My next planned destination was Hokkaido in Japan but after a bit of thought, I decided to split the journey and spend a few days in Sydney to see in the New Year in style! đ
I landed to be greeted by 35 degree temperatures and bright sunshine. Â When the sun shines this place is hot! Â It was already evening so having checked into my hostel, I set about walking around town a little bit with the hope of seeing the sun go down over the harbour. Â The walk was pleasant and I felt livened by the buzz of the city again. Â Although the chatty warmth of New Zealand was gone, I felt a sense of belonging in the more glitzy and impersonal surroundings of Australia`s largest city đ
After a nice dinner looking out at the harbour bridge I went back to the hostel for some much needed sleep- the day had started almost 20 hours earlier in Te Anau and I was out as soon as my head touched the pillow.
I awoke a bit drowsy and after a quick breakfast decided a beach day was in order! Â Of course the only choice for my first day was Bondi and I spent my morning swimming in the sea, getting told off by the lifeguards for not sticking to the designated area and sleeping on the beach! Â At lunch time Freda and her friends came down from Manly for a bit of a sunbathe at Bondi too. Â Of course, lunch turned into drinks and we didn`t actually make it back to the beach before it was time to head home! Â There was just time for one final dip in the sea before riding the bus back to central to get ready for the evening.
My work friend Steve had recently been transferred to Sydney and it was too good an opportunity to pass up on meeting up. Â Apparently my appearance has changed somewhat in the last 6 months because with a beard and longer hair he didn`t recognise me at all! Â Even funnier was another colleague of ours Jen who swore we hadn`t met before until I showed her my Linked In profile picture. Â Maybe a hair cut would be a good idea before next June đ Â Adding to the party was another prospective employee and his girlfriend who we were going to show a good time. Â You can`t do enough for a good company đ
We hit a local prohibition era cocktail bar for drinks with plan to move on for food afterwards. Â Of course, in typical work party fashion, the dinner bit got forgotten about and soon we were having a right old time. Â It was great to see some of my colleagues again and reminisce about old times and we soon realised that it was almost midnight and we hadn`t eaten yet. What to do? Â Fortunately one of the group remembered a nearby rock/ pizza joint and we duly turned up for some well earned pizzas, more beers and drunken dancing to hard rock classics!
Some recovery was in order today but not wanting to waste the day I decided to earn my day on the beach by walking from Bondi to Coogee  beach.  This turned out to be a good decision because the walk was fabulous and Coogee was a lovely place to while away an afternoon sunbathing and swimming.
Of course today was New Years Eve and I was lucky to have been invited to spend it with Freda, Kevin and a number of others from the Cliffe family. Â The exact location was a closely guarded secret which added some mystery to the occasion and when the text finally came through with the address I packed up my things and headed back to get ready. Â The fireworks are a big deal in Sydney and the reason I decided to stop off in the first place. Â You can imagine my excitement therefore when arriving to be greeted by this view of the Sydney harbour bridge đ
The hours passed quickly and soon it was time to go outside for the display. Â It didn`t disappoint! Â Easily the best display I`ve seen- absolutely incredible. Â Maybe I`ll have to go to the London ones next year to compare đ Â I`m sure most of you guys have seen the fireworks on TV but just in case I took a little video of it too đ
All too soon it was time to go but as we were walking up the street we were accosted by a random guy wanting to fight. Â Of course we weren`t interested but some people just won`t take no for an answer despite us being five and him on his own! Â Fortunately we managed to extricate ourselves only to be met by busses which were on diversion due to another incident on the route. Â With no Ubers to be had we resolved to walk into town, finally managing to get on a bus about 45 minutes later. Â I got talking to some native Sydney folk and it turned out that despite living in Sydney for almost 10 years, this was their first visit to see their fireworks! Â Of course, this shouldn`t have been a surprise considering I`ve not seen the London ones yet but still I decided there and then to make more of the attractions on my doorstep!
1st January
Another beach day was on the agenda for today, this time in Manly so I could take in the lovely ferry ride over from the main city. Â The sea air was just what the doctor ordered and I made my way to the beach, set out my things and promptly fell asleep! Â Freda came to join me on the beach after a while and we followed up with a drink at a pub just by the ferry terminal. Â As usual one drink turned to many and soon it was time to get the last ferry back to the mainland after another fun day đ
I never make New Years Resolutions but I reflected on how lucky I was to have the year I had during 2016. Â I therefore resolved to make sure that it wasn`t a one off and that 2017 will be equally amazing!
2nd January
A wine tour of the Hunter Valley is a nice day trip out of Sydney- the only problem was the early start. Â It felt pretty brutal to have to get up again at 6am even though most of my working life has been spent doing just that. Â Still, the minibus was very comfortable and by the time we arrived at the first of our vineyards I felt able to look at alcoholic drinks again đ
We went to four different vineyards and sampled what the Hunter Valley had to offer at each one. Â Of course, most of the vineyards grow the same grapes- predominantly Semillon and Shiraz- however the difference between the wines was fascinating. Â We also tried a number of unusual things including a chilled, sweet red wine made from Shiraz. Â Much to my surprise I actually enjoyed it although I don`t know how enjoyable it would be in the cooler UK climate! Â On the whole, though, the strength of the Aussie dollar means that, for me, these wines don`t represent value for money any more. Â Which is a shame, because some of them were really very good đ
After the sadness of leaving Aoife behind in Hong Kong I needed to get myself into gear and get down to my next stop.  New Zealand.  I was excited about seeing the place- so many good things have been said I wanted to see what all the fuss is about!  And what better way to see the country than… (you guessed it)… a road trip!  Of course before that could start, in the way was a seriously long flight with three stops- Kuala Lumpur, Gold Coast and finally Auckland.  Air Asia X is not the most comfortable airline- in fact its pretty much like flying Ryanair for long haul.  It does have some redeeming features however: it is cheap, the inflight meals are cheap and they have an excellent lounge in Kuala Lumpur which is also… cheap!  Taking into account an 8hr layover in Kuala Lumpur meant that the whole flight took around 26hrs to complete and I therefore arrived in Auckland absolutely wrecked.  Biosecurity is a big issue in New Zealand- you can`t  bring in any natural produce and any hiking gear needs to be checked for foreign mud.  The 2hr wait for them to check the boots was a bit frustrating but there were other travellers in the queue and we passed the time pleasantly enough.  It was my first experience of solo travel- perhaps it wouldn`t be so bad after all đ
After picking up the rental car, I headed into town and found my hostel for the night. Â It was very strange to be driving on the left again; more than once I headed up the road on the wrong side! Â Overall, it felt very much like arriving home despite being 11,000 miles away. Â Even though I`d missed a nights sleep, the jet lag was keeping me up so I decided to head into town to see what Auckland has to offer. Â It turns out… not that much! Â The city is pleasant enough but I could have been in Manchester for all the difference there was from home. Â I was also shocked by how expensive everything was- $11 for a pint of beer?! Â Whatever, eventually tiredness kicked in and I headed back to the hostel to sleep and think about what I`d seen.
11th December
After a good sleep, the morning came and I resolved to find a good breakfast. Â The LP describes Ponsonby as the hipster part of Auckland so I decided to head up and see what all the fuss was aboutâș Â I did find a good breakfast and an excellent coffee although it cost me $20. Â The eating out would have to stop! Â Actually the coffee in NZ turned out to be universally wonderful- people obviously take it really seriously here and you can even get a nice flat white in the supermarket! Â After sorting out a couple more things such as getting a phone sim it was time to head out to the Tongariro National Park to hike the famous Tongariro Crossing and possibly scale Mount Doom! Â After leaving Auckland, the countryside opened up and I started having a royal time driving through it on the winding roads. Â It was lovely to be driving a car again, even if this one was an auto, and the drive passed pretty uneventfully apart from the beautiful green hills and fields.
I arrived at my accommodation and decided to cook up some dinner. Â It was the first meal I`d prepared for almost two months and I was really looking forward to eating some home food- good old sausage and mash? The weather for the hike the next day was uncertain- in high winds and/or poor visibility the rangers stop all the transfer busses from setting down any tourists so they don`t have to rescue anyone. Â In truth, the weather forecast was for both and I would have to wait and see what morning brought.
12th December
Well morning came and there were both high winds and low cloud. Â Climbing Mount Doom was definitely not an option but apart from anything I was getting seriously ansi without exercise. Â Luckily the bus was running and I set off up the path with two Canadian couples from the hostel. Â No sooner had we started when people started coming the other way who had turned back due to the weather. Â In truth loads of them! Â I convinced the others to go as far as the first hut where we could talk to the warden in person and make a decision. Â Sure enough we were told the conditions on the pass were 100kph winds and snow. Â Basically a blizzard! Â The other promptly turned around and headed back down the path but as those who I`ve walked with before will know, the promise of bad weather only made me want to conquer the hill more! Â Luckily there were four others leaving the hut who felt the same way and I joined up with them for the crossing. Â The wind was as strong as predicted and with the snow whipping our faces we battled up and over the pass, at times bent double to prevent being blown over! Â Suddenly, however, we spotted blue sky- it looked like our endeavours would be rewarded as the cloud started to lift and we got our first look at this remarkable landscape. Â The walk down the other side was stunning and having started the day not sure whether I would be able to do anything, I finished it with a beautiful walk in the sunshine down the mountain in the company of a human rights lawyer who had decided to walk the entire length of New Zealand! Â She was only the first of a series of remarkable people that I would meet on this trip- sometimes travelling on your own is lonely but sometimes you hit the jackpot meeting remarkable people and doing the kind of things that can only happen by chance đ
The next day I rose with the long drive to Wellington ahead of me. Â I was looking forward to seeing what this little capital had to offer. Â The drive was, again, lovely and I arrived in good time and got settled into the hostel. Â Being a Tuesday night, nobody else in the hostel fancied heading into town with me so after a run along the water front, I cooked up another meal and headed out to see what fun I could find. Â It turns out that Wellington is a pretty fun place to hang out with plethora of nice little bars and plenty of music. Â I started out in a bar with a band playing and when they finished moved on to another with an open mic night. Â This promptly turned into karaoke! Â I, of course, had no intention of singing anything however the solo traveller I had got talking to had other ideas and with the promise of a free pint as my reward I headed up to the stage to strut my stuff! Â It was surprisingly fun- so much so that I had to get up and do another song!
I was on my way again the next day and was due in Nelson to stay with Davey and Lily. Â First though, I needed to get the ferry across to the South Island. Â The ferry ride across the Cook Straight and into Marlborough Sound is supposed to be one of the most beautiful in the world and it didn`t dissapoint. Â I won`t waffle on about it but just have a look at some of the pictures. Â On top of all the gorgeous scenery there was bright sunshine and dolphins playing in the wake of that boat. Â What could be more perfect? ï Â Having arrived in good time, I decided to take the shorter but much more winding Queen Charlotte Drive to Nelson which takes you through Marlborough Sound. Â This was just as fabulous as the boat trip- the landscape in New Zealand really is superlative and after everything I`d seen over the last four months it was still amazing đ
I arrived in Nelson early in the evening and was promptly treated to a delicious home made Mexican dinner. Â The beers and the chat flowed and after a lovely catch up it was time for bed. Â I gratefully settled into the comfy bedsheets and fell asleep; staying in hostels had made me really appreciate what it is to have your own room with a comfy double bed in đ
15th December
The hectic schedule of the last few days had taken its toll and I awoke this morning a bit tired and in need of some relaxation time.  After a lazy start I set about putting together the  (well overdue) blog updates for the Stans, having a bit of a think about what I was going to do whilst chez Davey and Lily and booking some accommodation for my drive to Queenstown.  With some much needed help from Lily, a plan came together and feeling better about the immediate future I set out for a run and a swim on the beach!
It was far too windy to do a real run on the beach so I settled for a quick 30 minute jog on the sand and then sat watching the kite surfers do their thing. Â It was lovely being back with the sand and the sea and despite the wind it was warm! Â Hot weather in December was a little weird but it would be churlish to suggest that I wasn`t grateful ?
The evening was spent jamming with some of Davey`s buddies. Â It was a great to get back playing guitars together; it had been more than 10 years since we had a band together. Â After jamming along to some good old tunes it was time to head home- staying up all night wouldn`t do with work beckoning in the morning!
16th December
Davey and Lily had kindly agreed to lend me their campervan for a couple of days so I could go a bit further afield and explore the Abel Tasman national park, Sunny Bay and Farewell Spit. Â It was a fairly ambitious amount of ground to cover in two days considering I`d have to do about 4hrs driving each day and make it back in time for a party on Saturday night! Â Still, I was definitely looking forward to getting back in another campervan- I was missing Seline who is still parked 8,000 miles away in the freezing winter of Kazakhstan ?
After stocking up on food for the evening I made it to the north end of Abel Tasman for my planned walk about 1pm. Â Now according to the guide book, my chosen route was about 25km and should take 10hrs. Â I obviously didn`t have 10hrs but anyway set out with confidence that I could better their proposed timings. Â I pushed out through this impeccabile landscape of golden beaches and lush green woodlands. Â The landscape here is incredible, you could almost be on a tropical island- just take a look at the pictures. Â I could have spent more time here- an overnight stay on one of the beachside campsites would have been pure heaven however I had a comfy bed waiting for me ? Â After 6hrs I returned, found a campsite nearby the ocean and bunked down for the night.
I rose early to ensure I had time to make it to farewell spit and back to Nelson in time for Davey and Lily`s Christmas Party ? After an hour drive I arrived at farewell spit and set out to walk out along it and see what this nature reserve had to offer. Â It was another remarkable place- pure white sand, rolling waves and barely a person to be seen. Â Heaven! Â There were also animals in abundance- the benefit of not having too many people around. Â Lost in my thoughts I stumbled accross a seal on the beach. Â At first the bark I got from him scared the living daylights out of me but this soon turned to sadness when I realised that he was stranded on the beach having suffered some kind of attack. Â I walked on feeling dimished by the vastness, beauty and cruelty of this amazing place.
 [peg-image src=”https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OaTRTW1spIo/WJRqF4W7ODI/AAAAAAAARGU/jSmLEeLh_3QZD2HP1x2HtDlu09Vd9PanwCCo/s144-o/20161217_130249.jpg” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/106656392310830434275/6382843223110804257#6382843221151266866″ caption=”” type=”image” alt=”20161217_130249.jpg” image_size=”5312×2988″ ]
Having taken in Farewell Spit I drove on to Wharariki Beach where I had been told there was a seal colony. Â Unfortunately it turned out that you can only see the colony at low tide and with party to get back for I couldn`t wait six hours for the tide to receed. Â I did, however, happen upon this guy lounging on the beach soaking up the sun! Â After a brief swim in a very wild Tasman Sea it was time to head back for an evening of revelry đ
A recovery day was in order today after an excellent night Chez Lily and Davey. Â Following some rest we headed out to visit their new, super cute puppy. Â Then onto another celebration- this time a birthday party follwed by some Christmas Carols. Â I have to confess that it felt pretty weird singing carols in the middle of summer but it was pretty nice all the same ?
Unfortunately it was my final day in Nelson. Â After doing a bit of blogging in the morning I headed down to spend a bit of time on the beach. Â The kite surfers were out in force again along with a few windsurfers. Â For me the only sports gear I had with me was my running shoes and swimming trunks. Â Still, you make use of what you have and after a very enjoyable afternoon of running, swimming and sunbathing it was time to head out for the last dinner!
We had a lovely evening of chat over a good curry and all too soon it was time to head back home; some people had to work in the morning đ
I felt sad to be leaving my friends for the unknown again but also felt very happy in seeing the wonderful life they have carved out for themselves over here ?
20th December
After a week of relaxing in Nelson it was time to head off for some hiking. Â The great walks in New Zealand require that you book either huts of campsites on the route- no just turning up here! Â As a consequence, I was far too late to book in to any of the most famous of the walking routes- most people recommend booking at least 6 months in advance! Â Whatever, I had settled on walking through Nelson Lakes which promised some amazing scenery, challenging hiking and an overnight stay in a hut on the shores of Lake Angelus. Â What could be better?
I was clearly a bit rusty with my packing because I ended up lugging a pretty heavy pack all the way up to the hut and back down again… most of which I didn`t use ?? Â IÂ started the day with a steep ascent up to Robert Ridge followed by a spectacular 4hrs walk at elevation to the hut. Â It is rare to be treated to such a series of superlative views- just look at the photos. Â I finally arrived at the hut around 5pm to find a load of friendly people, some of whom were just setting off to climb Mount Angelus itself. Â Now, ordinarily, the possibility of spending the end of my day climbing another mountain would have appealed but I wasn`t feeling it today, whetever the promised view at the top. Â Angeuls lake was beckoning me to swim and the sun was warm and strong. Â There was nothing for it but to have a swim and a sunbathe!
After an enjoyable evening of chat, it was time for sleep. Â I can`t pretend that sleeping in a bunk room with 20 other people particularly appealed but I was so tired that sleep came easily enough.
I woke late (for hiking) and once I`d had breakfast started to make my way down the mountain. Â Normally I hate descents and this one was no different. Â It was a semi scramble down a boulder field followd by a trek through some woodland. Â The pain of the descent was greatly reduced by the beauty of the beech woodland that I was walking through. Â It was a remarkable landscape- earily quiet, almost magical in feeling. Â I didn`t see another soul for almost two hours except two groups of wild campers emerging from the woods. Â Then suddenly I got to the bottom of the hill and met T who was one of a group with whom I had shared some chat the previous evening. Â We decided to walk out together and had a great afternoon swapping life stories and sharing anecdotes from our respective trips. Â I can`t pretend that spending a great deal more time in the beautiful laid back country didn`t appeal greatly and it was with a little pang of jealously that we finally parted with T going on to work on a farm near Nelson for some months.
My journey, however, was taking me to Queenstown, via the West Coast. Â I was particularly excited about this part of the trip and having been promised that this was the wild side of the South Island I was looking forward to bad weather and stormy seas ?
22nd December
I had overnighted in a hostel in the coastal town of Punakaiki. Â My plan was to kayak up the river and into the rainforest before driving on down the coast to Franz Josef. Â Unfortunately it had been raining all night which meant the river had turned to a chocolate, swirlling mess! Â It was too dangerous to Kayak and besides, it was flowing so fast that the only place I would have been going was out to sea! Â As an alternative, I took the walking route up the river which, despite the rain, was a beautiful walk. Â It hadn`t occured to me that there might be rainforest on a temperate island but this certainly was- the colour and shape of the greenery was amazing.
After walking it was time to hit the road and cover the relatively short journey down the coast to my next destination. Â After a few stops along the way to walk the wild, deserted beaches I arrived early in the afternoon far more tired than I expected. Â There were many possible things to do here but I settled for a relaxing soak in the hot tub followed by a huge dinner of steak sandwich. Â I was enjoying getting back to my old ways of eating a big slab of meat for dinner- New Zealand is great for this ï Â The evening rolled around and I suddenly realised that no others had checked into my dorm room. Â An empty dorm room was a very welcome surprise and I hit my bed early to take full advantage đ
23rd December
Today was the big drive over to Queenstown. Â I`d been looking forward to this one as it is supposed to be one of the best ones in New Zealand for landscape- from what I had already seen if this was true it would be pretty incredible and after a quick stop off at the Franz Josef glacier I was on my way! Â The glacier was lovely if a little touristy- definitely worth a stop.
The journey was remarkable after all- it was another amazing car journey through winding mountains. Â Perhaps not as epic as the journey through Kyrgystan but every bit as enjoyable ï Â I was even a little early when I arrived in Wanaka so what else to do except have a swim in the very inviting looking lake! Â I stripped off, changed into my swimmers, plunged into the lake and… Oh My God! Â It was freezing! Â I quickly dipped in and then got out shivering. Â It suddenly dawned on me why there were plenty of people sitting by the lake enjoying the sunshine but absolutely none in the lake itself. Â Maybe for once I should have followed the crowd đ
I finally made it over to Queenstown pretty tired after the journey and after a brief stop in the Supermarket to pick up supplies for Christmas settled into a nice dinner and glass of wine chez Michelle, Emily and Daryl ?
Today was the big day for my Canyon Swing. Â This had been my birthday present from Aoife and I had been pushing the thought of the 105m jump into the back of my mind ever since! Â Still, it could have been lot worse- at least I didn`t have to jump off the 134m high Nevis Bungee đ Â You have to decide how you are going to jump off the platform so they play a video for you in the bus on the way up of all the ways you can do it. Â This was the first time I had been confronted with the reality of what was about to happen and it didn`t help too much! Â Finally we arrived at the jump site, got kitted up with harnesses etc and got ready to jump off…
It was actually… really fun! Â And much more scary than the Turkish paragliding because you can`t feel what`s holding you up before you jump off the platform- just blind faith really đ Â But the rush is incredible!
After coming back from the Canyon Swing the plan was to meet up with Michelle and climb up to the Skyline which is on top of one of the mountains overlooking Queenstown. Â We`d also get a look at some people bungy jumping in case I fancied doing that too! Â It was a pleasant afternoon- a walk was just what I needed after the excitement of the morning.
Finally the evening came and after a stop in the famous Fergburger it was time to go out an celebrate Christmas Eve ??
25th December
Christmas Day and it`s hot an sunny! Â The plan for the day was to head down to the beach followed by a barbecue dinner chez Michelle`s friends Will and Grace. Â It was a bit weird spending Christmas Day in the sunshine- most families by the lake were relaxing with a pick nick, some beers and water sports. Â Christmas feels like it should be spent inside huddled against the wind and rain! Â Whatever, in this case I was very grateful to have the sun to warm my bones and some great company to relax in. Â I can`t pretend that being 10,000 miles from home on Christmas day didn`t make me feel a bit homesick but it was eased greatly by having such incredible company for the day. Â Thanks again guys for a great day!
After two days of Christmas celebration it was time for a quiet day ï Â Another beach stop by the lake, some paddle boarding, pick nick lunch and finally an evening of watching tv. Â Just what the doctor ordered!
27th December
I had made Milford Sound one of the must sees of my trip to New Zealand.  The only question was how to see it?  It`s a 4hr drive each way to the sound from Queenstown and the prospect of 8hrs driving in one day for a 2hr cruise didn`t appeal at all!  I decided to split the Journey over three days and spend two nights in Te Anau on the  way.  This is a useful halfway stop and also a gateway to the Kepler Track.  I had been too late trying to book to do any of the Great Walks, however I wanted to see what all the fuss was about so resolved to do the first day of the Kepler Track and back as a day walk.
I said goodbye to Michelle, Emily and Daryl, picked up my tent at the rental shop and headed out early towards Te Anau. Â This was another stretch of incredible New Zealand scenic road and after an amazing two hours I arrived at the campsite and got straight into pitching the tent. Â Fortunately the tent I`d been given was very new and very well designed and I had it erected in no time!
I arrived at the start of the track at around 1pm and quickly set out for Luxmore Hut which was the destination point for my day. Â 28km and 900m ascent and descent was a tough ask for any day walk but I needed a good stretch of the legs and set out eagerly ï Â The journey started with a pleasant hike along the lake, through another magical beech forest. Â Just before starting the climb, you pass a lovely campsite on the shores of a lake and I paused for a moment to savour the beauty of the spot. Â Perhaps I would be staying here on another trip ï Â Then it was time for the climb- this was a tough one straight up through woodland with no real view or let off but finally you emerge at the top on the other side to be greeted by spectacular views across the Southern Alps. Â I arrived at the hut, fairly tired and ready for a pit stop! Â Of course, I couldn`t linger too much because I had to retrace my steps to the car but it was enough to appreciate the beauty of the place and resolve to put the Kepler Track firmly on my bucket list! Â Finally I arrived home but not before encountering another walker who was planning a road trip along almost the same route that Aoife and I had taken in Seline. Â We spent a nice half an hour chatting of the Silk Road, far away lands and exciting adventures. Â It seemed almost a lifetime ago that we had left Seline parked in Almaty and it was nice to think of all the happy memories from that trip. Â I hope she`s doing ok in the bitter winter there.
It still amazes me how small the travelling world is- I had met the same people in different places around New Zealand, some who had done parts of the trip we had done or were planning to do so. Â I had also met an incredible proportion of South West Englanders. Â New Zealand is not overrun by British people- there are far more Germans than British in fact. Â But of those that I had met an overwhelming proportion were from Devon or Dorset. Â Maybe it`s the similarity of the landscapes, the laid back culture or simply a love of countryside but it seems that NZ holds a big draw for us West Country Folk ï
28th Decmeber
I had decided a kayaking trip was the best way to see Milford Sound rather than a boat cruise and I was pretty excited to get on the water. Â Fortunately I had opted for an afternoon trip so had time for a lie in before setting out on the 2hr journey to the sound! Â It was another lovely drive and I soon arrived raring to go for the kayak trip. Â The first part of the trip was to be taken by speed boat to the mouth of the sound where we would boat up and then paddle the 15km or so home. Â The speed boat ride itself was absolutely amazing- nobody else wanted to hang off the back of a bumpy speed boat but I was in my element đ Â I cannot describe in words just how incredible this place is- a lot is written about Milford Sound and for once it is as amazing as people say! Â Those mountains rising out of the water are so high you loose perspective- I almost fell out of the boat when our guide said they rise over 1500m straight out of the water!
All the others on the trip were couples so I was paired up with the instructor which turned out pretty well since with two people in the boat who knew what they were doing we could have a lot of fun ï Â Soon we had seen seals basking on the rocks, various types of seabird and had our picture taken hundreds of times by curious tourists on the tour boats! Â We even paddled under Bowen falls- looking upwards into the sunlight through the mist generated by this 162m water fall it`s almost like you`re seeing magic ï
We finished the trip with a bit of kayak surfing and all too soon it was time to head back to the campsite for dinner where I had the good fortune to meet some Austrian skiers who had just got back from an off piste tour of Hokkaido in Japan! Â We spent the evening engrossed in Skiing chat and I plumbed them for as much info as I could get for my upcoming trip ï
Today was a travelling day- I needed to catch my plane to my next destination, Sydney, where I would be spending New Year. Â Having been a little unsure if I would like the place after the first night in Aukland, New Zealand had grown on me every day and I now felt incredibly sad to leave this rugged, beautiful, friendly place. Â I`ll certainly be back one day ?
We awoke the next morning to some patches of sunshine. Â Most importantly, however, it was warm!! We had longed for this! We finally ditched our trousers and coats for shorts and t-shirt and set about a few tasks. Â We planned to do a bike ride from north Hainan to South and needed to get some maps and some cycling shorts. Â We took our rented bikes for a spin to check them out and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of them. Â Things were looking up!
After finishing our tasks, we headed for the beach for a much needed sunbathe and swim. Â In common with the rest of China, the cycle lanes are shared with electric scooters which made for a fairly hairy ride across town. Â Nevertheless, we arrive an hour later to golden sands. This was more like it!
After such a long bike ride, we needed some refreshment and the great thing about Hainan is that there are coconut trees growing everywhere J Â We therefore bought a coconut to share and savoured the sweet milk as we lay on the beach soaking up some rays.
After such a long time away from the beach, we also just had to swim! Â Amazingly there were no local people in the water at all leading us to wonder if it was either dangerous or very polluted. Â Neither it turns out although we did attract a lot of befuddled onlookers. Â A whole group of Chinese gathered on the shore to take pictures of us frolicking in the surf! Â No matter, it was fun J Â We also got accosted by some 14 year olds who wanted to know about how children’s lives are in the UK! Â And they also wanted… to touch my nose! Â I declined, of course but poor Aoife had to spend the rest of the day reassuring me I don`t actually have a big nose (just bigger than the Chinese)!
We cycled back to our hostel to make plans for the ride the next day however after much deliberation we decided not to do the ride at all!  We decided that what we really needed was a week of seaside and sunshine J  Having made this important decision to sack the cycling, we headed out for some dinner at the local street food market! This was really excellent with little sit down tables and everything.  Once finished one dish, we’d run to another vendor for another one! With the luxury of sitting down  we could really get into it and before we knew what happened we had almost eaten ourselves into a coma!
With little to do today except catch the train to Sanya, we started late and moseyed down to buy our train tickets. Â Frustratingly, as a foreigner you can`t use the automatic ticket machines and this meant queueing for our ticket for about an hour. Â Again, even though this was a shorthaul train (only 2hrs) we still couldn`t just rock up and get on and had to be allocated both a train and a seat. This meant that we had to wait another two hours at the station because all the earlier trains were already full.
By the time we arrived in Sanya it was late, but again, noticeably warmer than where we had come from! Yaay!  It was proper tropical weather and we headed out to find dinner wearing t shirt and shorts for the first time since Turkey!  We were staying at Dadonghai beach which is the most touristy of all the Sanya beaches and so there were plenty of seaside restaurants to choose from all serving delicious seafood.  After our experiences in Shanghai we knew what to do, however some of the prices were out of this world!  Lobster for 600yuan (about $90)/500g?!  That would have to wait for another day but after selecting a tasty looking white fish from the tank, we took our seats in anticipation of our meal J  It didn`t disappoint- the fish was just steamed with garlic and so, so fresh.  Accompanied by some stir fry vegetables, rice and a couple of beersâŠwe were in foodie heaven!
We hit our beds tired, happy and looking forward to the prospect of a sunbathe in the morning.
After a late start we made towards the sands but unfortunately the rain had followed us so despite being warm, it wasn`t the beachiest of weather!  Nevertheless, we sat on the sand and went for a swim (we`re British/ Irish  after all!).  We were also starting to unwind after our frantic schedule of the last few months and werenât good for anything in the afternoon except a nap. I, Aoife, ventured off for a run, but it was hard to find a good smog and people-free stretch of land to stretch the legs. A lot of the sea front was sectioned off into private hotels and residences. We went for dinner later in a small glitzy looking restaurant (there were millions of the same style) off the main road and enjoyed some delicious food and a taster of chinese brandyâŠwhich is quiet a nice tipple!
30th November
The guilt of the last few lazy days had finally caught up and before we had even eaten breakfast we were out the door for a run. Â We took some advice from the lovely friendly girl on reception, Liu. She advised us on where to go- it`s not so easy in China to find a good running spot because you have to pay into all the parks. Â Also, there are people everywhere! Solitude is a rare commodity! However, we were well advised and managed a 7 or 8k run over some hills and then down to the local marina and back up over the hills of Dadonghai. Â Having struggled our way to the end of this (a bit of a tough morning run!), we felt energised to head out to the Rainforest Park for an afternoon of sight-seeing. Â We got there, bought the obligatory coconut off a man selling a few he had just cut down on the footpath right there! We went up to the ticket office only to find that our hostel had told us the ‘local price’ for getting in. The real price was the equivalent of almost $40 each for foreigners, and given we only had a couple of hours before closing time we decided to abandon this plan and find something else to do. Something cheaper ï
Fortunately, the park was near to Yalong Bay which is the posh bit of Sanya so we decided to check it out J  The great thing about being a western tourist in China is that the locals just assume you are wealthy however you look or behave. We were not behaving or looking particularly wealthy at this point in time, I can assure!  However, we boldly walked straight in through the entrance of the Marriot hotel, greeted the bell boys sauntered through to use their private beach and poolâŠNo questions asked!  This was an excellent discovery as Yalong bay is the most picturesque of the Sanya beaches and by far the least crowded.  We spent the rest of the day lounging under the shade of the complimentary padded beach beds and parasols.
The sun came out beeming today so we cancelled all thoughts of doing anything other than sunbathing! Â We found a nice spot at the far end of the beach (as quiet a location as we could find on the main Dadonghai stretch) and settled in for a lazy morning. Â After lazing around for about half an hour Seb suddenly noticed that there was something funny about the Chinese group we were lying next to. Â Not only were there about 50 of them all sitting in a very tight pack behind us. But they were all men, and were all practically butt-naked! Â Apart from the shocking thongs and mankini devices on display!!
Just check out the photos! Â Weâd have never seen such a collection of wierd and wonderful thongs/swimwear! To top it all, some of the lads were obviously worried about the tan lines that the thong straps were leaving because they undid the backs too! Â It was all a bit too much for us! ï
The other weird thing was that ever since we had got to China we`d noticed that the Chinese have a general aversion to the sun- so much so that the beaches in Sanya were almost more busy after dark than during the day. Â But here were some avid sun worshippers, trying to get an all over tan…
We decided to get some lunch to mull over the meaning of it, but upon leaving the beach noticed that we were both a bit pinker than when we arrived! Unfortunately the factor 10 we had been using in Turkey didn`t look like it was going to cut the mustard here! Â We were pale after 6 weeks in the cold L
We headed back to our place and by the evening the burn had set in. Â We headed out for supplies of industrial strength aftersun and better sun cream for the next day!
2nd December
We awoke just about the colour of lobsters. Â Fortunately I wasn`t too bad- another day and it would be brown- but poor Aoife had burnt her eye lids and looked like a puffer-fish!! Her words, not mine đ We spent the morning icing her eye and face before heading out to find a sheltered spot for the afternoon, to read and hide from the sun. And what better option than to head back for the comfort of Yalong bay?! Â This time we picked on one of the other resorts which was actually even nicer and settled in for sleeping under our parasol.
We woke up early, looking and feeling a little less pink from the day before and decided to venture off and see another part of Hainan. We decided on Houhai beach. This was a surfer beach about an hour east from us, where waves were plentiful and crowds less so! We hoped on a local bus and were there before we knew it. The beach didnât disappoint. It had an alluring wildness to it. Smashing waves and impressive rockfaces in the back drop. The crowd were a lot more chilled there too, and more sparse ï
Seb went off swimming in surf, not getting too far with the powerful tides at work! I sat in my shelter zone until the sun started to go down in the evening. Then we walked along the shoreline, passing by massive shipwrecks at the far end of this crescent shaped bay! Â We sauntered back through the funky beachtown here and picked up some tasty corn treats before making our way back to the bus.
We still had energy to burn when we arrived back in Dadonghai, so we set off on the hill run weâd sampled a few days before. It was pretty spectacular at night. No-one about and views of the ocean from high in the hills. We were invigorated and starving on return! So we went to the well known expat bar not far from our hostel and went all out with some burgers and chips! Talk about undoing good work ï
We chatted away to some holidaymakers from Shanghai and then enjoyed some drinks and dancing to the tunes of the live rock band on stage!
4th December
Today we decided to venture to the areas busiest beach, Sanya bay! We decided to try brave the Hainan roads on an electric scooter. The Union Jack theme followed us here from the bedsheets in Haiou! But, inspite, we had a lovely spin on our leccy bike out to Sanya beach. We settled ourselves here for some swimming and reading. Later in the evening we strolled up the long beach, just as the fishermen were casting their nets to head out for their evenings work. Beautiful sunsets, with views across all of Sanya and the neighbouring bays!
Once the sun went down, we belted up, in search of the famed Sanya seafood market. This was a huge fish market, taking place in a massive filthy dirty warehouse. It was thronged with peopl. There was water, blood and fish guts sloshing around the floors and vendors shouting and jostling over weights and prices. All sorts of fish imaginaeable were on display. Giant lobsters and crayfish hoping about in pots, and crabs climbing up the sides of buckets, eager to escape. Muscles, peri-winkles, urchins, squid and prawns. So many wish, wiggling about in bags, buckets and tanks. Some incredible to watch. Some absolutley gross! No sooner than we had arrived that we were accosted by a very very pushy Hainan lady. She had targetted us (not too many tourists in this place!) as customers who would but too much fish probably. Then she would lead us to her friends restaurant, and get some commission for getting us to eat there. The restaurant would cook our fresh fish for us, at an agreed price! This is how the system works here! Standing at a lofty height of about 4 foot, and a voice as loud as a brass band, she was too intimidating for me, so I pushed her onto Seb, and played the submissive woman, pottering along behind him as we wandered through the market. There was no beating her. We chose our fish (some prawns, peri-winkles and crabs) and after we paid for them (at fantastic value prices!) she led us off to her friends restaurant and got her reward! In fairness, it was a fine place to eat, with a great buzz and a happy flow of customers coming and going. We ordered some veggies, rice and beers and had a veritable seafood feast! We followed this with some mango sorbet (Mango freshly sliced and mixed about in a sort of frozen sink for a few minutes. Nothing added. Incredible!). It was already late in the night so we made tracks back to Dadonghai then, very full and satisfied!
Our last day in the Hainan sun! We got the bus and went for one  final sunbathe on Yalong bay. We both managed to finish the books we were so slowing getting through over the preceeding few weeks! This was a very lazy day, just soaking up the last rays of sun. I for one wouldnât be seeing too much of this for the next while anyway ï
We ended the day with a nice seafood dinner down by the seafront and a wee drop of Chinese brandy then as a night cap!
6th December
Up early to get our bills, washing, packing etc in order. Time to leave Hainan! We said goodbye to the lovely staff in Sanya Backpackers hostel and then made our way to the airport in a taxi. By one o clock, we were in the air and bound for our final destination togetherâŠ.Hong Kong!!
We touched down in HK airport and were immediately blown away by the difference between HK and mainland China where we had spent the past 3+ weeks. This was like a different universe altogether. HK is remarkably clean, ordered, manicured. Itâs like the anthisesis of the rest of China. We were looking at each other bemusedâŠHad we accidentally flown to London?? Thatâs where we felt we could be. And expats everywhere. We were no longer the odd ones out!! It was only when we wondered outside to find our bus and the humidity hit that we were safely assured that we were not infact in London in December ï
We enjoyed great views from our double-decker bus into town, passing the various islands around the HK region. The scale of infrastructure here juxtaposed with scale of vast rainforest vegetation is really something else! We found our hostel, a very cute spot with a rooftop garden, on the top of a skyrise building in the heart of HK. We settled into our hostel and then headed out for some noodles in one of the many fast food cafes around town.
We then ventured down to the tube. We had to make our way across the HK waters to Wan Chai, where I had arranged to meet up with my long lost friend Grace (whom I hadnt seen since we moved houses away from each other as kids!) and her husband Jodi. They brought us to a rooftop bar on the edge of the waterfront, where we had awesome views all over HK and where we enjoyed some really yummy gin cocktails! Great chats and great company! They told us all about their experiences, living as expats in HK and filled us in on the social and political side of things and the differences and divisions between HK and mainland China. Also, we had a great time getting very merry, and amazingly, we finally managed to get on the correct tube home! Thanks a million for great times in HK, Grace and Jodi!
By afternoon we had business to attend to. The mission was to buy a tablet for Seb to take on his onwards travels. I was given the job of lugging the laptop home! We hit Wan Chai electrics market stores. Iâm usually a shopping fan and love a good market. But this was just tech from floor to roof! Painful! At one point I noticed I was the only female and non spectacle wearering person in the building! We eventually got out of there, tablet purchased, and then made our way towards the famed Temple Street night market. This place was fantastic! A fabulous colourful, bustling open-air market selling all sorts of eye-catching trinkets, and extending for hundreds of metres down the vibrant and charming Temple Street.
We were in search of a massive suitcase. Alas, friends, it was sadly almost time for us to go our separate ways. Seb would be going south from HK, towards New Zealand and then Australia. I, on the other hand, would be making the long trip home! All the way back to Dublin, where I first came from ï . This had been the plan which had evolved slowly over the months of travelling. I would join as far as China, and then fly back to get down to business working and earning back some of the funds I had already spent doing this fabulous amazing trip!
Anyway, we needed a massive suitcase that we could load up with gifts and also fit in all Sebs things that he needed brought back to the UK before venturing on with just a backpack. I ended taking 33 kilos of luggage back with me. A little over my allowance of 20! ï
After purchasing the suitcase, we stumbled across a food market full of eager customers stuffing their faces happily. The food looked good! We sat down to some mouth-watering fish and THE hottest chillies imaginable! Not sure if it was the flaming chillis, or the sudden realisation that I was infact leaving for home, but he looked very emotional sitting there on his plastic seat in that little food market ï)))
We ventured out for a nice breakfast the following morning. Our last day as two oddsocks!! We made sure to get a good feed before venturing into the HK shopping metropolis. We had presents to get!  We headed towards the famed âLadies Marketâ and the shopping areas around this part of the city. Wandering around the stalls, admiring all the oriental designs, gifts and gadgets. Checking out the fake bags, haggling with the pushy vendors. I loved this! Seb, not so much. When it all got to much he would sometimes try lose the vendors by directing them towards me, and then heâd disappear off  behind racks of clothes to hide and go unnoticed! Being 6ft3 in China though, he stuck out like a sore thumb most of the time, so I canât blaming for trying to steal the odd moments peace ï .
Anyway, it was soon time to leave the market, and hurry back to the hostel! We had picked up most of the bits we needed before running out of time. We had planned to go to a nice sushi bar on our last night together in HK. We even got semi-dressed up for the occasion. We followed google maps which led us to a rotating sushi belt in an empty foodcourt in a snazzy supermarket! How had we got it so wrong?? We left there, obviously, and ventured into the after-work-business-drinks area of the city. This was a cool district full of bustling activity. We ordered a huge corn fed steak to share and washed it down with the most delicious red wine! There was an acoustic session going on in the bar next door, so we ventured in there for some laughs and a bit of dancing! And then, back to our hostel, feeling lucky to have had such an awesome time together, but also sad about what lay ahead the next morning.
We were joined at the hip for four months! Together in the van. Just the two of us, pretty much all the time. Sleeping, eating, breathing, thinking! We were probably starting to morph into each other. But we werenât sure. We had no-one to consult about this  ï
Going from this to being 20,000 miles apart was going to be a leap into the unknown to say the least!
And for all concerned, to put your minds at ease, Â neither Seb or myself have been sectioned or admitted to any institutions since the oddsocks fission in HK. Weâre well and hoping to fuse again some day in the right conditions ï
We awoke this morning to the gentle rocking of the train speeding us towards Shanghai and I settled into a comfy half sleep. Â The train wouldn`t be in until after lunch so there was no need for an early start. Â Except that one of the older ladies that we were sharing a compartment with was adament that it was time for me to get up! Â Whether it was because Aoife was already awake or because she wanted to eat her breakfast without me on the bunk above or for some other inscrutable reason she made Aoife get me up. Â Sitting in the aisle of a sleeper train is not brilliant fun being both uncomfy and boring- I was not happy. Â Still we settled into a morning pot noodle and waited for Shanghai to arrive. Â Finally, the old woman who had decided it was getting up time, decided it was nap time after all and promptly fell asleep snoring. Â Despite the strong urges inside me to wake her as revenge, I decided a nap would be nicer and we passed another couple of hours in blissful sleep.
Anyway, having arrived we got the metro up to our hostel, where we got ready for a night on the town! Â The cuisine is more spicy the further south you go but and we were keen to try a highly rated Sichuan restaurant in the French Concession area. Â We arrived just in time because although we had the pick of the tables, 15 minutes later the place was jammed. Â We ordered some greens and a chilli beef dish that was literally cut up red chillis stir fried with sliced beef. Â This was so delicious despite being super hot; not just hot for the sake of it but because the heat added to the overal flavour of the dish. Â Vowing to return, we headed out into the night to find a bar of some description.
We found the famous `bar street` of the French Concession and promptly started looking up it only to find the bar we had decided to go to had been shut down! Â Actually when we really looked, it seemed as if a number of bars had been closed. Â To much fun for China here perhaps? Â We later learned the street had a curfew….perhaps the owners of these bars had been naughty đ
We did, however, find an Irish bar with a good craic. It had a good drinks list too, so we settled in. Â After we had been there about 20 minutes a group of expat lads arrived who we assumed must be some kind of sports team because they were dressed in womens clothes and obviously on a serious session! Sure enough it turned out to be the celebration of the Beijing- Shanghai rugby game that had taken place that afternoon. Anyway soon enough a good time was being had by all in this bar! Past midnight, we decided to call it a night and apparently just in the nick of time because just as we left the police arrived to call a halt to proceedings. Â Officially drinking isn`t allowed outside the establishement after 10pm… perhaps our Irish bar will be the next ghost bar on the bar street.
November 20th
Today was our one year anniversary so a special celebration day was in order. Â And what better place to celebrate than in Shanghai? Â If we couldn`t find something nice to do here we wouldn`t find it anywhere!
After a quick breakfast we headed out to explore the ‘Bund’ area. Â This is the original centre of Shanghai, so named because it was originally a bank on which ships docked to unload their goods. Â Since it`s rapid development in the early 20th century, however, it has housed a remarkable line of beautiful buildings, most of which are either fancy hotels or banks. Â We wanted to check out the Fairmont Peace Hotel which host a famous jazz band who are all in their seventies and some much older. Â One of the saxophonists is 94! Â Anyway we didn`t make a reservation because of the ridiculous minimum spend associated with it but decided we would come back at a good time to get a table. Â We also checked out the Waldorf Astoria which is a really remarkable art deco hotel and we took plenty of pictures of us enjoying the facilities J
We then took the ferry across the river to the New Pudong area which is a bit like Canary Wharf on steroids! Â Huge skyscrapers everywhere including many with observation decks. Â We had planned to take in the view of the city from one of these but unfortunately it was either cloudy or smoggy (its hard to tell in China sometimes) and we couldn`t see the top of the towers. Â If you can`t see the top from the bottom, then you won`t see the bottom from the top!
It was getting late anyway so after a brief walk around this area, we headed back to our hostel on the metro to get ready for our big night out!
The Jazz wasn`t a dissapointment. Â It did take them a little while to get going but once the band were warmed up they had good groove! The cocktails were also divine- we particularly liked the hotel`s `old fashioned` which we`ll have to mix up when home J Â All too soon it was time to leave and we headed out to ‘Lost Heaven’ for our evening meal. Â This was the first posh Chinese restaurant we had been to and it was pretty special. Â There was an amazing array of dishes on the menu including a number of flowers we had never heard of. Â We settled on a few different dishes. We had already learned that you don`t order a main course each in these places, unless you want loads of food left over! One main and a vegetable stir fry plus rice is always loads of food. We also treated ourselves to wine and what turned out to be a $10 bottle of water. Â Ouch! Â From Norway! We ranted on about the scandalous price of the Norweigan water while enjoying our delicious food đ Finally full up, we were last to leave the restaurant and a little unsteady on our feet when we headed outside to get a taxi! After a bit of negotiation with the taxi drivers it became clear that none of the ones outside the restaurant would use their meter- they wanted a fixed, very high price of 100RMB (about $15) for getting us home. Â I was having none of it (we had to get out of the one we were in- Aoife was not happy!) and we walked up the street 50m and hailed another one. Â The ride actually cost 15RMB on the meter! Â Great, fun night! J
Suprisingly we were up fairly early and decided to begin the morning with some excercise to brush away the cobwebs. Â I needed to start training for skiing so after 3 laps of the local park, Aoife ran on and left me, whilst I did some Pilates and the unfortunately named eccentric -leg- exercises! Â After we returned to the hostel, a good breakfast was in order and we were then ready to face the day! Â We wanted to find a small area of the French Concession famed for its tiny alleys and handmade souvenirs. Â Unfortunately it was raining and by the time we arrived we were cold, wet and hungover. Â A deadly combination! Â We had to start with lunch but unfortunately because this area was a tourist hotspot you could get any flavour of food under the sun but no Chinese. Â Eventually, however, we found a little noodle bar to serve us some dumplings and a tofu soup.
After food we were a little bit cheered up and set about exploring the myriad of stores. Â There were nice things here especially Chinese dresses and handicrafts but unfortunately everything was very expensive. Â Perhaps a little surprisingly for a communist country (or perhaps not?) the Chinese are very shrewd when it comes to business. Â Â This means, therefore, that as soon as an area becomes a tourist attraction the price for all goods in that area shoots up massively. Â The best places to buy things therefore is usually the markets where the same stuff will be on sale but very cheap (if youâre a good haggler ;)).
There was also a rather good food market which we stumbled into by accident. Â Having a look round we realised that it was heavy on fish but that all the fish were live in tanks! Â Basically you caught your own fish out of the little tank with a net and then gave it to the stall owner who prepared it for you. Â Great, we thought, until we looked closer and realised that the fish were being gilled, gutted and scaled while still alive! Â I usually have quite a strong stomach for that sort of thing but we were both a bit sickened by the idea of the fish not being killed before all of this happened. Â None of the locals seemed remotely bothered however! Â Chalk it up to cultural differences- the Chinese are obviously sticklers for freshness đ
We headed home after this, and after a bit of a rest we headed out to find Wang`s fried dumplings. Â These were every bit as good as we had been promised but didn`t consitute a full meal. Â Perhaps it was the fish gutting antics of the afternoon but nothing appealed to us apart from fish! Â So we found a little restaurant, ordered something tasty and tried not to think about how it had been swimming around a tank a few minutes before…
The lazy start we should have had the morning before happened today but we only had one thing important to do and that was fly to Guilin. Â We headed into town first, however, for a bit of last minute shopping. Â I had seen a nice man bag on the first day and was determined to go back and have another look. Â After annoying the lady in the shop by trying out all the bags, I decided that it was stupid to buy one anyway because I would have to carry it all the way around China!
We arrived in Guilin and our hope for warmer weather was answered, just about! Â After finding the hostel, we headed out for a quick bite to eat and hit our beds, dreaming of some sun after chilly rainy Shanghai!
November 23rd
We awoke today in need of an easy day. Â The frantic pace of the last couple of months was finally catching up with us and was taking a toll on our desire to do anything. Â Enthusiasm was hard to muster! It wasn`t helped by the fact that overnight the weather had turned absolutely freezing! Â After breakfast we forced ourselves out of the hostel to see Guilin wearing every single piece of clothing we owned.
Guilin is a pleasant town and although the main sights of the region are not in the town itself, it makes a great base for exploring. Â We did, however, have a walk along the river and lakes which flow through the town as well as seeing the Sun and Moon pagodas which are, apparently, the tallest structures of their kind in the world. Â They were pretty impressive up close but not impressive enough for us to linger. Â We decided to call it a day; the nasty weather meant the day was only really good for one thing. Â Curling up inside and planning our next moves- and so we did J
It was a nice rest day, but we also needed a run to top it off. Â Unfortunately, in the intervening time it had started to rain. Â Much to the horror of the locals we decided to run anyway and to dire warnings of getting arthritis because of the rain we ran back round the lakes we walked in the morning. Â The night time vista was something special- much more exciting than during the day and when we returned to the hostel an hour later our sprits were well lifted!
After warming up with a hot shower we headed out to the nearest food place we could find which was a bar serving western food and showing the ATP tour tennis finals. Â Result!
November 24th
An early start this morning as we were heading out to the Longji Rice Terraces. Â This famous landscape (along with a boat trip down the Lee river to Yangshou) was the reason we had set our hearts on coming to Guilin in the first place. Â Expecting a tourbus to show up, in the end there were only four of us going from the hostel so we were bundled into a nice taxi and sent on our way J Â The other two were a pair of Germans who were studying in Shanghai and taking some time to travel a bit whilst they were in China. Â Amazingly (for members of the Briem family) their names were Charlotte and Valdemar which I think is one of the weirdest coincidences I`ve ever come across!
Anyway we passed a nice three hours chatting in the back of the taxi and decided to head up to the terraces together. Â We were not disappointed by the views on offer. Â The terraces have been crafted by thousands of years of hard labour- every available piece of hillside had be carved out into a flat plane for growing rice. Â It is worth considering that these terraces also have to be perfectly flat and flow into one another so that they can be flooded in spring time. Â We were bowled over by the shear scale of human endeavour! Â Unfortunately, as is so common in China, this remarkable landscape is being developed with holiday cottages and hotels; there is already a cable car to the top for those unable or unwilling to hike the 45mins it takes to get there. Â My advice is see this while you still can because in 5 years it will be changed forever.
In typical style, we weren`t satisfied with simply doing the normal tourist trail and after seeing the first viewpoint, we headed out to climb up to the highest peak in search of more views. Â Alas the maps and signs were pretty poor and we were soon lost! Â Eventually after hiking for a few hours we decided to turn around and go down to make sure we were back in time for our ride home! Â On the plus side, on our way we found that the terraces were used for growing all sorts of food; not just rice đ It was hard to resist delving into the locals chilli and berry plots!
After the long day of hiking we were in need of some rest and despite our best efforts at conversation, soon we were all asleep in the back of the taxi! Â The other guys were also planning a boat trip down the Lee river in the morning but had booked into the more expensive (but potentially much warmer) luxury cruise. Â We had booked onto a shorter trip on a bamboo raft which whilst more fun in the summer had the potential to cause hypothermia in these conditions! Â We opted to change our minds and travel to yangshou in style! Â Having made this important decision, we headed out for some dinner and live music. We found some awesome live music in a bar not far from the hostel. Soulful jazz….a very nice surprise!
The rainy, gale forced winds we awoke to start convinced us that we had definitely opted for the right boat cruise! Â It was not a day to be frolicking around outside! Â An early start, followed by a coach ride had us on the water by 10am ready to cruise down the river to Yangsho. Â Our cruise included a guided tour in English as well as Chinese. Â This was hilarious! Â The lady rattled on in Chinese for what seemed like hours only to utter a single sentence in English afterwards giving the most banal of facts. Â The best part was that every time we came to a noteworthy view, we were invited upstairs to `take photos`. Â No mention of actually looking at the view! Â This wasn`t the first time this had happened and we were starting to think that Chinese tourism mainly consists of taking photos and, presumably, looking at them in the future! The posing displays on the upper deck were priceless. We got involved too of course ï
Despite the rain, this was a really breathtaking, remarkable landscape- just look at the photos! Â It was worth every penny of our tour money and we arrived in Yangshuo very wet and very happy! We saw one or two unfortunate groups braving the conditions on the skimpy exposed bamboo rafts… It just looked deathly! Our hearts went out to these poor soaked, frozen souls!
Having arrived, we settled into our hostel and went out for a night on the town!  Yanhshuo is unfortunately very touristy.  So much so that it took us a while to find any Chinese food for sale!  Apparently the Germans are well represented here because there was a whole street of German eateries J  We did eventually find  Chinese food and this was followed by a visit to another live music bar of a similarly high standard to Guilin.  The live music in China is really excellent- open mic nights are a common theme in neighbourhood bars and in typically Chinese style, the standard is really very high.  Somewhat differently from the UK, however, none of the performers write their own songs- this is considered a job for songwriters.  The performers are just hoping to be noticed and signed by talent scouts.
This would be our last day in Yangshuo and we were due to fly out to Hainan in the evening. Â Of course there was still time for a bike ride and we planned to set off with Charlie and Valdi to find the Dragon Bridge! Â Naturally, everything didn`t go according to plan and shortly after setting off, Aoife broke her bike J Â Unphased, after a short trip back for a replacement we were on our way… and then promptly got lost!! After a good few hours riding along footpaths, river fronts, dirt roads and through winding villages, we finally made it to our destination. The ride there was spectacular though! The bridge itself when we arrived was very cute, though mobed with tourists! Â The same amazing peaks we had boated through the previous day were the backdrop to this stretch of our cycle. Â In the foreground were farms growing tropical produce. Â Amazing stuff! Delicious smells!
After a quick bite to eat we decided to take the faster route back, to ensure we made our flight and were reunited with our friends. Â We all headed to the airport, satisfied with our few memorable days in Guilin. Â Of course, we still had a flight to navigate and a hostel to find at the other end! Â The flight with Hainan airlines was something of an adventure. Â We were late boarding the plane but instead of leaving late, we taxied at speed to the runway whilst the stewardesses frantically tried to get everyone seated and the luggage stowed away. Â One guy sitting in front of us had his seatbelt stuck and couldn`t get it fastened. Â After much frantic pulling it still wouldn`t come. Â Time was up, the engines started to roar and with a gesture to `hold on tight` the stewardess scuttled off for her own chair, leaving the poor guy perturbed and unbelted! Apart from this excitement, there was also a slight hiccup with our accommodation as you can see from the photo of the bed sheets below! Obviously this was no problem for me but if Aoife hadn`t been so tired I reckon she wouldn`t have slept in them at all! Â As it was, it was well past midnight and sleep was beckoning. Â Sometimes, sacrifices are called for J
We both had early landings into Beijing International Airport. And were full of anticipation!  China was set to be a totally different experience, with a huge cultural gulf between what we were used to (even though weâd been travelling for months).  The first challenge was to change terminals at the airport.  At least some (But by no means all) signs were in English. This was lucky because Chinese bears no resemblance whatsoever to any alphabet Iâve ever come across J  Anyway, I decided to follow some fellow tourists through the airport and found the terminal transfer bus.  After a few minutes I found myself in Aoifeâs terminal, waiting in our agreed rendezvous spot- Starbucks đ Itâs amazing how befuddled a lack of sleep makes you so we ended up having to get a taxi to our hostel….we couldn’t tackle the buses in our dozy states!  After a brief encounter with a chancer taxi driver (who wanted 500RMB to take us into town) we found a cab and showed our hostel name in Chinese and settled in for the 45 minute ride.  Taxis, it turns out, are a cheap way to get around in China. They’re metered and  state regulated. The whole ride only set us back 80RMB (about ÂŁ9).  We were dropped at the end of our street and we started the 400m walk up to our hostel only to find⊠construction works blocking our way!  The whole street was upturned, with bricks and dust and shovels everywhere! We were sent one way, then the other and couldnât find our hostel- no one seemed able to help. Every question was met with a shake of the head or ânoâ.  (We only realised later that in China, people tend to do this when they donât understand what youâre saying- not because they donât know).  In the end, one of the old construction lads took pity on us, opened up the hoarding and brought us to the hostel (which was fully inside the construction site!).  It felt like we had arrived in an oasis and we put our heads down for a badly needed sleep J
Refreshed from the feed and from our sleep, Â it was time for some culture! Â We were staying in the Dongcheng North district so decided to see the sights on our doorstep first. Â First stop was the Llama Temple. Â The change in architecture was pretty striking. Â We had left behind the middle eastern minarets and madrassas; in front of us were oriental temples and pagodas. Â The construction of the temple was quite amazing. Â All the structure was made from bamboo, some of which was well over a foot in diameter. Â After drinking our fill of the architecture we started to explore the temple. Â We noticed that everyone was burning incense and then praying to the giant Buddahs. We had to get involved! So we found incense sticks and got kneeling đ
After weâd had enough of sightseeing we decided to head down into town to try and find the famous Wangfujing night market.  After a bit of a search (Wangfujing street is actually a huge shopping street, more reminiscent of New York) we entered through a lantern lit arch and marvelled at the madness on offer…Street food and shouting venders everywhere! Spring rolls, whole deep fried squid, meat kebabs⊠and BUGS!  OMG there were loads of different varieties of cockroaches and scorpions for sale.  What to do?  We couldnât rightly leave without trying the bugs could we?!  Once you get over the fact youâre eating bugs they are surprisingy⊠tasteless.  Perhaps not worth it?  Whatever, we washed the bugs down with some beers and a whole squid which was delicious J  After a walkthrough this enchanting bustling market we had a go at haggling for some trinkets (We only bought two hats) and then decided to head home.  Itâd been a long day afterall!  By the way, in case anyone is thinking of visiting China, the real price the vendors here are looking for is between 10% and 30% of their first price đ We learnt this after paying over the mark for a hat!
By the time we walked home, we were hungry again (not enough meat on those bugs!) so we decided to check out one of the restaurants local to our hostel. Â The food was a revelation! Infact, the food all through China was really really delicious! Before the trip I was seriously wondering how I would manage a whole month on Chinese food but actually it is very light, vegetable heavy and full of tasty spices. Nothing like the stodgy, gloopy Chinese you get at home. Â Unfortunately whilst beer is quite cheap, wine is extremely expensive in China. Â This perturbed Aoife a bit đ After looking through the menu for a minute, however, we noticed that Chinese rice wine was only 8 Yuan. Â Sorted! We ordered one teapot of this before dinner and another after with some beers in between (the wine is served hot and is more like a dark spirit than wine). Â When our bill arrived we noticed we had been charged 80 Yuan for the wine- thinking there had been some mistake we queried only to be told that each teapot contains 5 measures! Â We had managed to spend more on drink than on our entire meal. Â Oops J Â Never mind- it was fun anyway!! Â Fully satisfied we hit our beds ready for a more sleep.
November 13th
We awoke full of energy and well rested. We made our way to the Forbidden City! This is a huge palace at the heart of Beijing which the Chinese Emperors used to rule the empire. Â The reason for its name is that during the time of the emperors it was forbidden to enter (the penalty for trespassers was death). Â Another quick outing for my Student Card (thanks Cambridge!) and we were in. China is great for student discounts đ Despite having seen a myriad of palaces over the last three months we were genuinely impressed by this one. Â The scale of the place was incredible to behold and coupled with the Chinese architecture, it left us in awe. Â The clock room is a particular highlight showcasing a remarkable collection of pieces which were given as gifts to the Emperors. Â I wonât waffle on about them; have a look at the pictures J
After the palace, we headed town to Tiananmen Square, opposite Forbidden City. Â The scale of this place is huge! Â And the change in architecture very striking. Â In a way, the walk out of the classical architecture of the Forbidden City, across a 10 lane highway and onto Stalinist Tiananmen Square neatly summed up the amazing mix of culture and history of this rapidly changing city. Â We got the obligatory photographs on the square and decided to move on- thereâs nowhere to sit on the square and itâs full of police. Â When coupled with the freezing weather it was hardly the moment to linger!
We spent the evening at a Kung Fu show which, whilst pretty amazing, made us fill rather fat and unfit. Three months on the road hadn’t done us favours in that department đ The Kung Fu students were breaking iron rods with their heads! Â Incredible! Â We met an American father and son who were also touring Beijing. Â The conversation inevitably turned to Trump and we felt heartened and sympathetic that amongst Americans there is as much worry as we have about the future. Â After the show we returned to the hostel. Â I donât know whether it was missing home, or the Americans we had met whilst at the show, but suddenly we had a hankering for western food, threw conscience and unfitness-guilt to the wind, and settled into tasty burgers and chips J
We had an early start today as it was the big trip to the Great Wall! Â The wall is the longest wall ever built and served to protect the Chinese from Mongolian invaders (which it didnât- when Genghis Kahn conquered China he observed that a wall is only as strong as those manning it. Â He had bribed his way in J). Â Whatever the strategic usefulness of the wall, it is an incredible sight to behold and a testament to the high regard that security was held in those days. Â You can choose between different areas to visit, some of which are very well restored and akin to museums, some are completely wild, almost derelict, and some in between. Â We had signed up for a 4hr hike along a part restored section that promised to give a bit of both. Â We were not disappointed; we hardly saw another tourist all day (except our tour group), the sun finally came out for us and we had really enjoyable day hiking J
By the time we returned, we were famished!  Determined that we should sample the famed “Peking Duckâ whilst actually in Beijing, we sought out one of the famous restaurants in town that served it. We wandered through the Hutongs and found a very exciting looking area with plenty of bars and restaurants on the riverfront- things were looking good, although there was no sign of the restaurant.  The lady in the hostel had given very confident directions- clearly she thought it was obvious!  We were starting to get seriously hungry by this point and in no mood to dilly dally over finding our food⊠Finally we stumbled across a place with a plastic duck outside- surely this couldnât be the entrance to a posh restaurant?!  We did a quick check of the Chinese name (no English writing) and it seemed to match what we were looking for so we went inside.  It was like entering the Tardis- the inside was bright, spacious and even had a Koi pond!  Excellent.
We were seated and ordered our dinner- we even treated ourselves to wine J Â I can confidently say the Duck here is the best I have ever eaten by some considerable margin. Â So juicy and tender and not fatty. It practically melted in the mouth. Â We were also given a demonstration of the correct way to build a duck roll for ourselves. Â Now I know youre all thinking we couldnât have possibly needed that right? Â But have you ever made one using chopsticks instead of your hands? Â Exactly! Â This needed some serious finger dexterity and although our chopstick skills couldn`t compete with the waitress, we didn`t embarrass ourselves totally đ
After dinner, we decided a nightcap was in order and set about finding a nice bar to relax in. Â Unfortuntately the Chinese have a penchant for exotice dancers in their bars and trying to find one without was tricky. Â Luckily there were also a few music bars just along the way from the restaurant so we settled into one of these only to find the drink prices so outrageous that we turned on our heels and went back for a beer at the funky bar next to the hostel. Â This turned out to be a good decision and we went to bed tired and happy đ
November 15th
Whilst walking around town we had been impressed by the facilities on offer to cyclists in Beijing and today we decided to make the most of them! Â Although the roads are pretty frantic, there are separated cylce lanes (although you do have to share these with a myriad of other vehicles such as electric scooters, tuk tuks, pedestrians and sometimes parked cars…) and we decided that we`d be safe enough to have a go.
First stop was the Drum Tower and by a lucky coincidence we arrived just as a drum performance was about to start. Â The drums were used to signal the time to residents of the city much like, for example, Big Ben. Â The drums, however, are seriously massive! Â The largest was easily 2m in diameter. Â We`ve uploaded a video for you guys to see what all the fuss is about J Â After the drum tower, the next stop was the bell tower next door. Â The was also cool to see although we never did figure out what the difference in purpose is between the drum tower and the bell tower since both were used to signal time. Â This one contains the largest cast bell in China and is 600 years old and weighs 63 tonnes!
After taking in the two towers we moseyed onto the Confucious temple. Â Confucianism is important to the Chinese way of thinking however our sight seeing powers were diminishing by this point and we really only had a cursory look inside the temple and accompanying Imperial College. Â It was time for some lunch!
We stopped our bikes in a little street market that we`d seen when walking to the duck restaurant the night before and decided to sample some of the local stuff. Â All the locals seemed to be eating some kind of tripe (yup, pig intestines!) and although it didn`t really appeal we thought we`d better get with the programme and try it! Â It was nice enough, especially if you added lots of soy and chilli however it didn`t really have any particularly distinguishing features apart from being cheap J Â The pear tea that we bought to go with it, however, was heaven in a glass! Â The Chinese really know how to do things with fruit and this tea was a delicious brew of pear and spices. Â It was just the ticket to warm us up and get us going for some more sight seeing action. Â We also tried a wierd looking fruit stick which turned out to be crab apples dipped in hard sugar syrup. Â These were also fantastic with a lovely bittersweet contrast between the crab apple and sugar. Â Aoife was particularly taken with them as you can see from the photos!
We spent our afternoon strolling around the Temple of Heaven park and then headed back with our bikes to the hostel for a quick shower and change before heading out to go back to the Wangfujing market for a street food dinner. Â This time we successfully avoided eating any discusting bugs and feasted on delicious deep fried squid, kebabs, sticky rice, spring rolls and more fruit dipped in syrup!
After an hour of feasting on everything we could find, we felt we really ought to walk the 3km back to our hostel and were so invigorated by the time we arrived that we dipped into a little back alley jazz bar just round the corner. Â This was the music experience we had been searching for the previous evening! Â A quirky little atmospheric bar with a few jazz musicians rotating through the stage and a crowd of about 20. Â The music was excellent, the beer reasonable and the crowd friendly. Â What more could we ask for?!
The Summer Palace was the final big sight of beijing that we hadn`t been to, however after our night of jazz we were feeling a bit tired. Â We therefore decided to satisfy our inner child instead, by going to the zoo! Â The idea had been planted in our heads a few days earlier by the Americans we met at the kung fu show and what better way to spend a lazy day than seeing the animals. Â We were particularly excited about seeing the Giant Pandas.
Unfortunately, we quickly realised that Beijing Zoo didn`t pay the kind of attention to animal welfare that you’d hope for, and our excitement at seeing what is a very impressive collection was dampened by a sense of guilt at supporting the place at all. Â Whatever, we had bought our tickets and so had done our bit to support it anyway. No point running out. it had a pretty impressive collection of animals in fairness! By the end, neither of us could think of a single large animal that wasn`t represented at the zoo and, conditions aside, we`d had a lovely time, and a bit of a laugh? Surely better than going to another palace đ
It was time to leave Beijing and our hostel had helped us book tickets for the overnight train between Beijing and Xi`an, a journey of 14hours. Â This promised to be an adventure! Â We`d done a little research on how to catch the train in China and when we got to the station we were glad we had because it is quite bewildering! Â Think Kings Cross at rush hour with about 3 times as many people all going in different directions and all the signs in Chinese… Â It`s fairly different to getting a UK train in a few other important ways too. Â Firstly, your tickets are allocated with your passport number on so you have to go through security to get into the train station in the first place. Â Second, you can`t just turn up and get on the train. Â You need to be in the waiting area at least half an hour before hand. Â Thirdly, tickets are hard to come by and everyone is allocated a seat or a bed so once the train is full it`s full. Â We booked four days in advance and still didn`t get on our first choice of train. Â And finally, of course, you`re sleeping on it! Â Anyway, we decided the best policy was to get in our waiting area and then just do what everyone else did J Â We got a few supplies together and got ourselves onto the train in good time and settled ourselves in. Â The comparments are pretty cramped in Hard Sleeper (the cheapest sleeper class) with triple bunk beds however once youve got yourself in there`s enough room to do what you need to do and people are surprisingly respectful of each others personal space (particularly considering that in China, such a densely populated country, personal space is a rare thing to find yourself with!) ). Â We drank some wine we brought and grabbed some pot noodles off the food trolley that is circulated every half an hour or so. By the designated lights off time of 10pm, we were ready for a good night`s sleep.
Novemeber 17th
The night passed fairly quickly considering we were sleeping on a train and we awoke bright and early and ready for our first day in Xi`an. Â On the whole, the train experience is pretty good and is a very cheap way to get from A to B- the ride to Xi`an had set us back about $40 each which is very good value for a trip of 14 hours that doubles as a hotel.
The purpose of our trip to Xi`an, of course, was to the see the famous Terracotta Warriors. Â The Warriors were created and burried with the Emperor Qin who was the first to unite China. Â Although there is still some debate as to why, it is thought that Qin assumed he would also be an Emperor in the afterlife and would therefore need an army. Â The scale of this site really is something to behold. Â It is still unknown how many figures will be unearthed as the dig is still a work in progress but so far around 5000 have been unearthed. Â From the live dig it is clear that although a lot of damage was sustained to the warriors over the 2000 years that they`ve been buried, there are some which are surprisingly well preserved, even coming out whole. Â We spent the day seeing the three pits, and left the area very happy we`d come. Â This really was extraordinary.
After tucking into some wonton soup (we were starting to get the hand of finding Chinese food we liked now) we headed back on the shuttle bus to Xi`an to find our hostel. Â By the time we finally got in it was dark and we were extemely tired and hungry- the overnight train journey had definitely taken its toll on us! Â On the plus side we were given a free welcome beer at the hostel…. Â Result! Â After a quick shower we headed back into the hostel bar for another beer and soon realised we weren`t leaving. Â Too tired/lazy đ We therefore ate some lovely food there and got a well deserved early night J.
November 18th
We awoke a little bleary eyed today after the exertions of the previous few days and decided we needed to brush away some cobwebs with excercise. Â Xi`an has very well preserved and maintained city wall which are wide enough to cycle around the top of- what better way to see the city? Â The 14km cycle took us a little less than two hours and when we came down we felt much more awake! Â The old city wall give an indication of how important and busy a city this once was. Â Xi`an is the old capital of China and must have been a hugely important city to have had such a large area enclosed by a city wall.
After our wall trip we ate a bit of lunch in a noodle bar and then hit the other `must see` sights of Xi`an namely… the bell tower and the drum tower! Â Of course, we`d already seen one of each of these in Beijing and we were curious to see how the differed here. Â The answer is not a lot! Â Although they were very nicely preserved buildings, we weren`t enthralled enough to linger and soon moved on to look for some dinner. Â Happily, we stumbled upon another night market with more tasty looking street food! Â They also had some rather nice terracotta warrior chess sets…which I had to buy despite the obvious problems associated with carrying a chess set around for months J ….(I, Aoife, used my well-honed haggling skills on the vendors in Xi’An, and got Seb a steal of a deal on the chess set ;))
The market was a bit different from Beijing and apart from being cheaper than Wanfujing Road market, the food was also tastier. Â We were enthralled by the street vendors preparing their food on the street whilst they sold it, in particular the kebab guys who were carving raw meat off carcasses hanging in front of their grills before skewering it up and getting grilling. Â At least you knew what you were eating was real lamb and not dog or some other alternative! Â We also tried the Chinese beef burger on account of it having the largest queue of locals in front of the stall- it was actually worth the wait! Â Kind of like the shredded brisket burgers you get in trendy London bars now (except about a 10th the price!)
Finally, the time came for us to get on board our train for Shanghai. Â It had been a whistle stop tour of Xi`an but probably about the right amount of time; we settled into our bunks in eager anticipation of what we might find in China`s biggest city!
After an early night, we wandered out to explore Samarkand, and its awesome palaces, mausoleums , mosques and bazaars. We took a plethora of photos here. Like Kiva and Bukhara, visual feasts everywhere in this city!  The scale of the building and grandour of the architecture makes you realise just how important the towns along the silk road were for trade and how rich the rulers of those towns became as a result; there`s  a reason why Uzbekistan is known as the `cradle of culture`.  You have to pay into absolutely everything, some more worth seeing than others.  However after a brief moment of frustration, we came to our senses and realised that since this is Uzbekistan and not western europe most things cost little more than $1 đ
We worked our way through the town taking in as much as we could and finally found ourselves queueing for… a wake! Â Before we knew it, we were ushered forward like herded sheep in a mass of Uzbek people, and suddenly found ourselves in a procession of mourners going into a mosque. How had this happened to us again?! Â The first time was the monk funeral we accidentally gatecrashed at a monastery in Montenegro! Anyway, we awkwardly tried to slip our way out of the crowd, and away from the other mourners. It was three days later when we found out, that what we had actually stumbled into, was the official national mourning procession for the Uzbek president (who’d been in power for decades!) and had just suddenly died! The chances!
Later that night we sought out a popular restaurant in Samarkand to feast on the local delights. It was a saturday night, and full unfortunately, but our obliging taxi driver led us to another spot he thought we might like. It was a big, bling fancy looking joint, with masses of locals streaming in and out of it. Packed to the rafters! Everyone dressed in their finery….and we’re talking full on gypsy wedding finery. Lots of gold teeth on display aswell, a big status symbol in Uzbekistan we found out, for men and women alike! It turned out we’d stumbled upon someones 50th birthday party. And the shenanigans were in full swing! Despite it being a private party we were promptly found a table to sit at and brought menus, while we watched the entertainment unfold before us! And, boy was it entertaining! Costumed dancers, drummers, singers, wild family members throwing shapes, crazily loud music, and inebriated uncles falling about and throwing wads of soms up in the air! It was mad, and once we’d had dinner, we’d no choice but to join in. After great laughs and fun getting involved in the party celebrations, we made a swift exit, before the uncles coerced us upstairs for more boozing and carrying on!
After a good nights sleep, we packed up for the drive south to the Ferghana valley, an area in the south of Uzbekistan famed for silk manufacture and pottery and beautiful mountain scenery. The drive up into the mountains and across the pass was truly breathtaking!
We finally got to Ferghana, as the sun was setting, and boy, was the cold really setting in now! Our guide book (the lp) recommended a guesthouse on the main street coming into Ferghana…..Valentinas guesthouse! They did warn it was hard to find though! This was no understatement! We had to scale stairs after stairs around the back of a pitch dark , gigantic old communist looking block of flats. We eventually knocked on the right door……and found our hostess…..a giddy, colourful Russian lady, who led us into her roasting hot home! This was perfect! Then we set put for a cafe/bar around the corner to get dinner……you guessed it shashlik. Seb was still in his element at this point. My meat quota was , unfortunately, beginning to reaching saturation point though! Being more a fish and veg lover, the huge slabs of fatty red meat were becoming more and more of a challenge as time went on!
November 6th
We set off for the famed Margilon Silk market in the morning. In our naivity we had expected a market full of Silk. Â Wrong! Â The market was gigantic and had every possible type of ware for sale including all kinds of colourful fabrics. Â It was truly remarkable to see so many on sale together- just look at the pictures!
It took us a while to find what we were looking for, but once we did, we had a great time hunting and bargaining. Â Having had our fill of the market, our next stop was Boston, a small nearby town, famed in Uzbekistan for pottery production. We nabbed ourselves some beautiful tea sets here, and then expertly packed them away in Seline for the journey home. Â If they make it back in one piece it will be a miricle but fingers crossed anyway đ
After loading up, we set out for Andijon, and onwards to the Uzbek/Kyrgyzstan border, where we hoped to cross before 7 which we had read was the closing time. This was a lot earlier than the norm for a border to close so we set out early, planning to be there by 5. Of course the Uzbek police had other plans for us! Because of the recent trouble with separatists in Andijon, the number of checkpoints was off the scale! Â Literally every half an hour we had to stop and register. Â And of course when your in a hurry everyone wants to chat! Â All the guards wanted a talk football and look in Seline. Â It was all we could do to keep our heads screwed on! Â Relentless! Â And then we were pulled in for a minor hiccup on my part. Crossing a full line overtaking or something! So minor I don’t even really know what it was….but this led to a further delay whilst we sorted out whether we would have to pay a `fine` or not. Â (By this time we were savvy enough to know that it`s the guy with stars on his uniform lounging in the car who`s really in charge and after an appeal to him we were let go). Â All these blockades meant when we finally reached the border it was five past 6, and pitch dark! We went up to the railings and read the notice…..the border now closed at 6! Minutes too late. We went back to the van, defeated! We considered sleeping there in Seline at the border. But it was only 6pm, and already so cold that frost was forming on the windows! So we forgot that hair brained idea and drove back to Andijon to find somewhere to stay.
We happened upon a huge, glitzy spectacle of a building in the middle of town! It was an old communist-style hotel. Huge, empty, ornate rooms. No one in sight, except a young guy on reception who was 16 if he was a day! He was very pleasant all the same! And gave us a great rate on a room which must have once upon a time been the General`s suite or something because it still had a sitting room with big leather couches and a huge sideboard for drinks. Â All that was missing was the booze and the hookers!
Once we dropped our bags, we were keen to find food, and the receptionist led us to guy working on a bbq stand outside the hotel, loaded with skewers, with hot flames bellowing out. But this was not right! It was minus degrees outside…..who would be having a bbq? We soon understood that he was grilling for a little underground tavern beneath the hotel, which our reception friend led us into. He led us into our own room (an odd, but typical custom to Uzbek eateries), and we enjoyed a feast of lamb and chicken shahlik….mmmmmm!). We slept well in our humungous stately room, and woke up refreshed ready to have another crack at the border again!
We arrived at the border early. It was still closed, so we cooked up some breakfast as we waited in the queue (to the confusion of all those who came to check out the van). We saw literally no other campervans in Uzbekistan in all the time we were there….Not one! We defintely stood out here! The border opened, we were led through. We filled the usual paperwork and then opened Seline for inspection. We were quizzed and cajoled, the van was x-rayed and we were only allowed pass through to Kyrgyzstan after Seb obliged the police and gave them a tune on the guitar! To which one guard commented, ‘is this music?’ . The look on Seb`s face was priceless :))).
So, we’d made it to Kyrgyzstan! Our first stop was the town of Osh to get fed and plan our route north into the mountains. It was like rejoining the real world again- you could get western food, petrol and cash from an atm. Â After our days in Uzbekistan we were bowled over by the convenience of it all! Â We boldly went for a burger and chips, well and truly shashliked out of it at this stage!
We decided to aim for Arslanbob! A small town in the Kyrg mountains, famed for excellent hiking and beautiful scenery, dotted with waterfalls, hills and walnut groves. In fact the walnut harvest had just passed, so we were in store for an endless supply of delicious walnuts there! After a beautiful drive, we arrived after nightfall and the tourist office was closed…but after a tretcherous descent down what seemed like an impossibly narrow, bumpy lane, we found Fatimas Guesthouse. We were warmly welcomed and given a delicious hot meal in a cosy extension to the main house. We sat around a warm stove fire, feasted on Lagman (noodle soup), walnuts, pears and honey and planned a hike for the following day.
We rose early in search of Arslanbob tourist office. There wasnt much going on there this time of year! We found a dilapedated building with a sign post in the ground đ But soon a young boy with a few wirds of English came along to open the tiny, rickety office. There he showed us a map of suggested hikes of the area. You’d expect more detail from a 3 year olds sketch unfortunately! It looked like we were on our own, and would just have to follow our noses. As the snow was settling in, much of the tourist industry was closing down shop for winter. Â Incidentlaly, Arslanbob is just starting up a wintersports industry including off piste ski touring and heliskiing. Â Perhaps a trip back here one winter would be in order đ
We set off from the town, passing through farmland, waving at locals (who were super friendly and welcoming) and walked across the walnut groves, down passed the riverbed, and up along the hillside where we had an awesome view over the surrounding mountains and valley below! It was totally spectacular, with the snow glistening on the snowy hills! Â We made our way back to the town for warming soup and then set off for the guesthouse, with a painful task ahead….to clear Seline! She wouldn`t be welcome in China (foreigners aren`t allowed to drive without holding a full Chinese license and foreign vehicles have to change plates) so plan was to park her up after crossing from Kyrgyzstan into Kazakhstan. We would have to continue to China from Kazakhstan with backpacks. Â Once we started to look properly, we also discovered that China is absolutely massive, and we wouldnt have a hope of crossing it in any reasonable amount of time in the van! So we scrubbed and scoured, and repacked the van. We had another lovely meal provided by the guesthouse that evening and cold beers by the warm fire.
We arose early to start the long drive across the Kyrgyz mountains en route to the capital city of Bishkek in the north of the country. This was a steady 9 hour drive, passing over two high mountain passes which were snow covered (and we`re talking 5 foot thick snow!) and over 3000 metres. The views we totally spectacular! And we’d clear skies to enjoy the view too. This encapsulated our overall impression of Kyrgyzstan…breathtaking landscapes! It was a shame we’d no time to get stuck into some more arduous hiking! We’ll have to go back again in the Summer, with more time to spend there!
We finally got to Bishkek after navigating some gnarly roads into the city and looked for a hostel called ‘Adventure House’. We found it on maps, but it looked totally shut when we got there. A few knocks on various doors and finally an old man (with no English), came out to welcome us. Ruskie???…. we were asked for the millionth time! Alas, learning Russian would have saved us here again as we had found everywhere in the Stans. There was zero English, but a few words of Ruskie would have got us a long way! If you consider travelling here, we’d advise learning a few words! All we got to grips of was ‘Pas Ruskie’, which means ‘no russian’ and of course `pivo` which means beer. Pathetic really! đ
After we dropped our bags in our room, a westerner appeared! A canadian out of nowhere. And then he broke the awful news to us…..Trump the president elect! Shocked and horrified, we could only laugh, and be thankful we were far away from the circus which was likely ensue at home!
October 10th
The next morning, we parted ways!!!
Seline needed to get to Almaty in Kazakhstan to be parked up. The Kazakh government wouldn’t give me (as an Irish citizen) a second visa, without me paying an arm and a leg. So we decided the best thing was for me to stay in Bishkek and for Seb to drive across to Kazakhstan. We would reconvene in Beijjing 48 hours later, all going well!
For my part, I did a little exploring in Bishkek later that day, and printed flights and sorted some admin business while passing the time there. The next day I made my way to the airport, in search of the russian airline, S7, who would get me to Beijing, with a little stopover in Siberia!
The plane landed in Novoberisk in Russia late at night, in the middle of a belting snowstorm. There was snow all over the runways. Defintely not typical euro standard flying conditions! Not quite sure how we didnt slip off the runway, and also, how we took off again for Beijjing in that weather! But we made it anyway, and landed in Beijjing safe and sound the next morning!
My (Seb) crossing was fairly uneventful despite the usual border shinanegans (and being threatened with having to empty the entire van for a check!). Â Fortunately my football chat was becoming quite good and after giving the border guard a pound coin as a souvenire (he wanted a twenty…) I was on my way again đ Â Having made it to Almaty, I had two tasks to accomplish before my flight the next day: finding somewhere for Seline to stay and finding a cheap backpack. Â Having cruised around the city all afternoon with no luck (the cheapest backpack was $60… far too much!) I decided to cut my losses and check into a hostel for the night to start again in the morning.
This turned out to be a stroke of luck because the hostel had secure parking with it đ Â After a quick negociation, we agreed a price for keeping Seline safe over the winter and I also got some good advice on where I might snag a traveller standard backpack to boot! Â Things were looking up and I headed out to get some food and beer before bed đ
October 11th
I rose early, got my backpack sorted, got Seline a much needed wash and headed back to the hostel to park her up. Â After packing my things I had a couple of hours to spare so decided to embark on a couple of little maintainance jobs that I wanted sorted. As you do!
Having got everything ready, I said goodbye to Seline`s guardians and headed out to get some food before going to the airport. Â After dinner, I tried to get a taxi but after standing on the road side for a few minutes quickly realised that I`d harly seen any taxis at all in Almaty. Â I went back to the restaurant for some advice and one of the waiters came out to help me. Â Apparently what you do is hold out your hand and wait until some randomers pull up and ask where you`re going. Â If you`re going the right way, you can agree a price for a lift! Â Anyway, the waiter negociated me a good price and I was swiftly on my way to the airport in the company of a very friendly Kazakh couple who, very unusually, had some English đ
Finally, I was settled on my flight to Beijing. Â Happily for me, the only carrier operating between Almaty and Beijing is the state subsidised Air Astana which meant great service, a hot meal and a more of less empty plane:)
P.S. Â We are planning to return to pick up Seline in the spring and drive her home but if anyone fancies doing something similar to what we`ve done, youre welcome to borrow her. Â All I ask is that you bring her back to the UK (or at least Europe) in one piece đ
Safe in the cocoon of ‘Guns n Roses’ pub in Aktau (as to why this pub was named so, only God and Axl must know!), we cradled our cold, comforting pints of beer and gorged on delicious chips and burgers! Once our sea legs had grounded themselves again, we walked in towards the town of Aktau, while making hilarious jokes about finding Borat, the famed Kazak native đ
We didn’t find him. We did, however, come across an abandoned Irish bar, and a corner shop with beer taps on the cashier till. Aktau was an odd and interesting place! Â Wrecked tired, we gave up on finding any more entertainment and went back to our tiny, cheap (but, importantly, warm) motel room.
An early start was in-store for these two enthused travellers…..eager to get as far from Aktau ferry memories as possible! We sped off in an easterly direction after breakfast. And by sped, what I really mean is we stopped and started at an average speed of 20 mph, on what characterises a typical west Kazak road….amazing tarmac insterpersed with moon-style craters, erratic boulders of rock, frenzied truck drivers and best of all, ….wait for it….camels! Camels everywhere. Huge, fuzzy, cartoon-like looking creatures, just hanging around on the roadsides, grazing and checking out the passing traffic. What a sight! We had to pull over and take some snaps. They were totally unfazed and didnt budge an inch.
To our amazement, this wasnt a one- off sighting. There were camels all the way along our route that day, in random little clusters on the roadside. There were also plenty of wild horses about, as well as your usual cows, pigs, donkeys and other animal-folk!
We carried on our long drive towards Beynou, the border town where we would refuel and stock up on supplies , and get ready for our crossing to Uzbekistan.
Supplies included filling the tank with diesel…..apparently its almost impossible to find in Uzbekistan! and as we intended to spend about a week or so there, we’d need to stock up! We filled a couple of Jerry cans too to bring our range close to 1400km. Â Hopefully somewhere in that distance we`d find fuel again!
We soon realised we’d have to overnight in Beynou. The brutal roads didn’t allow for us to make enough headway for Uzbekistan! So we carried on driving into the sunset, and then eventually parked up for the night about 10 miles from the Uzbek border. We made some hearty, warming food and washed it down with the end of our booze left in the van. But it wasnt enough to keep the cold out on this icy, cloudless night! It was so nippy! Â A clear sign for us that sleeping in Seline might be a thing of the past now that we’d hit the cold, starry-nights of the Stans!
We awoke from a disturbed sleep to frost on the windows and were up with the morning chorus of birds. Â Our hearts were warmed, however, by the beautiful sunrise over the desert and the prospect of getting into Uzbekistan today! Â We therefore set off straight away and by 8:30 we had our place, third in the queue for the border. The border zone was manic with activity. Men selling wares on car bonnets; booze, cigarettes, and plastic cartons of fuel. Women wearing big, fleecy dressing gowns over clothes, walking about from car to car selling big huge elastic-banded bundles of cash! These, we discovered, were wads of sooms! Soom is the Uzbek currency. The Uzbek currency is a funny, funny thing. Theres both an ‘official’ and a black market exchange rate. Officially (if you do your business in a bank….no-one does!), you get 3000 sooms for your one dollar! Go down to the ‘black market’ (any bazaar or street corner where old man stand around waiting for punters) and you get 6,500 big ones for your measly little dollar! Its mad! But its the way things work in Uzbekistan. We’d been briefed about this by others, and so Seb approached one of the border women for business (money exchange that is!). We’d been warned that some people had been scammed on the amount of sooms they actually got for their dollar. So he counted each stack of notes carefully, and sure enough, she’d tried to pull a fast one! We resoluted to be wise to this trick when dealing with these dangerous, soom notes!
We queued and queued and queued that morning. Â No sign of any border guards. The Kazak locals waiting to cross edged us forward and gestured we should enquire! Because we were tourists? Sure enough, no sooner had Seb gone up to the border crossing to talk to the guards, the doors were opened and everyone started the business of crossing. Â This was a pattern to be repeated everywhere- it seems not only do you get better treatment as a tourist but when you`re there, the locals get better treatment too. Â Bizare!
More waiting ensued however. Then of course once we had cleared all the Kazak checks, came the Uzbek checks. Oh, the beurocracy! At one point I was told I had to go separately to have MY luggage checked. I explained we were both travelling in the van. Our stuff was all mixed throughout the van drawers etc. This statement bore no sense or relevance to any of the guards. They insisted I walk back through customs alone. So I walked through customs, with my handbag (and  only an ipad  in it), declared myself a tourist and displayed my luggage for a two-week stay in Uzbekistan: an ipad, a pair of Sebs shorts (randomly) and an otherwise empty handbag. He was happy with this, and gave me the coveted stamp on my customs form. Now I could go back to the van and sit waiting in it again!
The Uzbek side eventually ushered us through with a bounding, ‘Welcome to Uzbekistan!’. Â We were excited to finally make it here….the jewel in the silk road crown we’d heard!!
We drove on with fervour ! There were the usual brutal, border roads for 50k and then the emergence of a wide welcoming tarmacadam highway! We gathered speed! As the sunset, we started to scout out places to sleep. Nukus was our aim, but it was still over 100km away, and hunger and fatigue had set in. We located a town on GPS maps near a train station. It looked small enough, but had a train station, so accommodation surely? Â Finding this accommodation was some experience! Â Not a soul spoke an ounce of English in this town. All the writing was totally unfamiliar. Words like hotel, restaurant, beer (which had been our key vocab hooks) meant nothing here! By absolute chance, we walked into the fifth or sixth eatery we could find, and by the grace of God, we found Nikita! An Uzbek schoolkid, who worked in the cafe and ended up jumping into Seline and navigating us around the town! Â We finally found somewhere to stay, a small halfway house near the train stop. We dumped our bags and headed back to Nikita`s restaurant for some dinner.
Back at the cafe we  met the towns only other English speaker, Nikitas teacher! He was fairly inebriated after a celebration that evening, and eager to chat to us, tell us how happy he was to meet us, and give us a great, big welcome to Uzbekistan!
And when our food arrived it was simly the absolute best shashlik we have ever….there are no words!! And to find it in this humble little cafe in this sleepy, backwater town! We were soon in blissful food comas!
We left our humble (but welcoming and roasting hot!) guesthouse and made our way towards Nukus now! We were stopped about every 50 km along the road (no joke), by the infamous Uzbek police. They are literally everywhere, with more checkpoints than potholes nearly! (Slight exageration!) . But we agreed that the police force are probably Uzbekistans biggest employer. What they`re employed to do exactly, we didnt manage to work out (except shout ‘stop’ and look for ‘car passport’ very frequently, ie logbook) . When you pass a checkpoint, you often have to get out and show your passport and get the van ‘registered’ . This means writing names and numbers in a great big book, never to be seen by anyone ever again most likely. The whole process really eats into driving time!
Anyway, we reached Nukus and ventured into the famed art musuem there. A really impressive and interesting museum. Â The collection focusses on `controversial` art from Soviet times; apparently Stalin considered this corner of Uzbekistan such a backwater that he didn`t need to remove painters or paintings from it. Â As a result this is one of the most important collections of Soviet art in the world. Â There was, of course, also some very interesting stuff on ancient Uzbek art, culture and history as well as collections from modern Uzbek artists also. Â Definitely worth a look!
We drove on passing the famed cotton plantations which dominate the rural landscape here. There were donkeys and carts carrying loads from the recent harvest and labourers aplenty  in the surrounding fields. Some as young as five or six years old!
Cotton is a very important crop to the Uzbek economy which was first introduced by the Soviets. Â Unfortunately, the climate of this part of Uzbekistan is too try to really grow cotton and as a result, the crops are irrigated using water from the Aral Sea. Â What probably started as a good idea has now grown into something of a farce: The Aral Sea is now a fraction of its former size and will most likely cease to exist in the near future. Â Not only does this spell economic disaster for the few communities that used to live on its shores, it is also dramatically changing the climate of the area whose temperatures used to be moderated by the influence of the sea. Â Of course, the sea is also salt water meaning that the land irrigated by it is reducing in fertility every year due to salt build up on the land. Â The Uzbek government needs to change crops or at least allow crop rotation very soon before this whole area becomes barren. Â Unfortunately change will surely not come until forced i.e. the Aral Sea is dry and the land parched by which time it may be too late.
Cotton production came under scruitiny a few years back and Uzbek cotton was boycotted by some major labels because of the use of child labour; basically every year all children are given time off school to go an harvest the cotton. Â Despite assurances from the Uzbek government that child labour was no longer used it is clear that there are plenty of children in the fields. Â Forced or not, children being in the fields instead of school cannot be good for the economy of Uzbekistan long term.
As dusk set in, we finally reached our destination; Captivating Kiva! Kiva is one beautiful and historic famous silk road town. It’s set within some magnificent walls. An oasis town, surrounded by arid, desert landscapes. The impressive town walls are fully intact, and a sight to behold ( and also to climb along, as we did, and see the city from the rooftops). There are museums, and mausoleums and palaces aplenty to explore in this vibrant and colourful place. Kiva was a destination point of great importance for silk route travellers historically. Here, traders would stops for respite. Many would finish or begin their journey from here and exchange their merchandise on the cobbled bustling streets here. Â We found a cosy guesthouse, dropped our bags off and then took to the winding alleys and streets, taking in the mesmerising colours and smells, before seeking out some shashlik in a small traditional restaurant. The bill wasnt astronomical, but the wad of notes we handed over for it was! We’d have to get used to our new pimp-life, carrying around wads and wads of cash :))))
We spent the next day exploring the city of Kiva, with a one-day inclusive ticket we bought at the city gates. This ticket allowed us to venture into each of the old merchant shops, houses, palaces, mausoleums and other interesting buildings (like the old Khan`s living quarters, the blacksmiths forge, the old city theatre and even the town mint). The buildings here are so spectacular. It was a time when Khans built to impress, and tried to outdo each other by building the most ornate structures, with the most vibrant murals and the tallest minarets. These provided us with great views over the city. But what a nightmare to climb! Turrets of gigantic stone steps ascending for an eternity (or a good 20 metres anyway!)
That evening, we feasted on some of the finest food we’d tasted yet. Uzbekistan was proving a sure winner for juicy shashlik and delicious breads! We shared the small restaurant we found, with a 40-strong German tour group! It seems Germans are one of Uzbekistans biggest source of visitors! Not too many tourists from England or Ireland here. All sunning themselves in Spain?!
For all of you who were wondering why we hadn`t mentioned Hollowe`en yet we had been joking about dressing up in traditional Uzbek warrior costumes (Seb turned down my drag queen idea unfortunately). But when the day came, we realised there was no mention or sign of any Hallowe’en related paraphernalia anywhere! So we googled why this was. And we found out Hallowe’en was recently banned!! The president decided that they didn’t need to celebrate foreign, western holidays like this one…..so they banned it! We ordered pumpkin soup with dinner anyway. A small consolation đ
November 1st
The next morning, after a hearty breakfast, we packed up our belongings and hit the road bound for Bukhara. This was the 2nd major silk road city we had marked out as a destination on our route. We were looking forward to discovering some more of the awesome splendour we had seen in Kiva! The roads were surprisingly good on this stretch with a brand spanking new concrete highway! Â Of course, the presence of a highway didn`t stop the ubiquitous checkpoints which were starting to grate on our nerves a little…
We arrived around dusk and started the search for accommodation. There were loads of fantastic options available, like staying in old mausoleums and in old caravaserais! We had agreed we’d splash out on somewhere nice, as it was Sebs birthday the following day….the big 30 once again đ We settled on an old jewish house, just outside the centre of town. The owner explained the history of the house to us, and, after helping us park up Seline outside, gave us the Caravanserai Room, which we thought was fitting! Each room was different and themed, and there was an amazing breakfast room (used to be a prayer room) , and a really peaceful, romantic rooftop terrace with views of Bukhara all around. We ventured out for dinner. We were in search of some more great shashlik that we’d become accustomed to. We stopped in a picturesque eatery on the banks of the lake in the town centre. We ordered far too much food, and sat patiently waiting for our feast with some nice cold beers. The food arrived, and we tucked in enthusiastically. About halfway through the meal, Seb mentioned, ‘Aoife, do you think this chicken is a bit pink.’. The chicken was half devoured by both of us at this stage, but right enough, under closer inspection, it did seem to have a fairly rosy tinge to it. I guess we hadn’t really noticed because of our overwhelming hunger, and also, the rather poor lighting outside the restaurant, on closer consideration, it did taste a bit jelly-like too. We sensibly alerted a waitor, who promptly took the remaining chicken away (waaay less than half was left), and then returned it to us five minutes later, with a more healthy brown glow! We devoured the rest of our meal, then walked home and crawled into bed after some delicious tea green on the terrace of our hotel.
We slept soundly that night, for about two hours, after which holy war broke out in the bathroom of our lovely caravanserai room. First me. I woke with an almighty stomach cramp and ran for the bathroom at breakneck speed. About an hour later, Seb was suddenly engulfed by the very same sensation. And so, we tag teamed to and from the bathroom for the rest of the night. Had to have been the pink chicken! Oh, the regret! Why had we devoured it so mercilessly. Our insides were churning away like cement mixers now. What a night!
November 2nd
We forced ourselves to crawl down for breakfast, which, in fairness, was delicious. And though still having to frequent the bathroom on a very, very regular basis, we still chowed down on the delicious breakfast foods on offer.
We tried our very best to drag ourselves around the lovely city of Bukhara, visiting the various mosques, mausoleums and temples. But our energy and enthusiasm were notably dimmed unfortunately. We did however manage to get through the markets, the carpet museums, a few minarets and a really cute puppet museum that we found in the old town!
Then it was definitely time to treat ourselves, so we headed off in the direction of the local bath house. This was quite an experience! We were brought into a stone cave, and instructed to strip off and return in nothing but a miniscual towel. We were then led down a dark tunnel further into the awesome cave maze, and into a room which was belowing out hot air from the stone walls. We were immediately relaxed by the steam and solitude, and soon built up a good sweat. Next we were led out to another larger room, with giant stone floor slabs. We were each told to lie down on the hot wet slabs and what followed was one hell of a great massage! Absolute heaven! After the massage were had a ginger scrub rubbed into our skin and then left to sweat in the heat ( and burn up a bit from the ginger!). Then came the absolute climax…..a huge bucket of ice water over our heads! No forewarning! Shocking, freezing, awesome! We relaxed then as we were led to another room and recovered from the whole experience with some delicious sweet tea! We have to say, this was an amazing bath experience. One of the best! They preserved the style of the old Bukhara bath houses in this enchanting cave, and its an experience not to be missed!
After the baths we wandered back to our hotel, where I surprised Seb with an excellent rendition of happy birthday, complete with balloons, party streamers and a birthday baklava! And the kind hotelier dropped in some wine and chocolates for us! Awesome! We headed out for dinner to a cute spot in the old town and got some highly recommended, but unfortunately named, ‘beef jhiz’ to top off the day. Unfortunately, the stomachs were still delicate, so the jhiz was only half demolished, but we enjoyed it all the same đ
Feeling somewhat better the next morning, we lapped up the yummy breakfast on offer, and then took to the road for Samarkand. We made some enquiries about where to get diesel from the hotel, and were directed to a gas station out of town. The queue was a mile long, so we drove on; surely we would find ourselves some diesel further along the road. Â Samarkand is known to be, probably, the most impressive and mesmerising of the silk road cities. With the promise of amazing palaces, mausoleums, architecture and murals around the city we were excited to be on the road there.
More immediately, the search for diesel was testing our nerves. Â Five or six petrol stations came and went with none of them having any; even those which were advertising it were empty. Â After the sixth one the fuel light came on so with trepidation we put in our last jerry can of fuel. Â We really needed to find it now!
We finally entered Samerkand, still looking.  The fuel light was on for a second time and our final hope (the state fuel station in the city) was also out of diesel.  I (Seb) enquired at another station only to be met with the usual shake of the head when, by lucky chance, all of his money blew out of the kiosk and into the forecourt.  I ran around helping him pick up the money and then asked him for help again.  Finally we got the lead we were hoping for!  We were directed to his friend`s petrol station across the road where I was to say who had sent me there.  Sure enough, once we had agreed a price for the 100 litres that I needed (400,000 Soom- we got off lightly he could have asked for anything!) we were led around the back to a separate fuel pump and filled up.  What an experience! I only had to pray now that what we had been filled up with wasnt such poor quality that Seline would choke!
We found lodgings in a friendly hostel near Samarkand old quarter, and then ventured out for more shashlik (still delicious. Hadn’t tired of the Uzbek staples yet!).
Tired and happy we headed back to our lodgings, excited about what we would find in Samerkand the next day!
We soon found out that there aint a-lat in Alat! A one-horse town. The horse being Alat port. There’s nothing else there. An arid wasteland for miles around. We spoke to the port officials and were led to the customs officer. There were about a hundred articulated trucks (from all surrounding countries) parked up, waiting to board the next ferry we assumed. The custom officer warned us that once we purchased a ticket to travel, we could not leave the customs compound. We asked around to try and find out when the next ferry was likely to sail. No-one knew. Maybe this, maybe that. Maybe tonight. Maybe not. We mulled it over, and decided to go get some food supplies and the prepare for the enclosure of customs! What else could we do? If we weren’t there, ready to board, when departure was announced, there would be no silk road route for us. This was the only option (as Iran wouldn’t allow us to drive through their territory!)
We loaded up with food supplies and accepted our lot; new members of the central Asia “modern day caravan”: the truckers! đ
And we settled in quite well in the trucker yard. Smiles and nods of hello, we were very welcomed there. Lots of visits to see the van. They were all bespectacled by it. It transpired the accounts clerk at the port spoke some English; he told us the ferry probably wouldn’t leave that night due to strong gale winds. Our spirits were high, however, and we set about cooking up some lamb for dinner in the customs lot of Alat port. A knock on Seline came when we were frying up the lamb… we were leaving tonight afterall! We would travel in a convoy (our little Seline and a hundred odd giant artic lorries) back towards Baku, where we would board the boat. This didnât make sense to us, but wahey! We were moving anyway!
Things happen slowly in customs and in cargo ship life (we were beginning to learn this!), and we finally set off on convoy at midnight. Wrecked and exhausted, we rolled into Baku port enclosure at about 2am. This was a long and trying journey. An opportunistic young port official asked us if we had beer in the van. We stupidly said yes (tiredness), and he confiscated it! We were so mad when we copped on to his antics. There’s no law against having beer in the van! We were just so tired. He knew what he was working with…little brat!
We parked in beside the police cabin (as instructed) and tried to get some more info about what was going on. We were told to go and sleep. Apparently we would leave tomorrow…fingers crossed. Spirited a bit dampened at this stage, and overwhelmed by exhaustion, we fell asleep.
23rd October
We woke late this morning. We’d been up until 3 the night before. We did the usual; hassle anyone we could for info! Our ferry would leave later that day, they said. A flame from our hope-candle still flickered đ
To pass some time we walked around the port terminal. And then, out of nowhere, a huge ferry could be seen in the distance! Thank the lord! Freedom beckoned. We hurried back to the police cabin, passports in hand, eager for our exit stamp. After some commotion we were ushered out of the office. Not our boat!! Noooooo! What to do now? We rang Vika. Our helpful lifeline made some enquiries and then told us that this was not, in fact, the boat we would be sailing on. Our boat would dock later in the day. Well that was some consolation anyway! The hours rolled on and on and the boredom and sense of captivity grew stronger and stronger. Until finally, another boat arrived!
The rest of the day involved waiting, making tea, hassling officials, waiting, playing guitar, wandering around the terminal, waiting….and then at 2am, finally, boarding!! We were last one, after all the trucks. The ramp onto to boat was broken! Ten men bounced up and down on it while we crawled over it in Seline, to ensure the wheels didn’t get stuck….such a robust safety mechanism. Seb was horrified! Once onboard, we scoped out our cabin. A cute little room with bunks, a bathroom and a desk. Basic, but not so bad! We ventured up on deck to have a look, excited about the journey ahead! And then we retired to the cosy bunks, tired but glad to be finally on board.
24th October
A loud screeching, dragging sound woke us at 7 am. It was the sound of the anchor! We’d been moving for maybe two hours max. Why this anchor drop now? We got up to investigate. The small canteen was full of the truckers. Breakfast was about to be served up. We had set sail in the wee hours, and then travelled only as far as the headland north of Azerbajjan. Here we would stay anchored, until the winds on the Caspian Sea died down. We asked the obvious question, ‘how long will that take?’, and got the answer we had come so accustomed to; a shoulder shrug.
After breakfast we explored the boat. We had full access on the boat, to go where we wanted, so we ventured down to the engine rooms for a gawk. This was pretty cool! We wandered around in the hull and went to visit Seline. To our horror she was parked at the back of the cargo hold, with the back door of the hull fully open. If she slipped backward she’d fly off into the Caspian! No-one seemed to give a dam about this. In fact, later that day some of the Kazak drivers were sitting over the ledge of this open door, fishing into the powerful, thundering waves below! Nutters!
We ate lunch at 12. The boat provided 3 meals a day, at 8,12 and 7. The truckers would wait at the canteen door at least 10 minutes before they opened each time. Then they all rushed in and sat in their own groups. It was like school really! But the grub was decent, and Marian the cook looked after us well đ
We whiled away the rest of the day with walks around the boat and a bit of reading and researching for the trip. We had some Georgian wine with us and so dipped into that after dinner. The swaying boat rocked us soundly to sleep by 10 o clock.
25th October
To out utter disappointment, we awoke as we had went to sleep…anchored! The seas were still impassable. We decided to venture up to the Captainâs office to nosey about and suss out the situation for ourselves. The Captain was delighted to have visitors, and we were invited to have coffee and play around with the binoculars and steer the boat. The boat was built in 1986, and had some rather archaic systems in place. But it was cool to have a look around and check out the weather and radar systems, and of course, pretend to press the’ big red button’ đ This worried them slightly, and I had to hand back the binoculars then đ They reassured us the wind was still too high to cross into the open water of the Caspian. We should be prepared for another night anchored.
While in limbo, we took the opportunity to seek out Marcia, the very friendly lady in charge on the boat. Marcia looked after the rooms, the cleaning. And Marcia spoke some English. She was our lifeline on board. And all the truckers loved her! Taking selfies with her and winding her up. She very kindly let us use the washing machine on board to wash all our clothes (the washing pile had become huge).
That evening we read, chatted and debated how long more we might be stranded on this bloody boat. The novelty had faded by now. It was becoming more like prison than school. We cheered ourselves up with some tunes on the guitar. And I demolished Seb in game after game of checkers. We drank some more of the diminishing Georgian wine supply, and then hit the bunks early.
26th October
The screeching, dragging sound woke us again. Yes!! The anchor was finally lifted! We were heading into the open sea. Bound for Kazakstan! Wohoo! Another 30 hours to cross the sea now, but at least we we’re moving. We needed this! The food and the routine was getting old, the sense oppression was becoming a bit stifling, and we were running out of activities to entertain ourselves. Things got so bad, we turned the bathroom into a salon and gave each other hair cuts! Both being entirely inexperienced at this, I think we both made a decent crack of it đ
We whiled away the day in the usual way, (meals at 8, 12 and 7) and willed sleep to come. Seb had started to feel a bit sea sick at this point and we were both keen to be on solid ground again
27th October
Arrival in Aktau. Thank the heavens!! We were never more glad to see a port! Finally, freedom beckoned! And freedom was eventually achieved, after 3 hours of crazy Kazak border and customs bureaucracy!
We put the key in Seline, revved her up, and sped out of that ferry port like a bat out of hell! We made our way for Aktau city, as it was getting late, and we were in no fit state for a long slog of a drive.
On entering Aktau, we found a pub called ‘Guns and Roses’. We were never so overjoyed to have a cold, draught beer in our hands. We tried to laugh and joked at the ordeal we had just been through. Ha ha ha! But we couldn’t really laugh whole heartedly. We were still a bit fragile and institutionalised by the whole thing!
Let this be a lesson to all who consider a winter Caspian sea crossing. We’ve since fully recovered, you’ll be happy to hear, and the PTSD therapy we had worked wonders đ
It has to be said, however, that we did get and interesting insight into “trucker life”. Most of the drivers on board were in their fifties or sixties. Some were younger, but looked weathered by a hard life. They seemed to be having great banter with each other anyway- the boat was a great opportunity to socialise. All in Ruskie of course! They had a great laugh at our expense anyway- we stood out a mile. Heads turned when we came into the canteen for meals; quietness descended when we passed through the TV room (showing another Ruskie action film…)
They were very friendly to us though, getting info from us using sign language and they were very interested in the van. As time wore on, they became very interested in whether we had any booze or cigarettes in our possession! Their vodka supplies were running low as the days passed, and cigarettes were passed around preciously. Our near neighbour (an old Kazak man) invited into his cabin for a drink (we thought). When we went in and he invited us to sit, we saw he had a table laid out, with napkins, nuts and three empty glasses. It turned out he thought we were bringing the vodka! And was quite dismayed when he found us empty handed đ
We waved them off at the port in Aktau
Now, onwards and upwards with exciting adventures ahead!…
We jumped on the no.14 and showed the conductor some paper with our destination written on it. There were no signs on the bus, no place names, no buttons to stop the bus. Maybe more challenging than we thought! We were reliant entirely on our friendly conductor, and so kept smiling at him to make sure he hadn’t forgotten us đ  Half an hour passed, we asked how long it would be and received the international hand wave for âfurther onâ. After an hour things began to feel ominous….we were the only people left on the bus! As it pulled through yet another run down tower block estate (in the suburb of bally-go-backwards), the conductor called last stop! We were set off in the middle of nowhere, with no idea how to get back. We showed the conductor our piece of paper again. After some sighs and gesticulations, it became clear that he hadnât realised where we wanted to get off. He beckoned us to sit on another bus that was going the reverse route. He told the driver where we had to get off and made us sit right at the front like naughty school children. At this point we were totally demoralised by the idea of spending another hour stuck on the bus and decided we’d jump off and find a taxi. The new bus driver was having none of this! The lady conductor got involved too, blocking our exit and chastising us in Georgian. They werenât letting us off that bus! Well meaning of course! So back we were led towards Tiblisi, without another mutter from us!
We finally made it to the location where we should have got off the first time. Cold, tired, wet and hungry we were in no mood for finding Tbilisi mall anymore. We decided to ask at the tourist information if there was a nearer shopping mall. Yes of course, came the reply, thereâs a mall just off Rustavelli, literally about 50m from where we had had coffee in the morning! Sickener!
We went there and got our warm clothes sorted (spot the change of outfits in the photos  J) and headed back to Seline to drop our purchases off and then went for another trip to the bath-house to round off the evening  J
18th October
After a sleepy start, we set out to accomplish what we hadnât achieved yesterday- a visit to Tbilisi mall. We needed some stuff for Seline and there was a huge Carrefour there that we needed to get to. This time, we researched the route ourselves and got the tube as far as we could and took a taxi the rest of the way. The speed, ease, and cheapness of this route (our taxi was 6GEL….a pound!)  made us kick ourselves over the problems weâd had the previous day!
I had seen a beautiful pair of boots in Massimo Dutti the day before and decided they would be too expensive for travelling so didnât even try them on. But their call was strong, and so after Carrefour we went back to Rustavelli so I could try them. Predictably they were just perfect and so I had to buy them J  Early birthday present to me- you donât turn 31 every year!
Finally we rounded off the day with a visit to Tbilisi’s Irish pub for a not-as-bad-as-expected Guinness and then went for some more tasty Georgian food in Tbilisi old town. All being well, we would leave Georgia in the morning for the last time, bound now for Azerbaijan. Some research was required! The more difficult parts of our trip were approaching fast and we spent the evening discussing our route along the Silk Road and the potential issues we might come across. And drinking yummy Georgian wine đ
Another early start for the Chinese embassy to pick up our China Visas. We found the embassy okay, saw a parking spot, started reversing and then Wham!! Iâd reversed straight into some irate Georgianâs BMW! 7000miles traveled and Iâd crashed while parking! We had the usual arm waiving that goes with all car incidents (amazing how some things are universal) and then started to haggle over how much I would pay him to fix his car. I was pretty sure that the âdamageâ to his bumper was already there but with no way to prove it and with the prospect of police involvement in mind,  I wanted a resolution! Eventually I agreed to give him 50GEL (he wanted $200âŠ) and we continued on to the embassy. Not the worst outcome!
We changed our dollars into small bills at the bank (we were advised to have small bills in case of being stopped and “finedâ by any of the more corrupt police) and set out for Azerbaijan. We were dreading this border crossing. It was the first country where we had needed both a “letter of invitation” (difficult to obtain, from an online travel company after lots of form filling) and a visa. Coupled with the reports weâd gotten about the corrupt Azeri Police and we were steeling ourselves for some fisticuffs đ
In the end we neednât had worried. Aside from the now de rigour bad roads to the border, it was one of the friendliest crossings we’ve had. All the border guards were really friendly (not like the massive daggers they wore on their uniform suggested!). They wanted to talk in English to us, discuss the Premier League and, in particular, a match between Northern Ireland and Azerbajjan, which was taking place that very day! Some smiling and gentle flirtation also helped…Seb is pro at that bit đ
 With the border navigated we needed accommodation for the night. We had already picked out Sekthi as a potential destination and we set out to cover the 200km journey to get there. There was fog for miles (which Aoife expertly navigated by nibbling the steering wheel) but we still made it in good time.
Apart from being a beautiful ancient palace that we wanted to visit, the big draw was to stay in a hotel named “Caravanserai” that, you guessed it, is in a restored caravanserai J  It didnât disappoint! this was a truly awesome place! Caravanserais are the lodgings where travellers and traders on the Silk Road used to stay. They are lodgings in a large, round structure with a central courtyard and are generally very beautiful buildings indeed. The “Caravan” was the group of traders (with their goods, animals, musical instruments etc) who journeyed along the Silk Road together in convoy… you may find that info handy in a pub quiz some day! We splashed out on a âluxâ room for the night (very cheap) and enjoyed hot showers before dinner.
 The caravanserai restaurant was really cute, cosy and traditional, with only a few tables. No English on the menu of course! They waiters were extremely animated, and took the ordering into their own hands! We ended up with Piti (the local speciality- a mutton soup/ stew that you mash up in the pot before pouring over bread in your bowl. Amazing!!), and also some chicken and lamb shashlik and salad. The waiter laughed when we ordered the salad and we got the joke about 5 minutes later. In Azerbaijan you donât order extras like salad, the waiter turns up with a huge tray and starts loading out your table with them until you physically stop him. You pay for everything you take, however, so you have to have your wits about you! Itâs not an easy game, this!
After our delicious meal, we tried to pay our bill with US$ assuming that would be fine…. Wrong! We needed Manat to pay our bill and we didnât have a Manat-penny! An old guy drinking chai in the restaurant hopped up to give me a lift to the local cash machine to get some money. I (Aoife), was told to stay put at the table… like a human payment deposit!
He drove at breakneck speed through the town in a Lada at least 10 years older than me⊠in surprising comfort. We laugh at Ladas at home but over the course of our trip I was starting to respect them a lot: easy to fix, big chunky tires, good ground clearance, good suspension. In short, the perfect vehicles for the terrible roads in the former USSR. Anyway, a ride in a Lada was one thing crossed off Aoifeâs bucket list. Shame she didn’t get to go! J  I got back to the restaurant, paid the guys and we went to bed tired and happy.
20th October
An early start this morning, with Baku beckoning (Azerbajans capital city). We faced some hilly, hairpin, fog-filled roads and freezing temperatures, but finally arrived in the centre of Baku by dinnertime. We decided to aim for the old town. This was surrounded by a fortress wall and it sounded like the most interesting place to go and explore. We were stunned by the bling and glitz of the Baku skyline as we drove towards the city. Spectacular modern architecture to feast the eyes on. Akin to Dubai. And the most spectacular, the famed “Flaming Towers” on the hilltop looking over the city. Symbols of opulence abounded. Fancy cars, designer clobber, bright lights and extravagant hotels. Extravagant prices too, though not in our trusty van, where we would most definitely be overnighting! We decided to glitz it up a bit though, by parking in the 2pound per 24 hour carpark , next to the Rolls Royce showrooms. Oh yeah! We ventured into the old town for some traditional Azeri nosh. The old town was a delight, with cobbled streets and crumbly, beautiful old houses and street stalls. Full of colour and enticing smells and atmosphere. We found a quaint underground hub, serving delicious Azeri food and with a fantastic session in flow. We had the best Plov ever here! Plov is a dish which is very common across central Asia. It contains fried meat and vegetables and rice. Great stuff!
We awoke on a mission… to get to the Uzbek embassy to sort our visas out. We already had our hard-to-sort letter of invitation, so the rest should be straightforward we hoped. We were greeted by a rather ‘experienced’ embassy official, who indeed took his time around the whole process, in particular anything involving typing or the use of a computer. We eventually left, with instructions to get to a certain bank in town, pay into an account, and get back to him at a specified time to collect the visas. We would have to move fast!
We drove fast across the city and stopped where google maps told us to. We got out and went in search of this bank. It was 2 miles away, on this very long street it turned out. Good old google maps! We scurried hurriedly up the street and eventually got there, found the cashier, paid our amount and took off for Seline again. We were back in time. Then kept waiting outside for half an hour, until our official was ready. He issued us 15 day visas. We’d hoped for a month. This put the pressure on, as these visas began on a specific date, which we couldn’t alter. Uzbekistan is quite the ‘police state’, as we would come to realise!
Research had taught us we might be in for some snow in the stans, so the next stop we made was to the ‘car bazaar’, just outside Baku. This was something else! I’ve never seen so many men standing around doing nothing đ Not a woman in sight. Streams of car shops, full of tyres and parts and coffee drinking, pastry-eating men sitting around chatting and gawking. We were quite the entertainment when we pulled in! Everyone came out for a look. So i showcased the van (inside and out, the full tour) while Seb went to look for snow chains. They were very keen to help us and after trying a few sets, they found us chains suitable for the van tyres. We drove off happy, another thing sorted!
 Back in Baku we had lunch in a cheap local tasty eatery, then ventured to a pub for wifi and a beer. Later that evening we had dinner in a restaurant in the old town, and then headed home to bed- unaware that this was in fact our last night of freedom for quite some time!!….
22nd of October
We awoke early with a task in mind. As part of our Silk Road Route we had decided that, after Azerbaijan , we would cross the Caspian sea and then drive east through the Stans, as the old silk road traders did in the past! Crossing the Caspian sea (on a cargo ship, the only option) posed some considerable challenges! It could not be booked in advance for example. And no-one knew when the boats would sail (all weather dependant). One company arranged the crossings, and no-one there spoke a word of English. We had one tip off though; Vika! Vika is an Azeri lady whom we have never met, but spoke on the phone to many times. We learned from researching travel blogs that this lady works for the ferry company and speaks English, and could provide some help. We called the mobile number we were given for her. She was very helpful, but unfortunately, she couldn’t get us tickets from Baku. She told us we would have to drive to a place called Alat, 80 km south on the coast of Azerbaijan. She advised us to go immediately, in case a ferry left that night. Reluctant to curtail our Baku sightseeing so soon, we belted up and hit the road for Alat.
We woke the next morning to sunshine which soon obliterated the blues of the night before. We raised the roof to air Seline out and made some porridge and strong Turkish coffee to get our own engines running. The Armenian landscape was like nothing we had seen before. Mile after mile of desolate and arid agricultural land, backdropped by hills with odd looking formations and high snow-capped mountains in the backdrop. All of this was interspersed by gigantic soviet era flat blocks rising out of nowhere, with no rhyme or reason for being there, except that someone far away had put a dot on a map and decided that would be a settlement point. There was hardly a sinner about. The devastation left over from an earthquake in the early nineties and the brutal Karobakh war with Azerbaijan was clear to see everywhere- much of the Soviet era infrastructure and housing was broken down and deserted. It was saddening, but we were, indeed, very glad we had come đ
 The roads on the Armenia side of the border were just fine if a little bumpy and after a short stop off for coffee and buns, Yerevan (the capital city) arrived fairly quickly. We drove straight into the centre of town and found a parking spot just off a little park. The first night in a new place is always a bit nerve wracking because you donât know what the âwild campingâ rules are but we hadnât had any problems with parking up for weeks; the further weâd come from Europe, the less interested the Police or anyone else had been in why or where we parked up (except in curiosity; we still get a constant stream of interested locals looking inside!). In Yerevan, the main fascination was the bicycle on a rack on the back of the van. The parking warden was so enamoured by this he forgot to take ask us for parking payment đ
 By pure luck, we happened to have arrived while the Yerevan Jazz Festival was in full swing! We scored tickets to an evening performance of Armenian Jazz  to take place in the Opera House⊠At the bargain price of 8000 Drams each (16 Euro), we were seated near the front of the theatre. Before the gig we wandered over to the opera house bar to try and get a beer in the 10 minutes we had before the start time. Nothing doing- apparently booze is not sold at the Yerevan Opera House! However, just as we turned to leave, the barman gestured for us to hang around a bit and keep quiet. Sure enough, when the other punters had their backs turned, he poured out two enormous glasses of brandy for us. We gratefully accepted, drank them down, had a chat about London, and then made to pay, only to find our money refused! We humbly scuttled before the effects kicked in too hard! Turns out Armenians operate on Irish timeâŠ.it was another forty minutes before the performance began! It started out lively, with a performance from an instrumental quartet but suddenly the music came to a halt and a compere came on stage. He started droning on in Armenian, people were invited to speak on the stage, awards were given out and suddenly we had the creeping suspicion that weâd bought tickets to an award ceremony rather than a concert⊠oh God!…But then, luckily, the awards trickled out and we were treated so some excellent music!
 We finished our day with a fine meal of Armenian cuisine (which is very similar to Georgian and similarly delicious!) and settled into Seline for a well-earned rest!
16th October
We rose to more sunshine, grabbed some takeaway coffees (Iâd had my fill of âTurkishâ coffee and was craving one made with espresso and milk!) and hit the road bound for Tbilisi once more. We needed to be back in time to submit visa applications the following day and after our experience coming into Armenia we didnât want to take any chances with how long it might take to get back out!
After about 2hrs we stopped at Lake Sevan to make some breakfast and go for a swim! Lake Sevan is an enormous high altitude lake and, with easy access to Yerevan, is something of a Summer resort. A seriously tacky resort, we found out (sorry Armenia!) Apparently, it has been in decline since Soviet times; the Soviets lowered the level of the lake by using the water for industry. Nowadays, most Armenians holiday on the Black Sea coast in Georgia. Anyway, when we arrived it was still sunny although bitterly cold. Aoife sensibly elected to stay in the van and make porridge, however I had decided I would swim and so I swam; Aoife abandoned breakfast making to film my painfully cold immersion đ
After the swim I felt invigorated for the drive, and we set off for the border. We had decided early on that a different route back would be best because the road in had been so, so horrifically bad. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a case of âbetter the devil you knowââŠ. The main highway to the border was closed for reconstruction works! So we were diverted along a road which progressively turned from bad to worse to absolutely dire to âthis canât possibly be the wayâ; There were fields to cross, dirt tracks down through woods, narrow rickety bridges over rivers and other crazy, crazy stuff! We kept stopping to ask for directions because we were sure we must have gone wrong, but all the locals seemed to point the same way when we tried to ask directions. Not one person we passed had a word of English. We had only a place name to go on. One little Lada stopped for us in the middle of one of these ‘field roads’. We rolled down the window and smiled. They rolled down the window and about seven eager heads looked out! This was one wild, rural-looking bunch of men, with gregarious howls of laughter and about 5 teeth between them. We said the place name. One older man spoke up, âCan you speak English?â, he said. âYes!â, we chorused, very excited by this prospect. Then he howled with laughter and started chatting away to the other boys in Armenian, and they all cackled hysterically. This was clearly the mansâ only learnt sentence of spoken English. But it gave us a great laugh anyway, as they drove off in hysterics, still waving back at us with great enthusiasm. This was typical of so many of our encounters; well meaning gestures-but not an ounce of comprehension from either side đ
 After a painfully long 3-hour detour, we finally saw some real road! I almost got out of the van to kiss the potholed tarmac, flabbergasted that Seline had made it without getting another puncture (or several)! I made a promise there and then never to curse the UK roads again for as long as I live đ
The rest of the journey passed easily apart from the usual stops for donkeys, cows and chickens. We amused ourselves by recording videos of these :). We made it back to the border just before nightfall. The guards informed us of an exit tax of $15! Of all countries we traversed, an exit tax was never asked for! A bit of a dent in the Armenia experience, but hey, we were on our way to Tbilisi again. We made it back to our parking spot in the old town and headed out to enjoy the last of the Tbilisi Autumn Festival which was going on in the city. There was a great party atmosphere about the place, with food, live music and fireworks to enjoy!