Turquoise Waters of Koh Similan, Thailand

In one day we accomplished so much - those sort of days don't happen too often, so even though it was a non-stop whirlwind, it felt extremely satisfying. After the crazy visa-run, our timing was perfect and we jumped on a bus to Khao Lak on the West coast mainland - probably the hardest hit place in the tsunami in Thailand. We arrived late, but knew we wanted to go to the Similan Islands about 60 km off the coast, so we quickly organised a snorkel trip for early the next day. The Similans - a string of 9 uninhabited islands are renowned for their great beaches and diving. They are stunning, with beautiful turquoise waters, and even though we don't dive, the crystal clear water made for some excellent snorkelling, or 'snorking' as our tour guide would call it! In the first 2 minutes off the boat, we practically landed on a sea turtle and spent the next half hour following him around. We were able to swim down to him and touch him while he suspiciously eyed us up!! Very cool!! There was also some great wildlife on the islands too. Flying foxes, chicken crabs, plenty of large hermit crabs and one very confused hermit crab that had made his home in an old tin can. Check out the photo page for this guy! So instead of camping one night on Island number 4, Koh Miang, we ended up spending 2 nights. It was fantastic, especially when all the day trippers left and then we had the beaches to ourselves. It was great to just be peaceful and chill out; we lazed in the hammock, did some 'snorking' and combed the powder-soft sand for cool, funky-shaped shells. As you can imagine, we really didn't want to leave! *Stub and Mush

Myanmar Immigration, Kawthuong, Myanmar

So, we decided to leave Koh Lanta and head back to Chumphon to continue our kiteboarding lessons. Again, the wind did not cooperate, but this time there was absolutely none(!) so we had to come up with a new plan. We decided to do a border visa run that would extend our visas in Thailand by about 12 more days.

So, it was off to Ranong on the west coast 3 hours away to take care of our business. To say the trip was a bit of a whirlwind would be an understatement! We were whisked away in a pick-up truck to the Thai immigration to get an exit stamp, then to the very noisy, dirty and crazy-busy port teeming with boats full of...faded umbrellas - locals protecting themselves from the sun. Amidst all this chaos is where we were plonked on a longtail boat - a long and narrow wooden boat with a car engine stuck on the very back with a huge long propeller sticking out the back of that. This was to get us across the river to Myanmar, first stopping at a floating Thai exit station to get another stamp, and continue across the huge estuary to Myanmar. It took about 30 minutes one way, but we arrived at this little hut on the water, and got our entry stamp to Myanmar, only to continue to the mainland where we had to get out of the boat to get another stamp - possibly an exit stamp??? Can't tell from our passports, so who knows! We walked around the Burmese port town of Kawthuong for about 5 minutes, bought a drink, collected some Myanmar Kyats (currency, rponounced 'chats'), watched an interesting street game - all to return to the dock where one of our worst fears appreared to have become reality.... there was no boat and no driver! Arghh! Thankfully, as it turned out the boat was there, but hidden amongst all the other longtails, and then, the driver miraculously reappeared with more fuel! Phew! So at least we weren't going to be stuck in Burma! So after getting the boat back across the huge expanse of river, it was another stop at immigration on the Thai side for passport stamps and visas, and we were back in! Wow! All very exciting, if a little nerve wracking at times! We realised afterwards that there are so many people doing visa-runs that there was really nothing to worry about. They actually even had big tour buses coming up from Phuket just to bring busloads of people to do the 'border run'! *Stub and Mush

Moonshine Bar with Fon and Sarah, New Year, Koh Lanta

We have spent so much time at Fon's Moonshine Bar making friends with all the regulars and short term guests, so we ended up ringing in the New Year with them on the beach, drinking the special of the day Capiroskas - similar to a Mojito, but with vodka and no mint. After midnight, a good crew of us went over to the 'Earth Bar' and danced the night away, getting home pretty late - around 4am.

New Year's Day was the usual recovery day. We helped Fon clean up the bar area. Since the restaurant was closed, we managed to persuade a "famous" English chef who was staying at the resort to help us BBQ some seafood that we'd bought at the markets earlier in the day. So, a whole mackerel, 2 red snappers and a kilogram each of squid and prawns. Chef Ed Baines taught Michelle how to 'de-squid' a squid, at least that is her technical term for gutting them out! Unbeknownst to Michelle, Chef Ed, apparently, is quite famous in England - has his own T.V. shows, has done "Ready, Steady, Cook", and owns 3 top-notch Seafood restaurants in London! She had no idea! Anyway, it was a great feast! This was our last night in Koh Lanta and Fon surprised us both with a little goodbye gift - how sweet is that! She is such a lovely lady and we will really miss her, as well as all our other friends that we have made here. *Stub and Mush

Dancing With The School Kids, Koh Lanta, Thailand

Another day, and more exploring on the scooters took us to a sea gypsy village and the Lanta Old Town on the other side of the island. Koh Lanta has a quite a large muslim population and we would often see people in full face-hiding outfits and hear the loud calls to prayer. The people are all so friendly and not averse to foreignors (or farang as we're called) ...yet. On our way home we stumbled across what seemed to be a schoolkids' field day, where 3 big teams of kids were dancing non-stop to loud music pumping on the stereo. Of course, all of you who know Michelle would know that she couldn't resist such an opportunity to jump in and boogie too! The kids thought it was fantastic and were absolutely ecstatic that we had joined in with them. We loved playing with them and probably enjoyed it even more than the kids! *Stub

Mud Puddle fun, Koh Lanta

It is so cheap to rent a scooter here that it is silly not to just have one so we rented ours for the whole of our entire stay and toured the entire island. We love exploring the little villages that we drive through... they are really just clusters of homes with grocery or fruit shops pegged on the front - mostly bamboo shacks or huts, and then numerous plastic-chaired restaurants that normally serve delicous food. One day we checked out some fancy resorts and investment housing opportunities (too bad we have so little money). In a way, sadly, there are many places popping up since the completion of the road last year. It'll be just a matter if time before the plastic restauarnats and the bamboo huts will be replaced by concrete and it'll be ashame - Lanta is such a lovely island and characters.

Another day of adventures - we toured to the end of the road, and then did some off-roading through mud puddles to get to the Southernmost beach in the Koh Lanta Marine Park. We had a good laugh at Kevin who got stuck in a huge mud puddle and lost his flip flops. Double click photo to see him successfully retrieving his shoes! When we finally got to the beach our chill-out time in the hammock was disturbed by an incoming helicopter, so Kevin and I went exploring and found them filming a movie up by the lighthouse. In typical Asian fashion, it was a fight movie called Mercury Man, and we watched the stuntmen film a fight scene. It was quite funny as Thailand is known for its 'Lady-boys' as they're called, and much to our amusement the stand-in for the female lead was male and dressed with the same underwear! Hmm! * Stub

Happy Christmas from Thailand!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all had a great time this year. We missed you and thought of you all. Our build up to Christmas was very different. There were so many things that we missed - our family, our friends, the social gatherings and tree-decorating parties, the turkey and trimmings, and of course, the snow and the skiing. It was very odd lying on the beach in the baking sun hearing Doris Day on the breeze 'Walking in a winter wonderland'. However, somehow we rallied, and had a great time with the people we had met this week. Also, a friend of ours, Kevin, who we'd met about 2 months ago in Pingyao, China, coordinated with us to meet up with us for Xmas and it was great to catch up with him. We spent Christmas eve with the friendly staff from the little bar on the beach called Moonshine Bar. They are really a lot of fun and we ended up boogie-ing the night away at a local dance bar.

Christmas day at 3am we walked home on the beach and encountered some very cool phosphoresence at the edge of the water. There were also some locals launching huge paraffin gas lanterns into the air - we don't know why, but presumably for some celebratory reason. Xmas day itself was chilled and we hung out on a small secluded beach followed by meeting up with a crew of people for Xmas dinner. Unfortunately, it wasn't turkey, but it was probably the next best thing - pizza!! And very good pizza too! The melted cheese was fantastic - we don't get that very often here in Asia! * Mush

Life on Koh Lanta, Thailand

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Life, Koh Lanta-style is pretty easy! Hang out, walk on the beach, eat huge Thai-style prawns, scooter to the next beach, eat more prawns, explore the next town.... The weather has been good, though a little unpredictable. Apparently, before we got here it rained a lot, after that it was nice and sunny until we had one day of rain. Ever since though, it has been really nice and super-scorching hot. We have explored our beach called Long beach which is about 2 miles long, and it has great sand and clear water. It also has lots of different bamboo 'guesthouses' and more upmarket resorts, and restaurants and bars right on the sand itself which we have only marginally sampled! We did do a day trip of snorkelling which was fun and we visited some beautiful islands with powder-soft sand. We even swam into a cave in the dark which opened up into a hong - a secluded beach totally surrounded by high cliff walls with access only through a tunnel from the water (or if you're brave enough - rapelling down the cliffs!). It was a very cool adventure. * Mush

Our Bamboo Hut, Koh Lanta, Thailand

After saying goodbye to Paul, Martin and I headed on down to the southwest of Thailand to Koh Lanta - a beautiful island off the Andaman coast. We had a crazy journey though trying to get a coach from the coach station. One bus that stopped didn't have any seats and we got offered the luggage compartment under the coach!! For seven hours! Can you believe it?!! Well, we refused that kind offer and decided to wait for the next one which actually had two spare seats next to the driver. The rest of the journey by minivan and two ferries turned out to be trouble-free, but we were grateful to get to our guesthouse so that we could crash out all day in the hammock on the little deck of our bamboo hut.

Sanctuary, where we are staying is a really nice chill-out place and our bamboo hut is four spots in from the beach. Our ensuite, outdoor bathroom is lovely and totally private with lots of exotic plants and lillies everywhere! A tropical loo! The food is absolutely delicious and I can't get enough seafood! All very good reasons to stick around - a welcome break from the rigours (yes, it's tiring!) of traveling! *Mush

Kiteboarding Lessons, Chumphon, Thailand

So, I got quite excited at the chance to finally learn how to kiteboard. We lived near the Columbia Gorge in Oregon, one of the best places in the world to kiteboard, and never got to do any lessons. So, now in Thailand, and at a quarter of the price, we made a stop in Chumphon on our way south to the islands and beaches. Unfortunately, after the instructors waited out the rains to eventually get too much wind to teach, we only managed to get in a beginners session on the trainer kite as the winds were too powerful to actually fly a big kite and try to board. Next time when we pass through we hope to try again. We did manage to watch the experienced kiteboarders enjoying the strong winds as we sipped our beers in the beach front bar, so not all was bad! I am keen to learn though, and then take up kiteskiing in the winter! *Stub

Friends in Bangkok, Thailand

When you're on the road as long we are, it's nice to have that feeling of ease and familiarity. For us that place is Bangkok - we funnel through it so often. And seeing familiar faces in foreign places makes all the difference! This time we met up with my friend Mandy from Portland who was visiting her friends who live here. Not only that, but our friend Paul (who we met in China) coordinated his life in Thailand so that he would coincide with us too. We visited a few of the must-see temples along the river (here we're making fun of the big statues at Wat Arun). And then of course, no visit to Bangkok would be complete without a cocktail at the very posh rooftop Vertigo bar on the 62nd floor of the Banyan Tree Hotel. Very nice!

Later on in the week we caught up with other friends - our tailor-tout buddies Veejay and Aran, and then friends Nina and Scott, and Claire and Ralph and their new baby, Ella. All in all it was a really pleasant Bangkok stop! *Mush

Large Taxi, Mae Teang, Thailand

How amazing is this???? After trekking through the jungle, we spent the night at the elephant camp, only to wake up to these gentle giants taking a bath! We rode our elephant Buka for about an hour. Here I am relaxing in the seat, but it is so cool to ride on the head of the elephant - you can really feel the power and stability in the shoulders, although, as Michelle says, a bit of an inner thigh workout!! There was a shack up in the trees where you could purchase a bunch of bananas to feed them. So, while sitting on the head, a very curious trunk would point towards you, searching for food. We would place the bananas in the snout of the trunk and the happy elephant would continue on. They even let out a deafening trumpet for us - unbelieveably loud! We got to hang out for some time with them afterwards, feeding and touching the trunks. A very memorable experience!

After the ride, we were swept away downstream on a whitewater raft with no real instruction (typical Thailand). Then it was on a rickety bamboo raft that could barely hold our weight, so we tried to tip the thing and had a blast trying to unload our guide. Good times! *Stub

Trekking into the Jungle, Mae Teang, Northern Thailand.

Our next three days were a lot of fun as we headed on a trek into the jungle. This entailed at least 4 hours of walking on the first two days. The first day was a real slog uphill and we could definitely feel that we were out of shape from the little exercise that we get while on the road. On our first night we stayed in a fair-sized hilltribe village (about 150 people) that was perched high on a ridge overlooking lush green jungle. Our guide, Wee, made fabulous food for us, and we sat on our bamboo balcony and enjoyed songs and entertainment by the village kids. * Mush

Dumb and Dumber, Pai, Thailand

The next few days we hung out with Renate and company, and hired scooters to get around. Driving around on bikes is great because we see so much more... driving through rice paddies and up to waterfalls, passing through hill tribe villages and waving hello to everyone. One day we came across a couple of elephant homes where the elephants, although tied up, seemed really happy munching away on banana tree stems. Pai is a very cool chill-out place with not a huge amount to do, and when we weren't on our bikes, we would be hanging out in the town and in the evenings we would go to bamboo cafe bars on stilts with lovely views over the river and the valley. We wished we could stay longer, but we wanted to do a trek into the jungle and get back to Bangkok to meet a friend of mine for the 12th. But yes, Pai got the thumbs up from us. What a cool place! * Mush

Off to Pai, Thailand

So it was off to Pai after Chiang Mai - a little funky town further north, set in a large valley surrounded by hills and ridges piled high with tropical rainforest. One of Martin's friends had been here a few years before and he remembered the sunrise over the rice paddies in the valleys... and the cheese you could get at one particular restaurant in town! Well, as we told him... it's changed a lot since then - we could get cheese pretty much everywhere! (thankfully, the sunrise and rice paddies were still there too). We headed up with a girl we'd met at our guesthouse in Chiang Mai, Renate. The drive up was stunning - the scenery reminded me of the island of Kuaui in Hawaii. It was a 4 hour winding road through lush green forest with the occasional village or food stall sitting on the side of the road. Renate and her friends, Sam, Billy and Liron, made it a fun journey and we managed to sing and dance most of the way up there! Later on we found out it was Billy's Birthday so we celebrated on the porch of one of our huts. * Mush

Thai Massage, Chiang Mai, Thailand

On our last day all together, we fit in a few more shops and a massage before Pat and Jules headed back down south to fly back to Australia. Pat and I had a light Swedish Oil massage, while Jules and Martin had a Thai massage. We were enthralled as we watched the last 20 minutes of Martin's : it looked horrendously painful - the girl was walking on his back and his legs with her knees, and then pulling him into all sorts of contortions!! Martin said it was the best Thai massage he'd ever had. Crazy!

That evening we bid a sad farewell to my two shopping buddies, Jules and Pat. Martin and I thought we were in for a chill-out evening, but some people from our guesthouse dragged us out for refreshments. Nothing super special there I know, but I have to tell you about our amazing burger that we had at 3 in the morning... It was at a little stand-up diner called Mike's and apparently his motto is he's 'trying to convert vegetarians'... well I think he certainly could with these burgers.. It was the best one I'd had since Portland (didn't eat any in England). The succulent beef and the sauteed onions were absolutely delicious! Mmmm. Just talking about it now is making my mouth water all over again! It's funny what you miss when you are away from home for a long time. * Mush

Exploring Chiang Mai, Thailand

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The next few days we crammed in a lot, walking around town visiting more temples and hiring a driver to take us around the beautiful countryside of Chiang Mai. We visited Orchid and Butterfly farms, the Princess' Palace (a beautiful summer home), and The Queen's Botanical Gardens with amazing plants.

Also, and perhaps, more importantly, we were successful in getting to the night bazaar without getting distracted by other shops, and were able to concentrate on more shopping! Pat and Jules certainly can shop, and shopping with them was great for me, but perhaps not so much fun for Martin as he would be waiting around patiently for us. The night bazaar also had great food and we ate there a couple of times. One evening, we enjoyed some performances by fire eaters, and then some singing and dancing by cute little kids dressed like little Thai princesses, followed by a couple of routines by some lady-boys! Hilariously interesting! *Mush

Master Chefs, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Today was a wonderful day... we didn't stop eating! The reason being: we'd decided to do a thai cookery course and each time we finished a dish we would sit and eat it! The day started with a trip to the local produce market with our cute little wicker baskets (double click for photos), looking at all sorts of rice, noodles and veggies - some very different to what we have. So, we cooked about 10 dishes between the two of us, including green chicken curry and basil chicken (our two favourites), finishing off with yummy fried bananas. Mmmm...Heaven!! We didn't think we could eat anymore, but somehow we heroically made it through! The cooking school was a real treat because Martin and I both like to cook and haven't cooked in months! One other wonderful feature of the course was that after we'd finished, as if by magic all the dishes would disappear and we didn't have to even touch the washing up! Now that was wonderful: as some of you know, I detest doing dishes! * Mush

Hanging off the back of a Song-thaew, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Along with Jules and her mum, Pat, we headed out for some sightseeing of the old city. Chiang Mai is pretty cool - fairly big, but definitely doesn't feel like it. It's cosy in places and the old city is surrounded by crumbled walls and a moat. We checked out Wat Phra Singh - a Wat or temple close to where were are staying in the old town with some cool ruins and elephants built into the side of the central monument. We then got a Song-thaew - a covered pick-up truck- and Martin and I had fun hanging off the back of it. We went to see Doi Suthep - 306 steps up to another stunning Wat set in the hills overlooking town. We loved the gold covered monuments and took a ton of photos! Our day should have ended with a trip to Chiang Mai's famous night bazaar, but we never got there. We were too distracted by all the great stalls and shopping to be had beside the outdoor food court where we'd eaten many plates of tasty Thai cuisine!!! * Mush

Jules and Patricia at Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai, Thailand

We are now back in Thailand for two months. After a short stopover in Bangkok to see friends Nina and Scott, we headed up North to Chiang Mai by overnight coach. Not a super-great experience this time: the drivers were horrible, playing music all night and driving the bus really jerkily so as to keep us awake. Martin then developed a migraine that lasted well into the next day. To top it all off, we arrived to find that our bags, which had been in the luggage compartment of the bus, had been packed differently to how we'd left them - which meant that someone had rummaged through them! We have heard stories of valuables going missing on long bus journeys from travelers. Thankfully, nothing was missing as we never leave anything of value for them to take!

We were meant to be rendezvous-ing with Martin's Australian friend Jules (who he met on his last travels) and her mum, Pat who were on holiday themselves. After they were stranded in Koh Samui for 4 extra days due to heavy rains, they found us by chance playing catch-up madly typing away in an internet cafe. After a first class dinner and lack of sleep from our overnight journey, we collapsed on our extremely comfortable (not!), rock-hard bed ! *Mush

Jumbo Floating Restaurant, Aberdeen, Hong Kong

Hong Kong island is not only the financial heart of Hong Kong, but it has many beaches and fishing towns on its south side. We took a hair-raising local bus over the summit to the other side of the island and explored the street markets of Stanley. At Aberdeen we saw its famous floating Sampan villages and the impressive Jumbo floating restaurants composed of three very elaborate boats linked together - all with different styles of restaurants onboard.

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to stop and enjoy its stylish rooftop bar as we had decided to splash out and see the latest Cirque du Soleil which was in town - Quidam. It was, of course, very impressive, though the costumes weren't as elaborate as usual, but it was still a great preformance with some amaaazing acrobatics. They are SO strong. Even the clowns are super strong and their acts were very well done and extremely funny. *Mush

Back in Hong Kong on Cheung Chau Island

We really enjoyed our two months in China, but we were feeling like we needed a break and that it was time to leave. We will be coming back again in the New Year to do some more major tourist attractions in the south and southwest, and maybe Tibet and Nepal.

We made our way South by means of a 26 hr train to Guangzhuo (Canton), and then across the border into Hong Kong where we spent a couple of days before heading back to Bangkok. We decided on a day trip to Cheung Chau - one of the 250+ islands of Hong Kong. It was a great day and we loved the activity around the harbour - fisherman busy repairing nets, the harbourside cafes full of tourists enjoying the delicious local catch, and shops selling lots of dried anything! The chinese love dried food - anything from seafood to animal intestines, to herbs and veggies will do. We even saw tons of shrimp, squid and all sorts of fish drying in the baking sun beside the harbour wall.

After a busy day exploring (including a spot of retail therapy as I ended up buying my first Chinese hat! - double click the photo for more pics), we thought we deserved some well-earned refreshment and caught up with a new friend, Alison, who we'd met in China at the Longji rice terraces. It was our first time seeing the nightlife of Wan Chai and Lan Kwai Fong - two of the trendy areas of Hong Kong which, of course, we had to check out! * Mush

West Lake, Hangzhuo, Jiangsu Province, China

We spent a few of days in the lively resort of Hangzhuo (pronounced Hung jo). Hangzhou felt different to other places we'd been to in China. Whereas most of the major cities are big and fairly modern, Hangzhuo felt like an upmarket destination catering for wealthy chinese tourists. Although the city has about 6 million people, it didn't feel that large and had a 'cosy' atmosphere. Its top attraction is the huge, natural lake that it sits on. We rented bikes and cycled the 7 miles around it. It was very busy, but beautifully landscaped and we explored the cool Six Harmonies Pagoda with beautiful gardens and miniature models of other pagodas and stupas from all around China.

One day we walked near the Ferrari garage (for Martin) and encountered a water fountain show going on. It was really cool with lots of coloured lights focused on the fountains and all dancing to loud (of course!) music. We also discovered lots of classy and expensive restaurants way out of our league! It didn't take us long though, to discover a little cheapie with nice people... and great sizzling beef! Also, as we strolled around the markets we found some delicous street food with pork and sweet potato in really cute little bamboo steamers . *Mush

Zhouzhuang Main Canal, Jiangsu Province, China

Two hours west of Shanghai is the little 900-year old water town of Zhouzhuang (pronounced Jo Juang) - a mini Venice of China. It was a pleasant day exploring the small alleyways, cobbled streets, shops and residences of the rich merchants with stunning furniture and decor. We had a good lunch of traditional dumplings with a table overlooking the main canal. Then it was off on a short boat trip with some other tourists we had met on the bus to see a view of the interesting little town from a different perspective. Some of the boat guides would sing traditional songs as they rowed. The boat ride ended at one of the many museums, and from here we also visited some temples and gardens of the area. There were some great shops there, quite tourist-oriented, but we also managed to see some of the more genuine chinese way of living. A small note, we ended up spending an extra day in Shanghai, as we were supposed to do this trip the previous day, only to end up at the bus station missing a wallet as "someone, who will remain nameless" left it in the room and we had to go back for it, missing our bus!!! Luckily, time is something we are not short of!!! *Stub

Shanghai Urban Planning Museum, Shanghai, China

During our 4 days in Shanghai, we visited the Urban Planning Museum. A good, informative place with the highlight being this full scale model of the city almost taking up the entire floor - quite impressive. We also took a walk along the Bund, the famous embankment along the Huangpu River, which literally means muddy embankment. Here are all the really expensive hotels and restaurants. In addition to this, we spent about 3 hours up the Oriental Pearl Tower to watch sunset and the lights come on from 350 m (1100 ft) up in the air. Shanghai is very modern, with tons of skycrapers all flashing with lights!
A trip from new to old, or almost old as we went to the old town. Apparently, it has been renovated to look like the old town, with pointy roofs, and bridges over water and gardens. We waited in a long line for the city's best jiaozi (pronuonced 'jow za'), little meat dumplings dipped in vinegar, and they were worth the wait.
While I am talking about food, we feel like we are cheating a little when I say we gobbled up plenty of Western style food whilst in Shanghai. But, after so much Chinese style noodles and dumplings, a big, juicy hamburger is a welcome treat. It is just not that easy to find. I justify this by saying that, if I was back home, I wouldn't eat burgers and steaks every night!! *Stub

Shanghai, China

Another overnight sleeper, this time to the east coast metropolis of Shanghai. We met up with friends Paul and Tracy (Canadians we met in Yangshuo) who live nearby - 4 hours away! Shanghai feels very westernised and is a huge, very modern city with about 14 million people! Thanks to Paul, though, who knew the city well, we saw interesting and diverse parts of it. We walked around the old French Concession area, then visited the fake market with lots of brand-named goods, the antique market (my favourite), and the bird market with the unusual but very popular feature of 'cricket fighting' going on. Very strange! Next, we walked Fangbang street - full of character ... and characters cooking and doing their washing outside in the street - probably more pleasant than the interior of their homes. Then it was off for a rooftop drink at The Captain's Bar, with views over the Bund and the Huang Pu river to watch the impressive dancing lights on the Pearl Tower and the highrises of Pudong. The district of Pudong was built in 1990 on a mud bank where the high rises are effectively built on floating concrete! Kind of scarey! Finally, it was off for some mexican food at Zapatas - our first since we left Portland, and it was delicious! *Mush

Confucius Burial Mound, Qufu, Shandong, China

About an hour away by bus from the foot of Tai Shan is the birth and resting place of Confucius. The Confucius Temple was interesting as we discovered the place where Confucius himself professed his teachings and wisdom in the various courtyards filled with gnarly knotted pine trees. Other courtyards had a vast number of large upright slabs of stone (steles) with impressive ancient chinese texts engraved upon them. Then on to his family mansion where later generations became treated like royalty - The Kongs. Finally, we walked on to the Confucius Forest to visit his tomb - a 2000 year old burial mound amongst all his descendants (you can see the grass mound behind me in the picture). There are apparently over 200000 trees in the forest, all planted one each by his followers. Inspite of all the chinese tour groups it was surprisingly peaceful and we even managed an uninterrupted game of backgammon, while we waited for privacy at his resting place. *Mush

18 Bends, Tai Shan, Shandong Province, China

Mount Tai, or Tai Shan, is the most revered of the five sacred Taoist mountains of China, and we decided we would check it out. We parted from Joy and Earl, only to endure one of those really fun, energy-draining travel days on 5-6 buses taking about 14 hours from start to finish! Next day we climbed the mountain. The well made, well trodden path was 4-5 miles long with 4,700ft of ascent and with 6,660 steps all the way to the top! It must have taken an army to build them. Making it a little more pleasant though, was the fact that there weren't too many people climbing, apart from a few little old ladies skipping along beside us trying to sell us their wares - lucky trinkets and very useful statues of Confucius! The climb was surprisingly okay, and it wasn't until the very last steps that we were ready to be 'beamed up' to the top.

We explored the village at the summit a little. The working monastery on the top was quite different from ones we'd seen before: the monks had lots of hair in a bun on their head and a chopstick going through it! We found a classy place to stay overnight with minimal heating and no hotwater, so that we could get up and watch sunrise. Unfortunately, we shared the experience with the other hundreds of chinese tourists who took the early cable car! As much as we have really enjoyed the chinese people when we make a connection with them, they have a few habits that our culture would find hard to tolerate, namely, making as much noise as possible at all times, hacking and spitting, and throwing litter everywhere. As a result, sunrise wasn't very peaceful, or for that matter, very sacred! * Mush

Our special Bar, Pingyao, Shanxi Province, China

Because we felt we had left our little town of Pingyao in a hurry, we decided to go back, taking along our new friends Joy and Earl. We spent a great couple of days continuing to explore town, renting bikes up on the city wall and cycling the 4 mile perimeter enjoying great views looking down over the courtyards and rooftops. Later, we toured around stopping for stuffed steamed dumplings on the street, and to meet more of the local people. There were some familiar faces amongst them, including our firecracker guy who instantly recognised us. We were also warmly welcomed back to our favourite street bar (pictured here) just outside the city wall. From here we could sit back and admire some of the good-looking local characters (check out our photo album for some portraits!), and also have a laugh with all our friendly vendors, including my favourite one (who you can see sitting facing us almost hidden in the far background on the right hand side). I thought he was a real sweetie and I think I made his day when I bought something off his stall for about 20p (50cents)! * Mush

Tayuan Temple, Wutai Shan, Shanxi Province, China

As it happens when traveling, we did a spur of the moment trip up to Wutai Shan. As we were paying for our bill in Pingyao, we met a French family and friends who were renting a van and driver to take them up to Wutai Shan, one of the 5 sacred mountains in China. They invited us to join them, so we quickly packed and hopped in the van.
Marc, Celine and their daughter Juliette live in Beijing and had friends Sylvie and Fabien visiting. We enjoyed spending time with the whole group of them, and Mush made a good connection with little Juliette, posing for silly photos along the way. The journey was a bonus to us because we visited some interesting temples and wealthy Chinese family courtyards and mansions along the way. Arriving in cold Wutai Shan at night, we had some trouble finding a decent hotel, but it all worked out in the end - at a price.
The little town of Taihuai was nothing special except for the infinite amount of temples and monasteries. The most noteworthy was the Tayuan Si which was home to this huge, white stupa - basically the symbol of the area. Loads of monks chanting in the temples, and just walking around town, made for an interesting feel for the area. We toured many of the temples, interacted as we could with the locals, and met some new Canadian friends Earl and Joy from Fenlon Falls. We would spend about 5 days with them, with plenty of laughs, traveling back to Pingyao in the process. *Stub

Fire Crackers, Pingyao, Shanxi Province, China

A 10 hour train ride from Beijing, landed us in Pingyao at 5:30 AM. It was cold, the coldest we have had on the trip so far. From the train station, we took a motorcycle taxi through the city wall and into the old city. Pingyao has a complete old city wall dating from the Ming or Qing or Something Dynasty, and it is all intact. It measures just over 6 km around. We met a Canadian guy named Kevin (pictured on steps), and the 3 of us rented some classy bikes to tour around the town. My bike was named "Forever" and had a leopard skin seat (Flickr for pics)!
First stop on the ride, the local school. We were mobbed by the kids and I think we disrupted the classes a little. After a couple more km's on the sweet rides, we found these old guys. They keenly spotted the fire crackers in Kevin's basket and their faces gleamed with delight. We let them at it, and this is the result. A couple of kids they turned out to be. It was so hilarious, we bought more and found the same guys later on in the day. They blew them up on the main street, only to have a shopkeeper come out and give us grief, wanting us to clean up the mess. I guess we did start it though!
The rest of the day we spent in the small alleys, just interacting with all the people we saw. It brings them great joy it seems to have us just say "hello" to them. There were some fantastic characters, and the children were a delight to play with. An excellent experience in Pingyao. *Stub