Like many of the countries we have visited there have been many things that have amused us or shocked us and sometimes both! China has been no exception what follows are a few of the things that have made us chuckle and cry along the way!
Read MoreChina Crisis: Bloggers Block
Now some may have noticed that we have taken a little longer than normal to write and post our blogs on China. Now we had a fantastic time in China and the landscapes, the culture and the people (apart from the tourism folks) made for a great experience.
Read MoreChina Channel
In the land of Communism and with the supression of the freedom of speech and expression, here is a playlist and soundtrack that rocked our world as we travelled overland through the China. A epic soundtrack for a epic journey through a very diverse culture and landscape that was one of the toughest legs of our Journey to date.
Read MoreOverlanding China - The Route
So we did it and with no accidents or missed trains we made it all the way south by train and bus from Beijing to Laos. For those who are interested about our journey below if a map of the route.
Read MoreI Want to Ride My Bicycle
After our hike around Emei Shan we decided to avoid extreme hiking for a while, so instead when we got to Yangshao we decided to get on our bikes and explore the area, although this time we left the tandem behind..
26 Hours on a Train
This is going to be a photography blog, during our mammoth 26 hour train journey I tried to take a photograph every hour, except obviously for when I was sleeping but I have posted 26 photographs from the journey, its an interesting experiment to see what is produced when you are confined in a 10ft by 10ft cabin with 3 other people for 26hours……
Phang Bian Mian
As we have been traveling by train and also trekking the food of choice has been a giant pot noodle (or the equivalent of ramen in a plastic cup for the Americans reading) or as the Chinese know it Phang Bian Mian.
Read MoreThe Buddha Bus
There are some things we have done on our journey that we have decided to do because, you know what, life is too short and we will probably never come back to half of the places we have visited, its just not realistic (Unless National Geographic or Conde Nasse want to give us a job!).
Read MoreThe Environment
This is a hot topic when one talks about China, I think it is very well known that China has a bad reputation for air quality and in reality this is so true and so bad. In Beijing you can see smog in the street as though someone were having a summer bonfire; this only raises questions about the impact to health of the citizens in the city let alone those working in industries that cause such pollution. However, its not just factories, it is also the increase in cars and motorized bikes in the city. This is a worrying site but it is also worrying that the smog stretches far outside the city as well; it was covering the skies around the Great Wall as well!
Read MoreCheap Ass Photo's II
Now, last time we discussed how to get the pictures of yourself for cheap without paying the tourist prices! This time I have worked out a different solution.
Read MoreA Bit of Ol' China
Do you remember Blue Peter? (UK Children’s TV Show) If so, this is where I first saw and learnt about the Terracotta Warriors. This was where I became in awe of the story of these statues, I even worked really hard to enter the competition to win a replica model of one of the warriors but to no avail, in fact I never won a Blue Peter badge and I am still disgruntled about that!
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Huimin
As you have read previously over the last 9 months I have been working with Micro Finance Institutions (MFI) around the world. I was very keen to do some more work with organisations in Asia and after some organisation with the Grameen Foundation, a Bankers without Borders project was set up to visit and photograph as well as provide case studies and stories of the clients of this MFI in the Ningxia Province in China, Huimin.
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First Train Ride
Our first train ride started as all first train rides do, with fear and panic! Before we had even left the hostel Steph had deemed it more important to finish off tumble drying our clothes than perhaps leaving on time to collect our tickets before we even can get on the train. So we left our hostel 40 minutes later than planned, in a major city, on a Friday during rush hour, lets just say not much was said during the taxi ride, which we eventually found after 15 minutes of trying!
Read MoreOverlanding through China
What next for China? Well our plan is to journey overland through China en route to Laos. Now barriers to this are going to be language and also train availability which is what stopped us in India completing the whole trip overland.
Read MoreSnack Alley
In the West it’s a common known fact that in East Asian cultures are renowned for eating almost anything, literally anything, and even before this trip began I knew we would try lots of new foods and delicacies but I also knew there was a line I would not cross.
Back in Beijing
It had been almost 7 years to the day since I first set foot in China and Beijing with my friend James. At that time we were going to embark on the Trans-Mongolian railway train journey. This time it was going to be a different journey through China.
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