China Trip: Beijing Summer Palace and Olympic Park
Travel Blog | November 12, 2012 | 2 Comments
A trip to the Summer palace and Olympic Park is an easy do-it-yourself tour, there really is no need to pay a premium to take an organised excursion. There is a subway line right to the park and the whole journey from the centre of Beijing (we were staying on the edge of the Forbidden […]
Travel in China: Shanghai to Beijing by Train
Travel Blog | November 10, 2012 | 4 Comments
This Chinese train service has to be one of the most comfortable I have ever travelled on, apart from the frantic ‘queue’ getting on to it and the packed lounges at the station. However, once we settled into our soft sleeper carriage the journey was a real dream, the rolling stock is new and the tracks level […]
Travel Blog | November 6, 2012 | 0 Comments
Sightseeing in Shanghai There is enough to entertain you in Shanghai for more than the four days we had here, with the 30 day countdown ticking on our visa we had to get a move on. The things that kept us entertained for our limited time were: The Jing’An Temple is a fully restored (adorned throughout with […]
Flashpacking in China: Shanghai Arrival
Travel Blog | November 4, 2012 | 2 Comments
Getting to China on this trip represents a real milestone for us. China has always held a mysterious lure for me and I have been wanting to visit here since I was a child. With independent travel around China easier than ever, we decided to ignore some of the doom merchants who advise against travelling here. We just […]
Seoul Trips: DMZ Tour and Joint Security Area Itinerary
Flashpacking Travel | October 30, 2012 | 8 Comments
Bridging the Gap between North and South Korea We decided whilst in Seoul to take a tour of Panmunjeom Joint Secuirty Area (JSA). On our travels we try to see things that hopefully broaden our perspectives on current affairs. One of the most memorable and hardest hitting was our visit to Hiroshima, but we’ve also […]
South Korea: Gyeongju Sightseeing City Tour Itinerary
Flashpacking Travel | October 28, 2012 | 4 Comments
In our last South Korea Travel Blog post, we shared our experience of our first day touring Gyeongju. After an evening spent dining at another great Korean BBQ house, washed down with plenty of soju, we were up fairly early to visit some other cultural treasures from the Silla period. Day Two – Gyeongju Tour […]
South Korea: Must See Things To Do In Gyeongju
Flashpacking Travel | October 26, 2012 | 0 Comments
Gyeongju is Korea’s most popular tourist destination both with Koreans and international visitors, mainly from Asia . The region is rich in ancient history, with many sights being recognised by UNESCO, the area also boasts some great natural beauty for hiking and trekking if you are feeling in a sporty mood. We spent 3 nights […]
Korea: Jeju Two Day Driving Itinerary
Travel Blog | October 23, 2012 | 2 Comments
I mentioned in our previous Jeju travel blog the different options for getting around the sights of Jeju, and why we chose to hire a car. Here we set out our own itinerary and the sights we managed to visit with a two day car hire. Our pace was very leisurely, and we did a fair […]
Korea: Jeju Island and Getting Around
Travel Blog | October 21, 2012 | 6 Comments
We took a flight from Seoul to Jeju with Jeju Air, the train and ferry options were a bit long winded so we took to the air instead. The Jeju Air cabin crew were very helpful, and as the flight was only around 45 minutes, there is little to report about the journey. Except that […]
Korea: Seoul Food Market is World Class
Travel Blog | October 18, 2012 | 0 Comments
Kwangjang Market Travelling around Asia for the last few months we have seen our fair share of ‘traditional’ markets. Some examples deserve their traditional moniker; others would be best described as tourist traps. As the lure of the tourist dollar replaces traditional traders with those selling souvenirs, fake designer goods or other merchandise that has the […]
India Car Rental and Driver Hire
How to Rent a Car and Driver in India We’d like to share our experience, and a few of the stories we learned about renting a car and driver from our two week tour of Rajasthan. Like arranging other things in India, it is not always as simple or easy as you may first imagine. […]
Photo Flashback – Kerala Kathakali Dance
We are not really ones for the cultural shows that you regularly find in travel destinations. Often they are a thin representation of the actual song or dance traditions of a community, overpriced and leave you feeling a little bit cheated. This was certainly the case in Waitangi doing the Haka with some actors. Sometimes […]
Goa Retirement, Revamps and a bit of Home Cooking
We hang about in Goa for our remaining time in India sampling foods from home and join the large expat community and retired folk enjoying what is on offer. We had decided in Udaipur that it was time to invest some time doing some work on the blog. Our traffic has been growing steadily over […]
Udaipur And A Break From Travel Blogging
For those arriving at this travel blog post hoping to find out detailed information about our experiences and things to do in Udaipur, leave now, as you’ll need to look elsewhere instead. The hectic schedule of our last two weeks on the road with our driver had wearied us a little. The thought of seeing […]
India Rajasthan and Golden Triangle Itinerary
Two Week Itinerary for Rajasthan and the Golden Triangle You can get to see some of the top sights in Rajasthan and the Golden Triangle in India in fourteen days or less, it will not be a restful experience, but you will gain a lifetime of memories and images from the magnificent Taj Mahal to […]
Jodhpur and the Road to Udaipur
Jodhpur – The Blue City It was a long drive to Jodhpur, our second to last destination in Rajasthan, before waving off our driver. The three restful days in Jaisalmer and our separation from each other had allowed driver and passenger relations to be restored to more friendly less tense mood levels. So we set off […]
In our last travel blog post I mentioned that I had done another diving course. I’ve included some underwater photographs and videos taken whilst I was on this course. We stayed in Bohol, longer than anywhere else in the Philippines, because of the excellent diving sites at very reasonable prices. Bohol is a magnet […]
A delay in this post has been caused by very slow internet connections throughout the last part of our travels in the Philippines. Apologies. However, it now means you have a fun packed bumper blog of travel frustrations, cute monkeys, the chocolate hills and a small slightly disappointing beach. Weather Retreat Given the weather we […]
Donsol, Whale Sharks and Legazpi
Reluctant as we were to leave the beauty of Saud beach we had a lot more Filipino treasures to explore. From the relaxing, serene shores of Saud beach, we headed south towards Donsol in search of some whale sharks. The weather proved challenging, but the wildlife made it all worthwhile. From Pagudpud we reversed […]
Ilocos Norte, Pagudpud and Saud Beach
The ‘Borocay of the North’ is the strapline trying to attach itself to this beautiful part of Ilocos Norte in the Philippines. While I cannot make the comparison yet, I believe Saud Beach in Pagudpud really is a little hidden gem that may eventually give its more famous southern cousin a run for its peso. We […]
Manila and the road to Pagudpud
We arrived in the Philippines on board another Jetstar flight at around 8pm on a Saturday. Having left Bali we had a brief layover in Singapore before our arrival in Manila. The immigration, customs and baggage pick up went like a dream and we were out of the airport within half an hour of touching down. This […]