Raining very lightly today and we have sore muscles and raw hands from climbing so taking some time to make plans and update photos etc.

Trans-Siberian and Mongolia photos tagged and sorted. Only one shared pc here so having to wait to get onto it – hostel is full of Dutch and German kids who all need to check emails. Will keep at it.

[Update: photos until the camera broke on the great wall sorted and tagged under China section]

[Update II: Have uploaded photos from Beijing to Hangzhou into the ‘Uploads to Sort’ folder. They are all shot with the Nikon – so expect to see lots of spots.. will start to Tag and Sort tomorrow]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Another fantastic day in China. My fingers are raw and tingling from the razor sharp limestone cliffs so this post is gonna hurt. We signed up for a day’s guided climbing with the most reputable climbing company in Yangshuo (China Climb). They are a good 10% more expensive than most but worth it in our opinion. What impressed me is that they don’t rent gear out like many operators – they only do guided outings – that way they keep an accurate record of gear condition. We had two guides to ourselves (Alpha and Aniel) which was unexpected – no other tourists. Aniel climbs 33 (and if you don’t know what that is, imagine climbing across a ceiling by clinging to pea sized bumps) so we had our rope gun for the day. Poor guy was in for a boring day because even when we were climbing at our best 10-15 years ago we were in the 20-25 range.

We got a taxi ride out to ‘The Egg’ crag (about 15mins from town and a 10min flat walk-in). The crags here look amazing. Just like Thailand but the karst limestone cliffs rise out of rice paddies instead of the sea. Our guides were very professional – helmets, top ropes for clients and continuous saftey checks – a bit restrictive for us but we understand why they have to do it. We fired straight up an 18 without too much trouble, I only told V it was 18 when she got down 🙂 We had an absolute ball. Either the grading is a little soft or we are stronger than we thought. We had a go at a few 18’s, a 20 and a very long (30m) 19 that beat us both – would loved to have just kept climbing but our poor little arms ! We finished the day on a 19 that was tremendous. Flowing laybacks and technical puzzles (for us) all the way up. V took a bit of convincing because the first move looked very strenuous but in the end she sailed through it like a pro.

[whimsy]
We just love climbing. Everything about the day just took us straight back to great memories: Walking through bush to an empty crag, hiding from the sun, the smell of chalk and dust, the sound of biners, the burning in your muscles, the fear of heights all new again and the exhileration of solving and then completing a beautiful set of moves.

It is amazing how ‘at home’ we feel at a crag with other climbers – Chinese, American – it makes no difference – they are in general all wonderful people. We have to get back into this sport !
[/whimsy]

If we ever visit China again it will be for a dedicated climbing trip, but there are concerns. An American couple we met explained that access to crags is becoming an issue especially with expensive toll roads and fees being charged to climb certain areas. It’s unfortunate that the trend in China is to make money (and overcharge) at every possible opportunity. Climbing is really just getting going here – hopefully it will survive.

[Pictures: A view from the crag – clouds rolled in this afternoon – relief from the heat, our guides encourage V, V busts the first crank on the 19 and V’s new X-Men Tattoo]

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Finally a day off. We needed it. We had to change rooms in the hostel to a double (for the rest of the week) and that was about it so we decided to go shopping for some odds and ends. Got a big box of tea sachets, some plastic cups (finally) and a mountain of fruit (dunno what got into me) along with some essentials. V failed dismally at her attempt to find a t-shirt amongst the thousands on sale but the main reason for going out (besides tea) was to find a piece of PVC pipe to pack our snazzy chopsticks into.

When I asked the guy at the hostel reception for a hardware store he looked at me blankly. Pointing to a pipe on the wall he indicated where we may find some – he must be thinking we are trying to make a bong 🙂 No luck on that street but it was good to wander around the town centre – it’s a beautiful little town. Walking back to the hostel, right there, right in front of my foot was a piece of PVC pipe the right length and diameter. Just the pipe. No other building rubble, litter or junk, just the pipe – it must be a sign 😉 Boy did we LOL.

We have spent the afternoon planning the next section of the trip, watching West Wing (on Season 3 now) and generally goofing off in our airconditioned room. Life is good and my cold is much better. Tomorrow – Climbing – Excellent.

[Pictures: Downtown Yangshuo – bit of a change from Hong Kong]

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Hopefully we missed the worst of it. So far the only real rain was in Shanghai.

[UPDATE: Moscow photos tagged and sorted]

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Sim has definately developed a cold and was feeling pretty horrid after a sleepless night on the bumpy train. I was worried as we had no actual plan for getting to Yangshuo from the train station, but as usual Sim has a good feel for these kinds of things and there were reps from the CITS waiting at the platform directing people to the tourist information office. [sim edit: think we got ripped off with that]. We paid up for a local tourist bus,boat,bus to Yangshuo and left Guilin almost immediately after we arrived.

The bus took us through town and then along narrow bumpy dirt roads to the river. We passed by small farms with fields growing rice, corn, grapes and lots of other stuff. Farmers and their water buffalo working in the fields. Tractors that have been converted into funny little trucks trying to squeeze past us. Spectacular limestone outcrops (karsts) in the background.

Next it was onto our bamboo raft though it seems they have replaced the bamboo with PVC pipes in keeping with the times. The ride down the Li river was fantastic. Such beautiful scenery. :gps:(GPS)::25.04474::110.44725:gps:

Next they shepherded us onto little tuk tuks and took us on a mildly hair raising ride along narrow dirt roads. Think Sim was feeling seriously dehydrated at this point so he didn’t seem to enjoy the ride much. Then onto a bigger bus where they crammed as many people as possible on and before long we were in Yangshuo. For some reason I was expecting a small little town but it seems tourism has caught on big time here and we were greeted with macdonalds and more sprawling construction going on. We have booked a week in Yangshuo 11 hostel in the heart of town. We had wanted to stay further out but the peak tourist season has meant that our first choice was booked up.

[SimEdit: Tomorrow is a day off for us.. FINALLY ! Next day we have a full day of rock climbing – can’t wait, just hope I feel better. There is sooo much to do here. Also considering a hot air ballon ride – but is expensive]

[Pictures: Karst Candy and the view from the deck on top of our hostel]

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With a full 24 hours of travel ahead of us to get to Yangshuo it was always going to be along boring day. Metro to Shenzen, border procedures (quick and uneventful), Train to Guangzhou and then an overnight train to Guilin. The very moment we crossed the border we noticed the change. Loud, crowded, dirty – it’s good to be back 🙂 Incredible how in 100m people can forget that you are supposed to stand only on one side of an esculator. Anyway I’m more grumpy than usual – have caught a bit of a cold and just feel horrid. Good thing it’s a sleeper train and not a bus tonight. No applicable picture today – so here is some pure genius – a Lipton tea, milk and sugar in one sachet, just add water 🙂

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Our two days in Hong Kong went very quickly and it has been great to be back in the first world for a bit. Everything is just easy when you can understand the language and the shops stock items you recognize.

Yesterday morning the temptation was just too great and we ended up doing what most people do in Hong Kong – we went shopping ! On the way to the one of the bigger camera shops we ‘accidentally’ stumbled into a book store. My V just cannot resist books – I really need to learn to read. Some time later we left with a couple of large books – the justification being that we are going to be in Yangshuo for a week and the weather forcast is predicting rain – we’ll swap the books with other travellers to keep V entertained or just give them away (V absolutely loathes getting rid of books).

On www.dpreview.com I found a recent comparison of ‘Travel Zoom’ cameras. Going on the recommendation of the editor we now have a Samsung WB650 – let’s see how long this one lasts! On the up side it was a fair price and came with a bunch of freebies (case, gorillapod, memory card, extra battery, screen protector). The warranty is international and it was some cool specs (24mm wide angle, 15X optical zoom, GPS tagging – apparently a bit of a gimmick, etc etc). Unfortunately it did put a ding in our budget – we’ll have to use more dorms and eat more noodles later on.

Happy with our loot we headed off in search of museums. The central area in Kowloon is very compact and you don’t need to walk far. The HK History museum was pretty good – we especially enjoyed the more modern history (Opium wars, English rule, Japanese occupation and the return to Chinese rule in ’97). Beautifully presented and a pleasure to visit. The Science Museum across the way is a treasure trove for kids. A monster 3 story ‘thing’ (not sure what you call it) is surrounded by hundreds of hands-on activities – V and I had a ball 🙂 We loved the signs on the touch screens: ‘This screen is sanitized every hour’ and there was a guy sanitizing the esculator had rails – what a place !

A quick bite and short walk across Kowloon got us to the Space Museum. Not as big as I expected but anything to do with space has me hooked. They have an IMAX/planetarium there too but it was too long to wait for the next show so we headed around the corner to the ‘Avenue of Stars’ and views of HK island. Not as ‘iconic’ as Shanghai but impressive non the less. We found Jackie Chan’s star but the rest were unknown to us and that was us done for the day. Urban overload in less than 12 hours !

Today our mission was to visit Hong Kong island – a stunning clear blue sky greeted us and the streets were empty until way after 10 (Sunday morning). We hopped onto the subway (again more expensive than we are accustomed to) and got off at Victoria park. It has a ‘central park’ kind of feel. People out enjoying the green open space, exercising, worshipping (yip) or just video chatting with their friends on Skype!

We have to admit that we enjoyed the feel of central Kowloon more but HK island has it’s plusses too. The Trams are incredibly cute (so narrow they look like they are going to fall over) and the majesty of the skyskrapers is topped only by the surrounding mountains – impressive building a city on this landcsape. We popped into the massive Times Square shopping centre in search of a ‘North Face’ shop – It was like walking into a British mall – English signs everywhere and even a M&S.

The highlight of the day was the view of HK and Kowloon from the Peak viewpoint. It was busy but did not feel crowded even with the shopping trolleys (really) of photo gear that some people were lugging around (one guy even had his own step ladder to get onto rock outcrops). We took the tram up and my iPhone inclinometer maxed at 57deg (that is Steep ! and yes I’m a geek) it was quite a ride. At the top the views were stunning as excpected, but what was not excected were the shopping malls – these guys just love to build!

We decided that for sups we were going to spoil ourselves with the first real meal in a couple of months. We gouged ourselves on Steak from an Auzzie resturant. Excellent. I even ate cauliflower – it was that good. Well worth it and should satisfy our need for good beef for at least a week. Full tummies and a couple glasses of wine (not used to that any more) and I suspect our night shots of the HK skyline will be a little blurry.

We had read a lot of horrid reviews about crime in HK and the dingy hostels but we had no problems and felt as safe as anywhere else. The rooms were very small but clean and quiet – then again if we have broadband it really doesn’t matter 🙂 Sure.. shady looking hindian fellows are going to try sell you fake a rolex or a hand made suit but they are easy to ignore. Speaking of Rolex, we saw a building sized Rolex ad for a new model (the Milgauss) with the tagline ‘The Scientist’s Watch’ – how cool is that?! Big +1 for Science.

Ok, enough from us. The new camera is perfroming perfectly and I’m looking forward to uploading more photos. Tomorrow we are on the move again – adventure awaits.

[Pictures: HK skyline from Kowloon, From the Peak Viewpoint, and a tram – yes even the trams in China are skinny]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Survived the bus ride and it was a couple hours shorter than we expected. All night we were stopping at toll booths or swerving and braking around other vehicles – not really conducive to sleep. A short hop in a taxi to Guangzhou’s main train station :gps:(GPS)::23.15054::113.25344:gps: and into the chaos of the queues once more. This time we were lucky enough to get a guy who spoke a bit of English and were able to book tickets to our next destination, Guilin (for when we are done in Hong Kong) – good thing too – any later and it would have been another overnight bus! There is nothing like the feeling of having a confirmed ticket in your hand, accommodation arranged and a solid plan – it’s the simple things when you travel that make life enjoyable!

We grabbed the next train from Guangzhou to the Hong Kong border at Shenzen – only 1.5 hours next to an old lady who hadn’t read the signs in the new trains that say ‘no spitting’ and in front of a kid who fragrantly lost his lunch. Walking across the border was more like walking through a shopping mall. Onto another waiting train/tube the price for which gave us a shock – we are used to paying about 20p for a tube ride, this one was £3.60, but it is some distance.

It didn’t take long to find our hostel (Lee Garden Hostel) in the terrible looking ‘Fook Kiu Mansion’ 8 floors above the bustling streets that are straight out of ‘Blade Runner’ (but less dingy) and exactly what we pictured. The hostel is clean, our room tiny and the Internet speed rocks with YouTube and Facebook back sans censorship. We sucked up a good few hundred megs (possibly gigs) of news and entertainment while relaxing and recovering from the last 24 hours on the road.

In the evening we headed out in search of a recommended camera shop and food. You don’t need to go far here. The place is packed with shops selling everything that shines and flashes (from 10+ carat diamond rings to iPhone 4’s) – it’s shopping paradise.

Hong Kong is great:
– People detour to throw garbage into bins.
– There are public ‘pay as you go’ wifi booths on the street.
– Traffic lights are respected by cars and pedestrians.
– They drive on the left (rest of China on the right)
– UK standard plugs in the rooms.
– You can flush toilet paper instead of depositing it in a bin.
– It’s FAR less crowded and feels calm and quite in comparison.
– You can get anything you want (food to fashion) as long as you are willing to pay.
– Ribena in the shops, definately a British influence.
– HSBC & Standard Chartered logos on the bank notes.
– Way more visible security ( cameras and deadbolts) – but feels very safe.

What a place ! Need to sleep now. Sightseeing to tomorrow. This one would be good for a LOL Full sized replica of Noah’s Ark

[Pictures: Walking accross the border – ‘Please leave the country by lift’ – should be fun :), Our Cameron Street neons]

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We set off to go buy our bus tickets to Guangzhou by jumping on the 808 local bus just down the road from the hostel. We always struggle with buses as they are never as simple as trains and metros to figure out. You never know which bus to take unless someone tells you, there is never a map at the stops or on the bus which tells you what route the bus takes and you are always in a constant state of confusion once on the bus trying to figure out when you need to get off.

Armed with Grace’s strict instructions to ignore all the people who tried to talk to us on the way to the entrance of the Southern long distance bus station we made it to through the usual chaos to the ticket windows. Sims turn to buy tickets, but he had the advantage this time of having everything we needed written down in Chinese (thanks Grace) so it was relatively easy. The 2:30 was sold out and the next bus only left at 5:30. Good thing we had gotten there early or we might of been staying an extra day in Hangzhou. With 6 hours to kill we jumped back on the 808 and managed to get most of the way to the silk museum.

The silk museum was free and we wandered around in relative peace and quiet, the crowds only arriving as we we leaving. After retrieving our back packs and taking care not to wake the slumbering guard who was supposed to be keeping an eye on them, we hopped back onto he 808. Stopped for some lunch then got back on the 808 to the bus station. Once you know where a particular bus actually goes you stick with it even if it means a bit of a walk to get to one of it’s stops.

The bus station was a marked improvement on the one in Wuhan. It wasn’t as big and seemed to have more staff. There was less yelling and a lot more seats. We still weren’t looking forward to 18 hours on a bus but we were crossing fingers that the bus would be in a better condition than the last one we took. It was! It was nice and clean and looked relatively new. The air con worked properly and nothing was broken. They even gave us tags when we put our bags in the hold, a good sign that these guys were jacked up (or that there were problems with stolen luggage). Plus we didn’t pick up any extra people to sleep in the aisles! A big chunk of our trepidation dissolved and we got down to the serious business of wishing the 18 hours would pass quickly.

[Pictures: The slumbering guard at the silk museum as V makes a get-away, Wuhan bus station – much more civilized – this guy had matching shirt and newspaper]

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Our plan today was to explore the original ‘West Lake‘ a half hour walk from the hostel and not a bad one with all the surrounding greenery in spite of the heavy rain. This lake area of Hangzhou is really a fantastic change – more green and feels less crowded. We arrived at the Southern tip of the lake and decided to wind our way along the forest paths and bridges up its Western side. The paths were mostly empty – it was such a pleasure strolling along the wooden paths and over picturesque bridges. We paused to watch 2 guys in a boat with a leaf net fishing leaves and the odd bit of garbage out of the water. Leaves out of a 6.5sq km lake seemed a little pedantic.

We walked out of the park and eventually arrived at the Chinese National Tea Museum. Again it was reasonably empty and we wandered the exhibits while longing for a good ole cup of English Tea ! We still have to get around to a proper tea ceremony – budget depending – but have now at least seen all the teas in China. Just as we were about to leave the rain returned with renewed vigor. The walk back to the lake, around the Northern end, across the immaculate causeway and back to our starting point was a slog. The causeway was the only part of the day that was marred by masses of Chinese tourists. It is a stunning green space but its romantic atmosphere is ruined by hoards of tour groups and golf carts. By the time we got home we were exhausted after around 13km of walking.

Bad news was waiting at reception. Not for all the tea in China could the hostel staff find train tickets. Looks like we have to bus the 1300km to Guangzhou 🙁

[Pictures: V on one of the many bridges around the West Lake]

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Pouring with rain this morning but we really wanted to spend a little more time out and about in Shanghai before catching an afternoon train to Hangzhou. We headed out for a light breakfast and stroll around the well know Nanjing road shopping district. V found her China souvenirs – a pair a ebony chopsticks with silver and sea shell top ends – they are quite beautiful. Next time we see a hardware store we’ll get a piece of PVC piping so we don’t break them.

Nanjing road is packed with all the top brand shops from around the world and as we walked in the pouring rain we were approached by hawkers offering ‘watches, handbags and iPhones’. Showing just a wallet of pictures of the items we assumed they are selling knock-offs. So China. Just outside the Longines shop on an immaculate street you can go down a dark, dilapidated back alley and buy all the fakes you want.

We had no trouble with the 2hr train to Hangzhou – I guess we are getting used to the apparent chaos of Chinese train stations. – but getting to the hostel was another matter ! Tourist Information at the train station had a notebook full of English descriptions on how to get places which was very useful and a short walk to the ‘tall building’ described and we were on track and looking for a Y7 bus. Lots of K busses and a few numbered buses with Chinese symbols passed by but no Ys. We ended up walking all over looking for bus stops servicing the Ys, no luck. Getting hot and frustrated I insited we get a taxi – shift change meant we had to walk almost all the way back to the train station. When we finally flagged one down and showed him the address in my email he nodded and we were off. In showing him the address I/he (for sure wasn’t me) accidentally deleted the email (Note to self: When you delete a locally stored email on an iPhone that was synced from gMail via IMAP, it is gone until you get back online) – so now we had no way to re-examine the address. I was boiling. V, ever so calmly, got us out of the taxi when she thought we were nearby the hostel and she was within 300m of it (although it took a little wandering around to find it) – genius – I was picturing hours of walking in circles.

As soon as we stepped in to the hostel (Emerald Hostel) my mood brightened – amazing staff, great room, excellent dinner and all at a very reasonable price. With Grace (the wonderful) working on our train tickets, bellies full of excellent beef and peppers and an extra night here secure the frustrations of the day melted away.

What happened to the Y’s ? Well… they only operate until 17h and we started looking at 16h45. And the numbered busses with Chinese charaters are Y busses ! On the back they say Y7 etc – just in time for you to see them driving off.

[Pictures: Shanghai South train station – looks more like and airport, V at the misty Emerald hostel]

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Sorry, but we can in NO WAY recommend the Captian Hostel. This morning I woke to bed-bug bites all over my legs and after a miserable and expensive breakfast at the hostel bar/resturant I have had enough of this place.

Today our mission was the Shanghai Expo (Worlds Fair) – and what a mission it was ! About 45mins in a queue to get into the Expo which was a relief as we had heard horror stories of it taking hours. The place is huge (5.3 sq km and other dimensions as well) it sees more than 400 000 visitors per day. More info on Shanghai Expo 2010

Luckily it was overcast without rain as we spent over 10 hours walking around enjoying the architecture and popping into the odd pavillion (some required 1-2 hour long queues). We visited: New Zealand, Canada, Cuba, Australia, Urbania theme pavillion, China (which consists of a multitude of smaller ones that we strolled past), Future theme and the Cisco Pavillion. My favorite building was definately the British pavillion. V loved the Indonesian one but liked a huge list. The insides were all pretty arb and what you can get spending 30mins on the net but they all must have cost a fortune! If I had to choose a best inside of the ones we saw it would be the monster AV show in Auzzie one (which also had yummy beef pies in its food court).

The SAFA one was a budget box – I guess they spent all their cash on the World Cup and with no boerie roll vendors outside it made no sense – What else does SA have to offer the world ? 😉 Oh, and Spain was pumping (although ugly) while the Netherlands was closed – day of mourning after losing the final I guess 🙂

The expo was a great experience just for the whacky buildings (the architects must have had a ball) and my feet are thankful that they have been there and done that ! The Chinese seem to enjoy queues – they pull up their mini folding chairs and have a pinic with friends for hours on end. Some pavillions looked very intersting (like Japan) but the queues would not have been worth it.

On the way home we stopped at an Italian cafe for an early dinner and anniversary celebration but the main attraction was the ‘free WiFi’ sign outside. The place was empty but we enjoyed the ‘normal food’ and the funny waiter who was so excited about learning to make cocktails he gave us a complementary pair to try. We are odd. Our aniversary dinner and we were both engrossed in the web on our iPhones.

Well wined and dined we went to check out the Bund at night and spent a truly bedazzled hour starring at the buildings and lights before our aching feet sent us back to the hostel. What perfect end to a great day.

[Pictures: Click for the English Pavilion – the photo I took does not do it justice, Shanghai from the Bund]

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Today is our day 🙂 It may seem silly to count since we have known each other for around 11 years, but it’s our second anniversary ! Just want to say you are amazing my V and I love you more every day. Let’s never stop travelling this planet together. X. (PS When I go to the edge of space with my Helium balloon you can wait on the ground).

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

13 uncomfortable hours later – that was a rough night ! After navigating the Shanghai metro we got to our hostel. Shanghai’s main streets look as modern as any western city with towering skyscrapers and all the typical branded high street shops and resturants. Although the hostel (Captain Hostel) is in a prime position near the Bund it is not impressive. No mixed dorm so V and I can’t even sleep near each other, no kitchen or common area, no train booking service and no WiFi ! We could not believe it. With nowhere to relax at the hostel we showered and headed out to the Shanghai Museum. Still drizzling we decided it best that I also get an umbrella – who needs a fancy Gore-Tex jacket when a £2.50 brollie does the job 🙂

I think we are pretty much done with museums for now but we did enjoy the money, arms and seal exhibitions. The place was packed with locals (as usual) but V noticed a large group of western couples with Chinese babies. Either a group adoption holiday or the ‘Welcome Gift’ provided by their tour package was a little unusual.

Next stop was to the train station to arrange tickets for the onward journey. We managed to get tickets to Hangzhou using the automatic machines – impressive – yip. The biggest frustration with Chinese rail travel is that you can only buy tickets starting from the station you are at so we could not book any further ahead. The system is computerized so I cannot understand why !?

Another metro trip and we were close to the ‘The Pearl TV Tower’ – the silly ‘onions on a skewer’ looking building that helps define Shanghai. With very poor visibility, extremely long queues (Sunday) and an outrageous ticket price we decided against going up to the glass floored observation deck – I was a little disappointed but at least we spotted the new Apple store.

More walking in a homeward direction got us to the ‘Bund Sightseeing Tunnel’. We should have gone back to the metro to get across the river but both of us were fading fast so it was into the breach. The tunnel goes under the river and is remeniscient of a ‘tunnel of horror’ ride with lots of flashing lights and noise. Best to skip it if you have the option. The plan was then to walk along the Bund but I only lasted 10 minutes – it is stunning (and crowded – no surprise) but I was feeling the effects of last nights bus ride. Will definately give it a go to tomorrow night.

New things we have learnt:
– Sleeper trains are waaaay more comfortable than sleeper buses. In future we will rather wait a few more days to get on a train rather than take the bus.
– When booking accommodation and travel through an agent interrogate them rigorously to make sure you cover all the options. We should have learnt this one from Russia already.

[Pictures: The Pearl, Some other cool buildings and the app store ]

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The hostel is not great and what sounded like trolleys full of scrap metal being dragged over rumble strips outside our window at 5am was a little treat. We slept in – only getting moving around 9. It was raining a little and I had to drag V out to see the only site that I thought was worth seeing – ‘The Golden Crane Tower’. After a long walk through the muggy (think average temp here is in the high 30’s) and wet streets (no fun here because puddles generally contain more living organisms than what you would find in a septic tank) we arrived at the tower and an entry fee that we thought would not be worth it. Good thing too as V found out later that the tower was rebuilt in the 80’s and now has an elevator – how authentic !

Back at the hostel we relaxed the afternoon away browsing online and making calls in preparation for our 12 hour long overnight bus ride to Shanghai – John was supposed to arrange a sleeper train for us but apparently no tickets were available.

The bus station did not instill any confidence in our travel plans. It looked like complete chaos and again incessantly loud. We attempted to go through the boarding gates a few times but were chased back. Being the only westeners around we got a lot of attention and a few people offered assistance, which was great, but none of it was conclusive. Eventually (an hour late) we were ushered to a waiting old bus. It was a sleeper bus (ie: more or less flat bunks 2 high, 3 wide and ~10 deep) but very cramped, old and grotty – after some confusion about our bunk numbers we settled in. V had a bottom bunk – I was a row back on the top.

Each bunk had it own ‘features and benefits’; Both were Asian standard length (too short) and as soon as the bus was packed to capacity we pulled out of the station and promptly stopped to gather more ‘unofficial’ passengers. V ended up sleeping shoulder to shoulder with a guy who filled one of the gaps on the floor. My bunk was a delight – broken air vents meant I had cold hurricane force wind on my face combined later with dripping water as the bus started to leak. The saftey rail was missing – rolling over would result in a nasty fall so I slept with one hand jammed in a convient gap. The bunk itself was also not firmly attached to the framework – fun. To top it all off I could not believe it when people started smoking in a bus with no windows ! It was a very long night.

[Pictures: The view from my bunk – yip it was a slow day !]

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