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Today we did something the guides suggested and walked from coogee beach to bondi beach. The walk and the weather was lovely. Bondi is massive so I can see why they have so many lifeguards. However on the walk we found a much cooler beach. There isn't much difference to beaches around the world but the water here is crystal clear.

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We planned to do a few things in the city on Wednesday which would fill our time till half 6 at which point we had agreed to meet Ryan for a biru and some food. We hit a charming 'secret' garden at midday and had a slow meander down the Quay siday towards the city. From there we hopped on a double decker metro! and headed into the city to see the 'underworld' exhibit at the Sydney museum. We strolled around the botanical garden managing to kill another hour then the call came in from Ryan saying he was in the city and heading to our location with his delightful (and out of his league ☺) girlfriend Lynsey. We hit the opera bar for a cheeky one before taking a trip on the ferry to darling Bay and indulging in a delicious steak and some more beers. The we now have a list of things we didn't know even existed from our two local guides and plan on ticking as many off the list as possible. I managed to get some really good photos of the Quay side but I think the best photo of the day is below

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Sam went to bed on Monday with a sore throat and woke up on Tuesday completely ill 🤒 😔. So we decided we would head to the local shopping mall to grab a cozy jumper for her before heading to bondi and seeing the sights. We each grab some protection against the cold and made a beeline for the bus to get to bondi by mid afternoon. After a little mix up we went and hour the wrong way on the bus and had to come and hour back. After two hours on the bus neither of us could be really be chewed for another 40 minutes so we hopped of at our home stop. Grabbed a giant pizza and just watched movies and TV all night. No pictures of the bus ride, so here is one we took of the bridge and opera house on Wednesday

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Sunday was a right off, complete with 12 o'clock lie in and a hangover that wouldn't shift until we bought a full roasted chicken for tea. With Sunday behind us we decided to have a productive Monday and head into the city itself. We wondered around for close to 5 hours in the warm winter air not quite settling on anything in particular to do other than find the Tyne bridge replica and snap a few photos of the harbour and the opera house etc. We also agreed to meet Ryan for tea later in the week. Which we both were looking forward to. Below is a photo from the bridge of the harbour

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Hi guys, long time no write. We have already been in Sydney for a week (scary). Thought I would do a couple of posts to update you on the very relaxing time we are having. We didn't do much on Friday after landing late on the Thursday however we did go grab a pair of pants each as its not quite as warm here as everywhere else we have been and we thought we should look a little presentable for the party at Ryan's on Saturday. The party was, safe to say messy for both of us. We limited our selves to 6 bottles and somehow both got absolutely hammered. It was great to see Ryan in his element, late as always to his own party. We met some cool people (none of which I can remember their names, and only one Australian was in attendance). Below is the only photo we got from the night =).

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Today was our last full day with Lagan before he departed for changsha and home. We decided, as yangshuo is in the middle of nowhere and our train station was in the middle of nowhere to get a taxi between the two. The taxi was about and hour and a half and only cost around £24 which is pretty a good deal if you ask me. While waiting for the train some random guys started taking selfies clearly aiming to get us in, going as as far as to walk all the way over to us from their table where they were having lunch to snap a photo and then heading back. We arrived in guangzhou, put our stuff in the hostel and hit a hunan restaurant (the province which changsha is in and famous for its spicy dishes) as lagan has gone on about it the whole time he has been with us. The food was fairly mild compared to some we have had though, so I don't get what all the fuss was about. Lagan decided he wanted to see the tower and riverside here as it is the big tourist attraction, so we hopped on a bus and had a couple of hours wandering down there snapping photos. We headed back to the hostel and Sam headed up to the room for a shower so lagan and I played endless games of table football and had a couple of beers to finish the night off.

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....well travelling business class. So we booked to travel business class from Shenzhen to guilin as we left it late so didnt really have alot of choice for a good train time. Once the confirmation came through the boys started with their imaginations. (I will refer to them as boys throughout as I felt like there mother having to reel their expectaions in!) Anyways, we arrived at the train station and we get our own security area to go through. Ive never seen the boys move so quick to go through security, who runs towards the scary people who pat you down?? Once we were through, the hunt for the business lounge commenced. Got a cheeky mcdonalds and into the lounge we went. Because the boys had so many thoughts about the lounge its safe to say it was not filled with seats made of prostitutes and champagne and cavier handed to them. It was a fully stocked fridge and wierd chinese snacks, but hey, it was better than sitting amongst all the peasants! After sitting around we headed to the train and suprisingly they walked quite calmly to the carriage. Now i will admit it was pretty nice to be in a carriage with only 8 seats instead of 50. We took our seats and then zak found the buttons.... Oh god ths buttons! Back down back up, legs up, feet out fully lying down. Tv pulled out and the tray as well. We recieved some drinks and a small snack box. Arrived at our hostel and we have beer and food. Sorted!

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I would rather take my chances in the bates motel

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I would rather take my chances in the bates motel

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This morning was rather unventful and passed by fairly quickly. we were out of the hotel by 7 and had a small walk to the ferry terminal to catch the 20 to 8 boat. The one suprising thing from the morning was seeing the boat pull up loaded with tourists and seeing a similar number on both a boat in the water and the opposite ferry terminal. We caught the train and were happily on our way to Shenzhen by 11. We hopped off the train at our final destination and headed to the hotel. Upon arriving at the hotel we checked in and as soon as we got off the lift you could tell something wasnt quite right. Now we have been extremely lucky with hotels and hostels so far on this trip and have stayed in some high end rooms and we put this down to the reviews on hostelworld and booking.com. this hotel had equal if not higher ratings than some of the places we have stayed so when we hopped off the elevator to be greeted by a smoky smell, heavily stained carpets and aging decour we were a little taken aback. We tried to pay it no mind and hoped for better with the room. I wish I could have grabbed a sneaky photo of Lagans face as I wouldn't have to describe how bad the room was. i will just list a few of the issues to paint a picture; first the picture hanging on the wall was askew so much it looked like a surrealist painting. The wall paper was peeling in fairly big chunks and stained a dull orange. The window physically could not be closed, they had installed bars on the inside of the room which meant the handle could not be locked and there was ash all over the windowsill. The smoke detector had been covered with wads of toilet paper to ensure it didn't function and as you can imagine the room had a rather pungent Smokey smell. We complained at the front desk in the hope they would change our room, which they kindly did, as we entered this one we found a whole section of the wallpaper off and lifting up, exposing a lot of mold underneath. This was the last straw and we collected our money and belongings and headed for a Starbucks to gather our thoughts and find another place to stay for the night. All is well now and we have just had a delicious curry and look forward to travelling business class tomorrow to guilin.

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Today was the bamboo boat trip down to yangshuo. The day started in great fashion when we were 10 minutes late for the tour bus even though we had originally been 10 minutes early. The tour guide was not happy, neither was she any good, reminding all the white people on the bus that we couldn't speak or read the language and saying we would get lost without help from the Chinese people. Obviously she didn't realise we have our own residential white china man. She then bodged the boat tickets and made us wait an hour and a half till the next one. She also decided to put a Chinese person with each group of whiteys, breaking up a young couple and putting the girlfriend with us. The boat trip itself was amazing, with a crystal blue sky and green peaks reaching from the water's edge into the bright blue, our time was constantly used trying to take in all our surroundings. We got off the boat at xiangping and had a wander round an actual old town filled to the brim with mango shops and tourist tat. We arrived at the hotel and the big impression was the view from the balcony in Michael's room. After washing of the days sweat we hit the town in search of a famous beer fish restaurant. We grabbed a table and ordered karp. It was OK however I had to turn the plate around as the eyes kept looking at me which is a little disconcerting. We hit a couple of bars after that, indulging in a shot of spirit with a snake in and then a street meat bbq restaurant to end the night, finding out there isn't much meat on a pigeon. We ended up reaching the hostel by tuk tuk around half 2 even though we had only planned to have a quiet night. I blame the karp.

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Last night we decided to extend our stay in

Guilin by an extra day as the hostels and trains did not work for the day we decided to go yangshuo. Rather than waste the extra day we had seen a little ‘old’ village advertised in the brochure with the boat trip to yangshuo. We set off around 10:30 and two buses, a walk in the midday sun and about an hour and a half later we had arrived in the village. While the walk was pleasant, and skimming stones was fun there was nothing to really cement its place in a travel brochure. After walking around it easily in an hour we headed back to the hostel for a few beers and a couple of games of pool to start the evening off right. The night ended with lagan and I trying to drink 12 beers to get a free t-shirt worth 60 yuan (the beers were 12 each, do the maths). We succeeded and a little haggling got us one each. Tomorrow is our boat trip which is meant to be a great trip so we are all looking forward to that.

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So today was our last full day on the island and it started with a relaxing morning, rising at 9 we proceeded to do a little bit of washing then we hit the island to see if it was as idilic during the day as it was during the night. Safe to say its just as charming. We completed our. Full circuit of the island by around mid day and after ear marking a few beach spots for some night time beers we headed back towards the town to for a late lunch. By this time we were all starting to feel the burn of the middays heat and decided to chill in the room for an hour or two until the heat and sun had disapaeted and we could go and chill on the beach at night. We hit the earlier spot to find it almost entirely empty. Sam being the sensible one, she stayed on the beach and night bathed while we took a plunge in the warm and salty sea, swimming out to the little cropping of rocks no more than ten metres away. We trundled back to the hotel with a walking beer in hand ready for the early morning train to Shenzhen.

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We rose reluctantly at 5 to head for the train to xiamen. After some issues with finding a taxi then a place to print our tickets we were getting a a little anxious we might miss our train. Luckily we managed to avoid that disaster and boarded the 7 hour train. Lagan was like a child and couldn't placated for more than 15 minutes at a time and after each he would let you know how long we had left. Arriving in xiamen fell like arriving on the med. Palm trees and sunshine and hot enough to make you sweat standing still. We hit the ferry and landed on the island of gulag yu which is famous for not permitting vehicles of any sort on. We arrived late so checked in, get showered and head straight back out to walk along the edge of the island. The skyline views of xiamen are amazing, as building show discreet light shows along on their sides. We found a couple of beer vendors along the way and strolled the promenade with a cold beer in hand. Gulang yu definitely feels like chawaii.

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We rose early to do a bit of sight seeing before check out and went to the famous Hangzhou west lake. Even though it was half 7 the temperature was easily in the mid twenties. The lake had some really cool scenery and the photo opportunities were everywhere. We were stopped by a couple wanting photos with us and this sort of set the tone for the day. We got checked out and headed straight for the city centre and our next hostel. After checking in we hit the streets and found the main strip. The shops where almost entirely food shops, all had tasters and all were fair game as we hit one after another sampling everything the shops had to offer even going so far as to keep our cocktail sticks. We seemed to illicit stares from everywhere which was a little disconcerting. Meal time was worse as we were put in the window seat and as we ate people gawked at us as they passed. The food was delicious however so every silver lining. Tomorrow is a 5 am start for a train bound for xiamen.

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Today was travel day and we received some early news from Lagan that all trains had been cancelled from changsha to hangzhou. A quick internet search found that we had decided to travel during a typoon landing on the coast today. With the. Hostel unable to provide us with any clear image of how bad the storm was we headed out into the rain to the train station to see what could be done about the tickets and wether or not we would make it to hangzhou by nightfall fall. The man at the desk seemed happy enought to tell us all trains were cancelled and that we were unable to book a later train and that was apparently that from him. A message from Lagan suggested an avenue we hadnt thought of so we quickly scurried down stairs to the bus station and managed to acquire 2 tickets. 5 hours later we where sitting at a table in a restaurant surrounded by dishes such as sweet and sour pork and frog. All told the pork was delicious and the frog was the missing link between fish and chicken it would seem. We are now settling down with a fair few beers in an effort to chill and be ready to explore the lake tomorrow.

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Yesterday we explored our local surroundings and hit the main Shanghai tourist attraction known as the bund. The bund is a long stretch of riverside overlooking some rather impressive skyscrapers. After milling along the promanade taking plenty of photos for an hour or two, we decided to head towards another attraction known as yu gardens. While Yu gardens itself was scenic, it was not that overly enthralling. The market on the other hand surrounding the entrance was captivating and charming. Using the old buildings of Shanghai it created a feel of something special, old but still new. The 9 zigzag bridge across the local pond was the highlight and the water contained the most koi karp we have ever seen together with a few turtles thrown in for good measure. The night time saw us return to the bund in hopes to see it lit up like a christmas tree. It would seem half of shanghai had the same idea. After standing around for an hour and a count down from one of the buildings, no such Blackpool illumintations occurred. We struck for the hostel and bypassed a rather impressive Canadian deli by the name of Tocks. We both had beef sandwiches with chips and cheese cake to finish it all off. We ended the night rather satisfied and looking forward to the train journey to hangzhou.

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So after the post last night, things got a little messy. After about 2-3 rice wine shots we had the whole pub playing a couple of card games and it was suggested that we hit the karaoke bar. Now we all have a little diva in us somewhere but last night I turned into every emo/punk singer from the early 2000's. Needless to say I may have misplaced the videos. We embarked on the 6 hour high speed train from Beijing to shanghai today a little ropey and I have to say I was impressed. The leg room was ample, the staff were constantly coming round to make sure there was no rubbish, they had Western style toilets too. The place we have booked into in shanghai is OK but the location is excellent. I will leave you with a photo of me embarrassing myself singing good Charlottes the anthem (I'm even holding the mic upside down like a proper tw*T) 🤦🏻‍♂️

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The english, the irish, the French and the australian...

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The english, the irish, the French and the australian...

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So today started late. We decided to catch up on sleep and allow ourselves to have a lazy morning. We decided we would go to the train station to buy our tickets for shanghai... Turns our They dont accept anything but chinese cards though so credit card didnt work. An internet search later and its sorted. Anyways... We went back to the bar and our 2 room mates decided to sit with us. Well 5 pints and a couple sakes later theres an Australian and an irishman with us (one of our room mates is French) and it lead to 13 of us going to a karaoke bar......

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Great Wall of China... Obviously never heard of hadrians wall. 

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Great Wall of China... Obviously never heard of hadrians wall. 

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Today was a very early rise indeed. Thankfully the beers and yesterday's adventure tuckered us out. We booked last night to go on the great Wall of China tour. Our day started at half 6 begrudgingly, a 'short' two hour bus journey then followed. The weather had managed to clear up which meant we wouldn't be soaked through again, ha, the heat managed to do that though and half way through we were were more sweat than anything else (30 degree's Celsius). The wall itself truly is a wonder of the world and must be seen to be believed as it snakes its way across the mountain tops. If I could give one piece of advice I suggest pack plenty of water, spare top and wear appropriate clothes. As described, mountains mean mountains, you often dip down to immediately rise double the height dropped. It's a mental challenge as much as physical. The package included breakfast (a loaf of vitman bread and a bottle of water) and lunch. Lunch was served in a local restaurant with a good spread of food. We are happily tuckered out and rather sunburnt. We have enjoyed a pint to unwind and are lazing around on our beds staving off sleep for the time being. Here is a picture of Sam and me with the wall snaking behind.

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Umbrellas, umbrellas every where but no way to stay dry. 

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Umbrellas, umbrellas every where but no way to stay dry. 

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So Beijing is storming at the minute. We decided that with our short stay here we wouldn't let this stop us in anyway so today we headed to the forbidden city and tianamen Square. First we had to get around on the subway. Surprisingly and completely the opposite of Japan yet again, it was relatively simple and ridiculously cheap, two tickets working out about 68p. The crowds in tianamen Square where on a whole other level, the queues and the umbrellas stretched everywhere. The forbidden Palace was very interesting. Size was unfathomable and the grandour of the building quite breath taking. The rain did eventually wear us down and sent us packing but not until we had spent 3 hours in it. I thought I had managed to get this posted yesterday but evidently not. We sat down for tea and cards in the onsite bar and enjoyed a couple of drinks also. While photos still won't work properly here is one of us drenched with a sea of umbrellas in the background.

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Let me start by saying never get in any sort of vehicle from the airport to a hostel/hotel/train station. It is on another level of crazy, I have never had a chance to use the saying 'it's like the wild west out there' until now. Undertaking straight into over taking followed by a small 1 mile drive down the hard shoulder, rinse and repeat. Tokyo was order, Beijing in the first hour has been chaos. But all in all we are in the hostel safe sound and absolutely shattered. Once the batteries are recharged things will seem more positive I'm sure.

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So we are waiting to board to go to Beijing. Slight issue at the check in desk where my middle name wasn't on my ticket. That got sorted fairly quickly phew. We had beef skewers and gyozo for breakfast on nom. May have splurged a little in the duty free. B

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So today was Hawaii Monster Cafe day. It has to take the trophy for weirdest setting for a meal. If you look at the decor it's almost out of a Lewis Carroll book. And then when you are half way through your meal (Sam's was more colourful then mine) they start a show. It was different but definitely not bad. The food was tasty, the atmosphere pleasant and the experience enjoyable. I speak for both Sam and I when I say Tokyo has been a blast and something we will do again. Tomorrow it is a 5 am start to get our flight to Beijing where a new adventure awaits. Below are the photos and video of the café.

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After the write off that was yesterday we decided to head back into the city and visit shibuya during the day for some retail therapy and to visit the nearby shrine of meiji jingu which was closed on our previous visit. This is a shrine dedicated to the old emperor and empress of Japan who saw the country through great technological reform. Tomorrow sees our last full day in Japan so we are going to go to the hawaii monster cafe, with an early night forecast in preparations for Monday mornings early flight.

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We have spent day Five relaxing around the apartment as last night we decided to go to a bar for a 'few' drinks. After walking around we came to a place called bar ring. We entered with a little apprehension, would the patrons be friendly, would the language barrier be too much. Our fears were soon put to rest and by the end of the night we were passing phones back and forwards with messages written on Google translate asking all manner of questions. Sam and I were a little drunk when we left and ended up having to stop at every seven eleven along the way asking for directions. Cheers for the great night!

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Weather - 30 degrees Celsius (hot and sunny) . Today's jaunt into Tokyo was aimed at seeing the imperial Palace. While your actually not allowed to see the Palace it's self, the surrounding garden, old castle and museum are completely free of charge which was nice. It was quite surreal to be in amongst buildings which where 300-400 years old while the skyline was completely dominated by glass sky scrapers. Once we had covered every inch of the palace gardens we decided to walk to Tokyo Station which is a straight line from the main gate of the palace. We decided to grab some food on the go from a number of the vendors within kamata Station. Some were nice, some were weird. Attached is the link to the Google album. Take a look and enjoy.

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Hi fam, hi friends. You know the deal by now. A quick recap of our day in case any of you care. Today we took a trip out to Tokyo Tower 🗼. The views were amazing and the old temple gardens out front were pretty cool too. The album below shows off the great sights and some photos of Sam and me being proper tourist. In case anyone is wondering if we secretly joined the yakuza (the three finger thing salute in the photos), it's the tower saying of WIO (pronounced wee-oh) meaning hello. Catch you guys tomorrow.

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Well akihabara was definitely different. The place doesn't seem to cover much area but the amount of places crammed in is a little intense. The arcades vary little yet each has a little something different to try and get you to have a go. The manga shops all have an adult section. Also visible by the steady stream of men trundling up the stairs. The streets close to the 'maid cafés' are lined with women dressed in uniforms and costumes trying to entice you in. All told 5 hours well spent. Here is the link to the photo's taken today.

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Didn't happen! We both over shot morning by a good couple of hours right into midday. We were still wide awake at three last night so I feel we can now confirm that jet lag is a real thing. Ugh!

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Night time brought its own adventure, the rail system. We went to shibuya crossing and around that area. It felt like proper Tokyo with all of the lights and singing billboards. I got a couple of free hugs at the crossing too. We managed to find two identical English pubs (smoking areas are odd and should be a thing of the past) where we par-took in some fish and chips and practiced our chopstick skils. Street food was decent but gutted I didn't punt and get tongue. Still hot but not sunny. Looking forward to day 2! More photos placed in the Google link from the last post. Here is a photo of the crossing.

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Weather - hot and sunny, it's about 30 degrees.
We decided to take a quick walk up the road to a park that Google said had a Buddhist temple in. On top on the town hall there was a viewing platform. The views were great but the breeze was better.

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The question everyone wants answered... 

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The question everyone wants answered... 

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Yes, the toilets are as crazy as the Simpsons makes out.

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First of many tourist photos I'm sure

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I don't think the picture does it justice but it makes 13 1/2 hours on flying tin cans worth it!

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The plane to Beijing was hot but we managed to get a few hours sleep. I don't think the sun set though which was weird. The staff at peiking Airport didnt seem enthusiastic to have us trundle through on a Sunday. Smiling sort of? Can tell the travel has tired us out though.

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Zak tried not just any food but aeroplane food.... Beef and Rice! He actually tried rice!

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Just got WiFi so back dating the posts. We were still smiling when we got on the plane. Note to self, all aeroplane food smells the same.

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Food is now a priority. I hear, although we might not be for a while, its coming home!

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Gaurentee she isnt smiling like this by the time we land in tokyo!

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Waiting for check in to open. Dont let the smiles fool you.... Really nervous 😓

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A little bit of backpack porn for all you creeps!

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We are rolling in the dosh!

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Backpacks are finally together. Now to think what to pack them with 🤔

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One of us is working hard, right up till the last. The other is watching the football. Who, I wonder is who?