budget hotel

Old Russian Jeeps and 13 hour buses

Asia ~ China ~ Beijing & Mongolia ~ Ulan Baator

Where to begin? Once again, I’ve been lazy about updating my blog – my excuse? I’m in holiday mode!!! Last week, we headed off to Mongolia via train – we had ‘soft sleeper’ (first class), but it was an old train – NO AIR CONDITIONING!!! It was horrible! Couldn’t even have the window open (our fan broke on both trips) as the sand from all the deserts comes in, something we didn’t learn until after the first trip… When we arrived in Ulan Baator (Mongolia), after the train trip, the very first thing I wanted was to have a shower. For the past 13 hours, there had been sand and dust slowly pouring into my hair all night. Alas, there was to be no shower for a very very long time…

We wandered into town (had no map, and didn’t understand enough to know what to pay for a taxi, so we just guessed which way to go – my way was the right way in the end!)… After walking about for a couple of hours, we got some directions to where our hostel was supposed to be, and headed that direction (a good 1.5km away). Once there, we still couldn’t find it. Queried at a supermarket, where all the girls went out of their way to help us (they spoke no English, I spoke no Mongolian, we communicated through gestures). Eventually, one of the girls took us to a telephone shop to call the hostel (I had the number written down in my diary). Turns out the number had been disconnected. Hmm. So we found an internet cafe – and after about half an hour of searching, we found that the hostel had moved and not updated it’s address. Off we tumbled again… We never did find the hostel, at about 11.30pm (we had arrived in town at about 8am) we found a hotel for $25 a night and decided it would do – the manager didn’t speak any English, but was very nice, and we collapsed into bed, but not before jumping in the shower and discovering… THERE WAS NO HOT WATER!!! Not only that, but the water was incredibly cold, middle of winter Mongolian type cold (ok, maybe not that cold, the water probably freezes in the middle of winter, but close enough). I had a 3 second sponge shower, then attempted to wash my hair – my head still hurts thinking about that cold water. We ended up staying at the hotel for all of our trip – it was cheap, the people were friendly, and we figured we’d have cold showers no matter what hostel/hotel we choose.

The Trans-Mongolian Train

The Trans-Mongolian Train

We spent our days wandering Ulan Baator and marveling at how nice and friendly the people were. Most people were willing to help us find things and were happy to help – despite the desperate lack of a common language. The weather was deliciously cool (coming from hot Beijing), although the sun was nice and strong. We were pleasantly surprised to find that Mongolian ‘supermarkets’ (often just convenience store size) stock many luxury items that Chinese supermarkets don’t, at great prices. Chocolate yogo’s and nutella were the top of Matt’s list, whilst I was in love with the ‘bounty’ chocolate bars and REAL (non-sweet) bread. Yum. Seriously lacking was something we thought would be in abundance – cheese. Turns out we were just looking in the wrong places, and it wasn’t the type of cheese we were expecting, so we didn’t notice it. We also trooped out to the black market – a huge market on the edge of town, selling absolutly everything, from clothing to goats milk, to horse rugs and high heels. Plenty of things to see and people to watch – getting back was harder than anticipated when we realised that we had no idea where any of the mini-busses were going and would have to rely on a taxi driver who spoke no english. Matt saved the day with a sketch of a horse, indicating the statue of a horse in the middle of town. Our taxi driver figured it out straight away and off we went.

The Black Market (Naram Tuul)

The Black Market (Naram Tuul)

The journey back wasn’t as easy our trip there, but it was an experience none-the-less. Instead of booking a train direct from Ulan Baator to Beijing (which would have been expensive, and probably sold out anyway), we caught an overnight train to Zamyn Uud (the Mongolian side of the border). The train itself was nothing special, no fan, no airconditioning, but we did get free cups of tea! We also made friends with a Mongolian guy on his way to visit his son and wife in Singapore – a friendship that turned out to be very handy. Once in Zamyn Uud, we (with the help of our new friend) caught an old russian jeep to cross the border. Once again, I found that being a foreign female helped me – Matt was squished in the back with about four or five other guys, while I had the front to myself! The jeep drove us to the border, where we waited in line for about an hour and a half. Although everyone jumped out of the jeep and wandering around, I was happy to stay in (the sun was incredibly strong, I’m trying so hard not to get burnt) and chat to the driver instead. As the driver spoke no English or Mandarin, and I spoke no Mongolian, all of our conversation was done through gestures. After exhausting my possible topics of conversation (i.e. “I’m tired” and “It’s hot”), the drive got sick of me, and made his younger companion drive while he had a cigarette. Lucky driver #2 also got to chat with me about the weather and my lack of sleep…

Eventually we made it over the border and into Erlian (the Chinese side of the border). Saying bye to our new friend at the bus station (he was going to catch a bus to Beijing – we thought he was crazy, a bus for 10 hours? No thanks!), we headed to the train station. Only to discover that it was a Chinese Holiday (‘Lovers Day’) and no trains were running. Back to the bus station we headed, where we met up with our friend again, and bought tickets for the 10 hour (which was, in reality, 13 hours) sleeper bus to Beijing. After lunch with our Mongolian friend, we boarded the bus to discover that it had no seats – instead, it was full of bunk beds! Reasonablly comfortable (for the average not-tall person), they allowed us (well, me anyway – Matt belongs to the tall category) to get a bit of rest on the trip to Beijing. Arrival in Beijing was pleasant, we now know this city, so getting a taxi was relatively easy, and we were able to grab some McD’s for brekky (it was 6am!) before stumbling into bed…

Me in the old russian jeep

Me in the old russian jeep

Since our return, we’ve been lazying about and attempting to organise a visa extension for Matt. Many dramas (laws changed on August 1st regarding extensions, making it more difficult), but it appears the extension is now under way. Trains are books, flights are booked, we are leaving Beijing for Shanghai next Friday – yey! Now to get all the last minute shopping done and see all the places I forgot to visit… In between all this, we are still finding ways to truly experience the Chinese culture – Last night we spent the night at a hairdressers, where we all got our hair cut and washed for only 15 yuan (a bit over $2). And no, it wasn’t me and the girls – it was me and the boys who thought up this fabulous way to spend an evening! After the hairdressers, we toddled off to an internet cafe that was packed, where we spent a good two hours playing computer games (Battlefield and other such gun-toting games) with the rest of the under-25 male Chinese population. An interesting night to say the least.

China is getting into gear for the olympics, some-thing we are reminded over and over again each day. On August 8th, we went to the ‘pre-versary’ of the 2008 Olympic Games at Tianamen Square – the 365 day countdown has began! The official theme song ‘We are ready’ was released (you can preview this amazing song here), and advertising can be seen all over the television, on buses, buildings, at McD’s, on billboards – everywhere! Perhaps my favourite television add is one which features a number of smiling people doing ‘good deeds’, such as stopping for pedestrians at a pedestrian crossing and holding a lift door open for some-one – it seems these adds are trying to ‘train’ the population as to how to behave for the olympics? An amusing ad none-the-less.

And so, we are left with the task of packing up the apartment (ooh, that’s right, need another suitcase!) and getting ourselves down to Shanghai, where we’ll be for a few days, before Hong Kong, and then home! Hope all is well, xoxo

Dancing with Panda’s in Chengdu

Asia ~ China ~ Shanghai & Chengdu

So a 10 hour plane trip doesn’t seem that long when you compare it to some of the long hauls that we’ve done (namely Australia – USA), but man, any flight over 3 hours is a long flight! Before we even left Australia we had our first embarrassing experience- dad walked into the ladies toilets without realising. We quickly took off and pretending we didn’t know him – he got shoo-ed out soon after! We flew Qantas, so service was reasonably decent (although Chuck really didn’t like her vego food – chickpeas and cous cous, ugh! [says her hehe]), but the entertainment was top notch. They have a new entertainment system – movies on demand – so you can watch whatever you want, when you want it. Chuck got her fill of movies!

All things done and said, arrival into Shanghai was easy and quick. After filling out the health card (“do you have sniffles?” “no [sniffle sniffle]”, “do you have a fever” “no [ooh it’s hot in here]! we got through and out into the arrival hall. After picking up our bags, we ran the gauntlet to get through past arrivals – so many people! We we’re supposed to pick up our tickets for our flight – so we grabbed a phone card and attempted to ring the dude… and he spoke only Chinese! I knew that this trip would be a great way to practice my ‘barely-there’ Chinese, but I didn’t realise it would be this soon! Stumbled through the phone call, and we arranged a place to pick up the tickets – my Chinese worked!!!

Family waiting for taxi in Shanghai

Family waiting for taxi in Shanghai

First hotel was interesting – a typical Chinese hotel, complete with a fantastic little restaurant. Little to no English though, so it was interesting to see what we got to eat! Up early the next day for our flight to Chengdu, just made it to the airport on time (as usual, whoops!). Chengdu was awesome – we went on a tour to see the pandas first up. They were so incredibly cute – we got to wander around and see the babies, and then have out photos taken with the olympic panda…

Chuck & I with Panda in Chengdu

Chuck & I with Panda in Chengdu

Train trip was sooooo long. But not unbearable. In usual O’Riley fashion, we stumbled onto the train, bags flying and feet tripping. Caught a taxi from our hostel to the station – just imagine the four of us, two large backpacks, 2 even larger suitcases, a small wheely suitcase and numerous handbags and bags of food all fitting in taxi – with a huge gastank in the boot! Taxi drivers at the station thought our driver was a legend for fitting us all in the car – I wasn’t so happy with a bag of coke wedged under my chin. Train trip was fun – the four of us in our little cabin, venturing out for dinner and lunch. Chuck went through 2 ipods, but the rest of us slept, read and slept for the 50 hours.

Dad shopping in Chengdu

Dad shopping in Chengdu

Now we are living the life of luxury – I booked us into a 4 star hotel and man, is it class! Gold fittings and marble everywhere, Chuck and I have the executive room, on the nice nice nice floor, whilst mum and dad are on the ‘ordinary people’ level. Hehe. Now we’re all relaxing after a taxing day of shopping, enjoying the offerings of room service and cable tv – this is the life!

xoxo bobbi

Eating gyoza in Japan

Asia ~ Japan ~ Tokyo, Kobe & Kurume

Well, it’s official, my most favourite-ist place outside of my home country is Japan. I don’t know why I haven’t been back here since I first came in 2000, I’ll definetly be visiting more in the future. My Japanese is pretty rusty, I haven’t really practiced or studied it for about a year, but it’s coming back to me in droves. The customs guy at the airport pulled me up, saying ‘Hello, could you please open your bag’, to which I replied ‘Konnichi wa’. We then chatted in Japanese about the weather, where I learnt Japanese and where he thought I should go in Tokyo. He then let me pass, bag unchecked!

Tokyo was my first stop, as I had never been there. I stayed in a fantastic little hostel right in the heart of Tokyo. They say Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world, but I don’t agree (Dublin wins the award for that, in my opinion). The hostel I stayed at cost just 2000 yen per night – about half what I was paying in London. I also spent one night in a capsule hotel – something I just had to experience. Because trains finish up early, many Japanese business men (and women) miss that last train, rather than catch a taxi home (can be extremely expensive, particularily in Tokyo), they created the capsule hotel. In the room where I was, there was a long wall full of ‘capsules’ – tiny rooms, about 1 meter high and a bit over 2 meters long. In each capsule, there was a bed, tv, radio, light and tiny holes in the wall for a book and so forth. On another level, there was a [women only] traditional Japanese bath room. It really was suited to a person who misses the last train – they give you a towel, facewasher and pajamas. In the bath there was shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes, everything for free. Lots of fun, very Japanese.

Tokyo Capsule hotel

Tokyo Capsule hotel

I met up with one of my host sisters, Sawako, whilst in Tokyo, which was great. Sawako is on her last year of studying acupuncture, and she showed me around the city, helping me with the subway (a big blessing – the Tokyo subway consists of a heap of different lines, the map looks like a ‘messy plate of colourful spagetti’). We visited Asakusa Jinja – a huge shrine around the corner from where I’m staying and watched all the school kids running about. October is the official month when school trips take place and so everywhere we went in Tokyo had middle school kids racing about, taking photos. The next day I visited Akiharaba – electrical town. I had so much fun that I spent 3 hours in a single store. Just playing and looking and playing. Electronic dictionaries, digital cameras, mp3 players, rice cookers, even eletronic toilets! During my time in Tokyo, I also visited Ueno Park (and spent a couple of hours playing with a kitten and her ‘mum’ – a 3 year old Japanese kid), Ginza (very happening, busy area, full of ‘modern’ tokyoites – and the occasional kimono clad woman) and Harajuku (home of the Japanese ‘alterative’ lifestyle)

Next stop was Kobe, where I visited another of my host sisters. Asako came out to Australia in 2001 and spent 6 months living with us. It was great to see Asako and meet her family. Asako took me to see Kobe, where we spent most of our time wandering around, shopping and seeing the sights. The highlight of the visit was definetly the time spent around the dinner table – listening and talking with her family, watching her grandfather do magic tricks and listening to the concert they put on for me (Asako’s sister played the keyboard, Aunt played the piano, Cousin played the flute and Asako worked wonders with the xylophone). It was hard leaving, but I’ll be back!

Eating Okonomiyaki with Asako's family

Eating Okonomiyaki with Asako's family

The final stop on my trip around the world – Fukuoka – was fantastic. Kurume, a small-ish (about the population of Melbourne) city on Kyushu is where I lived when I was an exchange student, way back in 2000. Seeing all my host families again was fantastic, as was visiting all the places where I used to hang out. My host families took me all over the place, it really was weird seeing all the places from 5 years ago. So much has changed, but so much is the same. Also went to my old high school and saw my old home room teacher, as well as a few others. Managed to find my way to town and ride around where I used to, all on my own, which I thought was a pretty decent effort. Visiting my host families and catching up with them has been great, I wonder if Japan is where I should be, after all? Only the future will tell…

Me with 3 host families, at the local Chinese Family Restaurant

Me with 3 host families, at the local Chinese Family Restaurant

Of course, I’ve been enjoying the Japanese food too. Gyoza – Japanised Chinese dumplings – is probably my favourite, but sushi, gyuudon, yaskisoba and takoyaki are up there too. The food is reasonably cheap too, about $5 or $6 for a sit down meal, as long as you know where to go. I love being able to order food and know exactly what it is you’re eating. That said, it doesn’t always work out that way – the other day I wandered into a resturant, looked over the menu and realised I only understood one thing – yakisoba. That was fine, I thought, I love yakisoba. But when I ordered it, I was told it wasn’t available. Glancing over the menu again, I decided not to risk it and point, but rather to ask the waiter for his suggestion. He raced away and came back with a delicious dish, but I’m still not sure what I ate!

Well kiddies, I’m now ready to go back to Tokyo for a few more days, then I head for home. What a fantastic year, I’ll miss the traveling, but am quite looking forward to having my own bedroom, a bathroom where I can leave my shampoo and a kitchen where I can store stuff… And of course my family, friends and pets!

xoxo Bobbi!!!

Hangin’ in Hong Kong

Asia ~ China ~ Hong Kong

Hong Kong is so incredibly different from mainland China that it’s easy to forget that they are technically the same country. Plane trip was uneventful, although we ended up sitting next to a uni lecturer from Sydney, he leads the perfect life. Teaches during the semester, then travels the world giving talks on his research. Our pilot on the Dragon Air flight was also Aussie, so once again we were surrounded by fellow Australians! Weather in Hong Kong is similar to India and Thailand, hot and humid. Coming from Beijing, where we were struggling to move under all our jumpers and coats, it was a bit of a difference.

First night was spent in the hotel from hell. We were so buggered from the traveling that we agreed to stay there, in retrospect we probably should have kept looking. But once you’ve taken off your huge pack (both of our packs gained about 4 kg from China), it takes a lot of effort to get it back on! We stumbled into our ‘double room’ (the bed was slightly larger than a single bed), moved the bed away from the wall, propped our very heavy packs against the door, pulled out our sleeping sheets and fell asleep. No chance that anyone was getting through that door, we could barely lift one pack together, let alone two of them stacked against a door. In fact, we laugh when other travelers lock their packs to train seats – as if anyone could actually lift our packs to steal them…

The next day we threw on our clothes from the night before and rushed downstairs to book into a new hotel. The room isn’t much bigger, but it has a nice shower, walls we’re not afraid to touch, and a tv. Our requirements for a hotel used to be a bar fridge and a bath, now its just a clean wall and a door between the toilet and the bedroom… The building that we’re staying in is called ‘Chunking Mansion’, a huge set of buildings which encompasses many many hostels/hotels. Turns out most of them are pretty grotty, but we stumbled onto a good one second time round, so are happy. The local news ran a story about the mansions last night, saying how they used to be a haven for crime, but they’ve increased security (read: a guy in uniform stands next to the lift…) and have less incidents since then! Our hotel is nice though, and the woman in charge of it seems to be really friendly and happy to help us.

Third day was spent at the Hong Kong Gifts and Premiums Fair, which was huge! A full day spent traisping up and down escalators, the exhibition centre in Hong Kong is massive, at least 6 floors high. The things that were being sold were interesting, from cutsie umbrella’s (a room full of them) to huge inflatable pepsi cans. By the end of the day we were ready to collapse and crawled back onto the ferry. Oh yeh, thats right, we took the ferry to get across to the trade show, we’re staying in Kowloon, and the trade show was on Hong Kong Island, ferry ride was interesting. Whilst waiting to get on the ferry, the green light goes on and everyone RUNS to get onto the ferry first, people in elegant suits and racing with the rest of them. We’re over that kind of thing, just like when we’re on the planes, we just wait till everyone’s gone and meander at our own pace…

The rest of our time in Hong Kong has been spent shopping and just wandering around. The markets are funny, prices aren’t cheap (well, not compared to Beijing prices), but you can bargain the store owners down. Apparently the average tourist doesn’t, so the bargaining is hard. I got a bag the other day, after bargaining, we had some foreigners watching us, amazed as they didn’t realise you could bargain! Bags and clothing seem to be the items of the day, but there is plenty of other stuff too. Camera and electronic stores everywhere, and tailors too. Its a bit like being back in India, the area that we’re staying in is full of Indian tailors, everyone grabs at your arm as you walk by, saying “come and see my shop, good price for you, you are my friend!”. We’ve been through India, we’ve handled the hawkers at the great wall, we’ve handled the hawkers in Delhi, so we handle it all with a shrug of the shoulder and steam ahead.

We’ve just packed up our boxes to send home from Hong Kong and China, as Tash pointed out our packages are getting bigger and bigger, the more countries we go through. Oh well, it will be the last package for a while, Europe’s going to be so expensive! [and cold…]

Take Care all, let me know whats happening in your corner of the world,
xo bobs

Chiang Mai

Asia ~ Thailand ~ Chiang Mai

Hey everyone, how is life treating you?! Life is fantastic over here, just went to dinner with my cousin and my aunt, and it cost us 200 baht (nearly $7) for 3 meals and 3 beers. We spent the day on a tour, first we went to the butterfly and orchid farm, a little boring because I’m not really into the flowers. From there we went to an elephant dung recycling factory. Yep, you read right. They recycle elephant dung into paper and use it all across the world. That lovely handmade paper you’re using might actually be made from elephant dung… Then we went up into the Thai mountains, to visit the hill tribes. We visited the ‘long neck’ tribe and the ‘big ear’ tribes. You’ve probably seen pictures of them… Extremely interesting, they roll coils of brass around their necks by heating the brass up over a fire and then wrapping it around the neck. The first put the brass on at about the age of 5 and change it a few times through-out their lives. Apparently, legend has it that many many years ago, whilst all the men were out hunting, a tiger came into the village and bit a woman on the neck, causing death. As a result, the men put gold rings around their wives necks to protect them. Eventually it became a thing of beauty, to have a long neck. Nowadays the rings are made from brass, as gold is so expensive. If the women take the rings off their necks have no support, so if they move too quickly, they snap they’re necks and die.

We also went to the Elephant Camp just out of Lampang. Very full on, Tasha and I caught the bus to the park, trying to communicate in English, Thai and sign language can be very frustrating, i wish I understood thai!!! the elephant park was amazing. It is the only place in thailand where elephants are actually trained, there are lots of parks around thailand, but they are just show cases for tourists. We saw a show on what the elephants are trained to do, mainly to do with logging. Nowadays they aren’t used for much, as legal logging no longer exsts in thailand. After the show, Tash and I went on an elephant ride, very bumpy!!! Trying to get back to our guest house was tricky. We waited and waited and waited for the bus, but it never came… eventually, the girl who we were waiting with called her boyfriend or husband or something, and he came to pick her up, and they offered us a ride. so imagine us two ausssies in the cab of the pickup truck, with about 6 or 7 guys in millitary uniform, carrying rifles in the back of the truck. they got out halfway home, and our host let us off at the bus station. Tash and i have decided they were park rangers. for our own peace of mind…

We also went and spent some of the day at Wat Phrathat Lampang Luang, the most spectatular temple in Northern Thailand. Very beautiful, not sure i understood everything though. it was surrounded by walls, standard practice around here. there were about 7 seperate temples in the ground, with many images of buddha. One of the temples, the biggest and most famous one, is sort of like a tomb which apparently enshrines ashes from the neck of budha…. In any case, the area was beautiful, very peaceful and quiet.

Last night we stayed at the ‘riverside’ guesthouse, it was beautiful. Made from old teak, our room looked onto the river. We had a little verandah that overlooked the river, complete with couches to lounge around on. It was owned by a farang (foriegner), possibly Dutch, we’re not sure. Transport has been fun. Bangkok was taxis – it costs about $3 AUD to get everywhere. Chiang Mai was tuk-tuk, very different experience! And Lampang, where we are right now, is little pick up trucks with two rows of seats in the back (I cant remember the name of them). People just pile into these things, its amazing. Travelling with our packs can be interesting, Mine has gained about 4 kilo, Tasha’s has gained even more.

We’re about to head off for the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, very different from here. I am not looking forward to the 10 hour train, but oh well, everthing is an experience!

luv and kisses… bobbi!!!

p.s. if anyone can suggest places they’ve been, or have heard about in Southern Thailand, India or China, let me know so i can work it into the itinerary. Also, if u want to meet up with us somewhere, please let me know!!!