Kat-man-dooooo

We landed in Kathmandu and were quickly transported into the hectic hub of Thamel, in the centre, with its cycle rickshaws, masses of motor cycles, the non-stop tooting of horns and wanna-be salespeople of trekking gear, the treks themselves, thankas, postcards and so so much more.

It was fabulous to be amongst it all, even if it was chaotic!! With the need to organise our Indian visas (explaining the hassle involved in that could take up an entire blog on its own... i shall spare you... but as advice for anyone attempting to do the same... be patient and allow 4 working days!!!) and having arrived on a Saturday, without any choice we actually ended up staying in Kathmandu for 6 nights. This gave us the chance to get out and about to many of the nearby sights and stupas, as well as sample the fabulous food (what heaven for the tastebuds it was after chinese cuisine for so long!). I was happy to find the panner dosa at pilgrims feed and read restaurant (a bookstore with a restaurant.....ultra cosy) as well as the famous MOMOS!

I have included a pic of the momos for those to get an idea of typical tibetan food. Yes, i know we were not in tibet (though we did at lhasa airport for transit, t'was munis 2 degrees!!!) but there are many tibetans in exiles in Nepal as well as in India.



Here is a pic of the famous momos. These ones were actually mushroom filled and were delicious. I shall not recommend the restaurant though, because although it is in the lonely planet Do and i were both severely ill from what we think was 'bad' ice in our drinks at this restaurant.








Namaste from Nepal. This little girl in downtown Kathmandu was adorable i couldn't resist asking to take a photo. Happily her grandfather obliged and even out her hands together for the pic. I just loved her eyes.










Back-breaking work. It sure is not an easy life for so many people in Nepal and clearly this guy is in need of some urgent chiropractic care and some spinal care education classes. This scene is a fairly common one seen all over Nepal. Porters even have massive loads of beer bottles or even chickens which they manage to schlep up the mountains. We found it difficult enough with the steps and our packs alone.














The stupa of Swayambhunath, otherwise known a the monkey temple.

















The view from high above at the stupa of Kathmandu. If you look closely (through the fog/pollution?!) you can see the surrounding mountains.










And.. a monkey from the temple.











A gorgeous little Nepali boy visiting the temple the same time as us.











Bodnath (Bouda) Stupa














Hip Nepalis at Bodnath.












The typical Nepali way for mum's carry their kids around. Leaves you hands free and the kids seem to love it.
















This picture was taken outside a local butcher. Notive the lack of refrigeration!! Thank god i don't eat meat anymore and i'm sure anyone who sees how they handle the meat would probably turn vegetarian as quick as they could say 'tofu'

Panda Pandamonium

We saved the best for our last day in China and........... we were certainly not disappointed AT ALL!!! These cuddly fluffly animals (yes they are real and no, there is not someone inside a suit- though we agree it looks like it too) are found at the Chengdu Panda Breeding Centre, in the Sichuan province. Chengdu's breeding centre is THE MOST successful out of all the breeding programs worldwide in terms of the number of cubs born, and those which are still surviving today.


A little video....

As you can see from the pictures (and vid) they are adorable and my camera was working overtime. We had to be at the centre very early in the morning for feeding time because after these cuddly characters eat their daily allowance of bamboo, they don't do much at all besides laying around in a sugar coma. We saw the adults and the one and two years olds and also the 2 month old cubs (we were not allowed to take photos of them :( .... ) . It was a fabulous way to end our trip in China.



They also have red pandas at the breeding centre, which while cute, are nowhere near as cute as the giant pandas in my opinion. In fact they can look a bit naughty and i don't think you would want to be left alone with one.

Grande Buddha, Leshan, China

On our second last day in China (in the Sichuan province), we visited the biggest Buddha statue in the world. It was built during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It's carved out of a cliff face and is more than impressive. If you look very closely at the shot of Buddha's toes, you can see someone leaning againt his big toe which gives you an idea of the size.

Wot Po... Bangkok

These pics are from Wat Po, which is famous for it's 46m long Reclining Buddha. Stunning! Wat (temple) Po was our one toursity thing that we did in Bangkok. The rest of our time i'll admit was mainly spent shopping. Smiles on Buddha's face and ours too ;)

Beach Daze.........

The following photos are all fairly self explanatory i guess, and details are to come soon.... but in the mean time... here are a few shots from ours days in paradise.



Do with a smile from ear to ear














Me in crystal blue water












Fire show on the beach every night.
Fire Breathing











Fire Twirling













My feet














Our two seconds of playing tourist. The Koh Samet temple Buddha


















Lazy days









Paradise. My own postcard shot.













My breakfast. Cornflakes with milk and banana and toast with Vegemite











Shades required









Sandcastles early morning. (Sand construction credit goes to Andrew)

Down the Mekong River... (China to Thailand)

So.....we were in the Xishuanbanna region of Southern China for approx. 5 days hoping that the rain would stop. Hoping to enjoy the tropical weather it usually boasts, considering it was one of our reasons for heading there in the first place....., but to no avail. :(

Not all was to be lost though, :) when we discovered that it's actually possible to take an express boat from Jinghong (main city of Xishuanbanna) to Chiang Saen (Northern Thailand) down the Mekong River for about 80 euros. Sounded good to us!

We did our (meterology) research online. Seeing as we had more than enough time on our hands with the rain anyway, and between our choices of Vietnam, Burma, Laos and Thailand, we chose Thailand.

The visas costs and processing times forVietnam were too high and too long (plus i've been there before - highly recommended), Laos is mainly inland and lacking in the beach department, not sure about visa times/costs and had poor weather as well, Burma has it's obvious problems in terms of visas... plus lacks in the crystal clear watered beaches to lie on department and Thailand.... well Thailand was easy to get to, no visa costs (for under 30day stays) and actually, by this stage in our journey we were more than ready to lie on a beach and relax for a bit from so many overnight bus/train trips in China!

So basically what i'm trying to say is... Thailand was a relatively easy choice for us... our next big decision was where to in Thailand. (see next blog entry ;) for more details)

The pictures are taken from our express boat (though it looked and acted like a plane on water) trip down the Mekong River. The boat had overhead lockers for your hand luggage and we were even fed a meal. As per usual, the travel time took longer than advertised (10 instead of 7 hours) but i kid you not... as soon as we were past the border of China with Burma, the grey sky and clouds all disappeared and we were blessed what seemed instantly, with blue skies. Right from the very moment we were in other territory it seemed that China's pollution lifted.



Out our window.



















Our meal. Tofu with steamed rice and spicy spicy salad

Longi Rice Terraces (Dazhai Village)

Just wanted to start this entry by sharing with you that, the Chinese do things VERY VERY diffrent to the West.
Ok ok... you know all about the food (dogs, scorpions, starfish...) the spitting, the endless phlegm that these people can manage to conjure up from deep within their respiratory tracts..... but here are just a few more things-

They don't wear helmets on motorbikes and as you can see from the photo... neither do their kids. This is normal in China!



They go out in public in their pyjamas!!! I'm not kidding here at all even though i wish i was. This picture was taken in a supermarket and honestly, it was was not an isolated incident. And no, it doesn't just happen in the villages. We saw a girl in Shanghai coming down an escalator in a shopping centre (on Nanjing Rd! for those who know Shanghai) on a Saturday night. Definitely the fashion disaster of the century.


Anyway.... the pics were take in Yangshuo.. a town located one hour from Guilin and also approximately 2 hours away from the Rice terraces of Longi. We spent a few days in Yangshuo before making our way to the village of Dazhai to see (and walk amongst) the famous rice terraces.



This picture is taken from one of the lacoal market stalls in Yangshuo.

They have a delicious vegetarian restaurant in Yanhshuo where we actually ate at twice. Here is the mushroom wrapped in fungus, sounds gross to some....but as you can see from the photo... it looks (and tasted!) much better than it sounds.




And here is another dish ...... the tofu and mushroom. Looks and tasted!!! fab.







We hired bikes for a day and rode to some of the local villages. We stopped off along the way in this bamboo field. We also took a break from cycling along the way.. in a pomelo (very large citrus fruit found all over asia, simply delicious!) field and purchased ourselves one perfect freshly picked pomelo! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. it didn't last long. :)


As well as providing some exercise.... riding bikes gave us a great way to get away from the crowds... and go where (and when) we wanted to go. T'was great to ride amongst the little villages and have every local child say "hello" in english to us and shyly giggle afterwards (that's the only english they all know) along our way for most of the 30km.






Longi rice teerrace... village woman












This picture was taken right out the front of our guesthouse in Dazhai village. It is famous for it's Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces. We had this perfect view (would have been better withour the smog/mist of course) as we were eating breakfast on the porch. We stayed with a local village family who run the guesthouse for a living. The aunty (Pa-a-yee-ee) from the guesthouse offered (for a fee) to be our guide for the day and guide us through the rice terraces to another village 3hrs walk away.




The Rice Terraces of Longi

Pa-a-yee-ee is from the Yao tribe which is famous for the long hair their woman grow and wear piled upon their heads. Pa-a-yee-ee spoke no english at all but so far along our travels... she has definitely tried the hardest out of anyone at comunication and was an absolute delight.

She even showed us her hair she has been growing since she was 18 (or for 18 years.. we couldn't work that one out!)

Yao women selling their wares.................

Corn drying... local hoses are covered in corn like this.

Chillies drying.... also a local favourite