.

We ordered some great Chinese food that was delivered to the hostel and certainly expelled the taste of any food we had eaten on the boat. We asked the hostel to ring the owner of the apartment we are moving to and we arranged a pick up for the next morning at 10.30am. Time to head to bed for our first nights sleep in Beijing.

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