Overseas trip 08/09

After much deliberation, we decided to travel 'flashpacker' style to Laos ie fly in and out. We'd heard that overland travel in Laos could be very slow and we were keen to use that time seeing other places in Vietnam. We flew in on the morning of Christmas Eve, and quite happily left behind a cold and noisy Hanoi!

We were picked up at the airport by jeep from our guesthouse which was about 5km out of town. Arriving there (Khoune and Khon's Guesthouse) was like arriving in heaven! The sun was shining, the air was clean and we were surrounded by mountains and streams. It was a great place to spend Christmas and to relax for six days.

The view from our bungalow

The mosquito net in our room

An outdoor christmas BBQ at Khoune and Khones

We spent a lot of time wandering around Luang Prabang which is absolutely magical with temples and buddhist monks everywhere. Of course, there was also more great food to try! Pete's favourite was sticky rice, which he over-indulged on a number of occassions.

Luang Prabang from above

Lunch by the Mekong river

Quiet streets - Downtown Luang Prabang

There are beautifully restored temples all over the city

There were monks dressed in bright orange everywhere

We also had a much needed rest in our bungalow - lots of reading and sitting on the verandah playng cards.

Anna catching up on some reading on our Bungalow balcony

The beautiful breakfasts at Khoune and Khones

A highlight was a cooking course that we did, which included a detailed tour of the markets - we saw parts of animals that I never knew existed - and lots of hands on cooking.

Anna perfecting her steamed fish in banana leaf

Another highlight was a trek we did to a H'Mong village and then to the beautiful Kuang Xi waterfall where it was just warm enough to swim.

"The jeep"

Our trekking team

Some of the beautiful Kuang Xi waterfalls

All in all, we were very sad to leave Luang Prabang. It was a definite highlight and we are keen to get back and see more of Laos one day. For now it's back to Vietnam!

We arrived in Hanoi after a fairly exhausting 2 days crossing the border from China to Vietnam. I was unwell for the last two days in Yangshuo so was not in the best state for the trip. We spent one day travelling to Nanning in China and early the next morning caught a bus for Hanoi. Crossing the border was an experience - it took over 2 hours and there was a lot of pushing and shoving! It was a relief to arrive at our hotel in Hanoi late that afternoon.

The madness of the Hanoi old quarter

Our time in Hanoi was mainly spent wandering around the old quarter and, you guessed it, eating! My favourite was the night we ate at a local place which use very short plastic tables and stools that I couldn't even fit my legs under... pete really struggled! But it was a great meal.

"What is this... A chair for Ants!!??"

The majority of our time was spent on a three day cruise around Halong Bay. After reading about many dodgy cruises, we decided to splurge and go on the deluxe cruise. To start with, we were concerned our splurge had been wasted. The trip out to Halong Bay is very slow and the toilet stop was overwhelmingly full of foreign tourists, especially after China where we saw few foreign tourists.

Just a few of the boats operating on Halong Bay

The port where the cruises start was even more overwhelming and we were starting to wonder what we'd gotten ourselves into - we thought it might be some kind of gold Coast on water experience.

Thankfully it was far from that. We had a great day cruising around the bay, visiting a cave and eating delicious food. It was also a treat to stay on the boat for a night.

The view from the deck

Our luxurious cabin on board

Stunning views

The second day most of the group headed back to Hanoi and we were left with four. We visited a village on a nearby island and did some kayaking and swimming. The final day was an extra suprise - the other couple were staying an extra day on the island so Pete and I had the huge boat to ourselves for the morning as we cruised back to the city.

Visiting a village on Catba island

The view from the top

A private cruise!

We left Hanoi early on Christmas Eve to fly to Luang Prabang in Laos for Christmas. We'll try and post again soon!

Nihao everybody!

That is as chinese a sentence as we can manage at the moment and to be fair one of those words isn't actually Chinese. But we do try.

Leaving Heathrow

We were sad to say goodbye to friends and family in the uk but were both looking forward to the start of our asian jaunt. When we arrived in Beijing it was both incredibly smoggy and incredibly cold.

The Forbidden City from above

After checking in at the hostel we went out to try and get some food at which point we realised we spoke about as much chinese as most chinese people speak english. This basically meant we ate frog first up. It was most tasty.

Over the next few days we saw some of beijings more famous attractions. the wall. the forbidden city etc... and ate some incredible food. Here's some photo highlights!

Tiananmen square... say Mao

Inside the forbidden city... apparently not that forbidden to anyone with about 15 australian dollars.

Street Food in Beijing - Very cool pancakey things...

Peking Duck... Peking style.

History and frozen stuff in the Summer Palace.

Thats Ma Po Tofu for all you Iron Chef fans... pretty much invented by Chen Ming, Father of iron chef chinese Chen Kenichi. Awesome...

The Great Wall... i wish i brought my snowboard.

Great Wall Country

Korean food in China... hella good.

Soon enough it was time for us to start making our way down south to Yangshuo. This meant a 27 hour train trip which we weren't thrilled about (actually I think anna kinda was) but it also meant the prospect of warmer weather which we were both desperate for.

Beijing West Railway Station - (Channeling Mark Hamill) Look at the size of that thing.

27 Hour Train trip Beijing - Guilin

Meal in the food carriage... With our solid understanding of chinese characters, we were always going to end up eating what the people next to us were eating.

The trip went quicker than expected and we both did a lot of sleeping. Once we arrived in Yanshuo it was very easy to see why people make such a fuss over it. It was about 15 degrees warmer than beijing and incredibly beautiful. We spent the next few days exploring the area mostly by bike and Bamboo. It should be noted that we think our bamboo boat was made mostly of pvc pipe... Still, authentic in it's own way. Photo highlights follow!

Dragon Bridge (where's pete!)

Farm Cycling... not many people do this because it's so, so impractical.

The bike ride gets wet...

Steamed Li river fish... mmmmmm

Lunch by the Yulong river

Anna and a mysterious tree, Yangdi

Bamboo ride on the Li River

We now make the long trip down to Vietnam to answer the siren call of warmer weather and colder beer. Till then.

Pete

The wedding, the impetus behind this whole overseas adventure, finally arrived this week.

We caught the train from London with the Mitchell's and Rod and arrived in Windermere to find clear skies and a thick layer of freshly fallen snow.

As we arrived at Langdale Chase, the beautiful hotel where the wedding was taking place, we were all struck by just how serenly beautiful this part of the UK is. After checking in, Anna, Rod and myself went down to the water to have a look and take some photo's and it was really stunning.

That night we had a lovely pub meal at the hotel and just took some time to catch up with family.

The day of the wedding was a very busy affair. The groomsmen were off early to have some photo's taken down by the water while Anna and Tara got roped into being camera assistants as Tash was being photographed

Once the official photographs were finished the groomsmen occucupied themselves by seeing who could look like the haughtiest tool... I think Guy wins hands down but you can judge for yourself. The suits and the aristocratically furnished rooms made for some truly ridiculous photo's.

The wedding itself all felt very special and the bride and groom looked pretty spectacular, particulalry in the lavish surroundings. The service took place in a relatively small but amazingly decorated wooden ballroom. After the ceremony there was much photo taking... hours of it. The bride and groom seemed to handle it all relatively well although i'm sure they will have aching cheeks for some time to come.

For the reception we adjourned to the hotels restaraunt we we had a distinctly christmasy meal that was most delicious.

Following the reception was a number of hours of dancing, chatting and general silliness much of which has been captured forever on camera. I've included some highlights for your viewing pleasure...

The day after the weather was stunning. We packed up, checked out, said our goodbyes and then began the drive back to london. It was a great wedding and one i'm sure we'll look back on with fond memories. Anyway, next stop China!!

Here some photo's from that final day.

Pete

Hello from London!

Luckily, we had an uneventful trip here as our flight, which was scheduled to stop in Bangkok, was diverted through Singapore.

We've had a lovely few days catching up with friends, eating and seeing some new parts of England. It's totally bizarre to be here again after such a short time... not that I'm complaining!

Highlights mainly revolve around food:

German sausages and crepes at a winter wonderland in Hyde Park.

A day trip to Brighton to have some fish and chips.

A delicious pub meal at The Hind's Head Hotel in Bray - this is run by Heston Blumenthal for anyone who watches Fox!

On Sunday night, the boys hosted a poker night as a kind of English buck's night. Tash managed to get Tim to Rohan and Tara's doorstep before he worked out where he was going. Rod, Andrew, Rob and Ben were able to be here which was great. We missed James who was supposed to be in London with us but was stuck in Thailand.

On Wednesday, we met Chris, Linda and James at Heathrow airport and drove with them to Leicester to visit the Websters. C, L + J were arriving in London almost a week later than planned as they got stuck in Thailand when Bangkok airport was shut down. They had a stressful week travelling overland in Thailand and trying to get to an airport to get to England in time for the wedding. They were extremely fortunate to get on a flight out of Singapore which got them here with a whole day to spare! It was great to see them here safe and sound after a week of uncertainty.

It was also great to see Sarah, James and Benjamin in Leicester. We caught up with the over lunch before catching the train back to London.

It has also been fantastic to have the opportunity to see Rohan and Tara's new place and to spend some time catching up with them. Here are some photos of us:

And some photos of pete and I in Hyde Park: