Rhod and Anna's World Adventure

Today we set ourselves Challenge Number 2: Arrive in a new place separately and see if you find each other. The idea came to us from a book called 'Experimental Tourism' bought for us by our friend Gary, who found the prospect of us attempting this particular experiment highly amusing.

We didn't quite arrive separately. We had to drop a hire car off then get a bus into the city centre and from a bench by the station, we went our separate ways. We had 3 hours to find each other and failing that we would meet back at the very same bench. Rhod assures me that he waited 10 minutes after I'd gone and didn't see which direction I walked in.

So, map in hand, I set off in the direction of the shops. I set off in search of a toilet! I'm wandering around thinking that Perth is quite small so the chances of bumping into each other are pretty high. I found a toilet near the city museum and then skirted the main shopping area and found myself by the ferry jetties on the river.

What we had failed to discuss was the boundaries in which we were to work. Prats! I was thinking big but I knew I wasn't allowed to go to Freemantle which is an hour away by boat. I was thinking small and stuck closely to the main shopping area in the centre.

I thought the best way to find someone would be to climb to the top of the biggest hill in the city and look for them from the 'city view' lookout point. It's not the best way as you have no chance of spotting anything but buildings. But the view was good and I wandered around the park and botanical gardens. Even I wouldn't go looking for myself in the botanical gardens so it's no surprise that Anna didn't find me. If I'd been looking for me I would have searched every coffee house and every bar.

At first I thought that it would be funny to not find each other and had visions of our mothers ringing each other in a panic fearing a break-up was imminent! But after 2 hours with no-one to talk to boredom ensued and I began a full-on search for Rhod. I was still up in the park wandering aimlessly. It' s a small miracle that with 15 minutes to go, legs feeling like lead, I spotted a familiar face, map in hand, coming towards me. I then realised that I had been looking for someone with a light blue t-shirt all along. I'd forgotten Rhod was wearing a dark green one. It's a good job as I had walked all that way then got dis-orientated in the shopping area and couldn't find the bench for the meet up. We're so good at it that we might try New York next time.

It was an interesting experiment. Lessons need to be learnt such as setting the scale you are allowed to roam. But when all is said and done it works out like this. Anna went to look in shops and I went to look at buildings. I'll know where to look for her next time.

Today we set ourselves a challenge - to blag 10 free things each (oh, and to watch the surfing competition too) hence the incredibly tediously-linked title! Apologies.

Fortunately we are staying in the heart of a wine region with over 50 vineyards and it was only polite that we try to visit as many of them as possible. Unfortunately for them though, we had absolutely no intention of parting with any money. Free wine-tasting is quite common here so we felt confident of 'achieving our objective' (a little something for all you teachers out there!)

We amazed ourselves with our ability to waffle on about aromas, vintage, palettes etc before grasping the opportunity when the staff had their backs turned of bolting out the door unashamedly, wallets untroubled. I expect they saw us coming as in the first place all I could manage in response to the question "what type of wine do you like?" was "Red".

The fudge shop was guilt-free though as the fudge is layed out for you in a kind of 'grab & run' arrangement.

Lets just say that 10 freebies is easy to achieve around here. If you had more time and someone to drive your car for you 40 free tastings would not be a problem and you still wouldn't need to part with any cash.

"Surf's up Dude" "It's Gnarly" "Ride the Tube"

We've been to watch some of the Margaret River Pro Surfing competition today. Unfortunately, as I had suspected when I had glanced out of the window this morning, today was not an ideal day for surfing. We arrived late, due to not being able to get up very early, and managed to catch the last 3 heats of the day. Set to the background tune of the Beach Boys the commentators talked through the moves and announced the various scores that the surfers were getting. We had absolutely no idea what was going on but the general theme was that today wasn't a good day to get a high score. But it was fun to watch and we might pop back to watch some more when the weather conditions improve.

Despite how it sounds when you say it, there is no 'F' in Dolphin. That ends the English lesson.

We are in Australia. To be precise we are in the southwest corner of Western Australia and the good news for us is that for the last 3 days the sun has been shining brightly. Is it still cold in the UK???

We arrived bright and early in to Perth and picked up our luxury hire car. It's a Nissan Pulsar ST and it is a special looking jalopy in metallic..beige. But it goes well, fits the bags, has aircon and that's pretty much all we needed. So we set off from Perth. Desperate to escape bustling cities after 5 weeks, we headed for the beach and a town with a population of 70,000 people; Bunbury.

We arrived and our first thought was Wow! It's pretty quiet here. Doesn't seem like there's much to do. Maybe the grass isn't always greener....

Luckily the grass is greener. You just need to lie back and relax on it to find out. So what have we been doing for 3 days in the sunshine? The answer is not a lot! It's fantastic.

Bunbury is famous for its dolphins so when in Bunbury one must do as the Bunbarians do...go seek out some dolphins. Having been advised to get down to the beach at 8am for the best chance of seeing them, we arrived (late) cossies on and ready to wade in with the dolphins in the 'interaction zone'. 4 hours later, we are still waiting, convinced that the slightest movement in the water is a school of dolphins ready to 'interact' with some english people. How could they resist? Easily, it seems.

So far this holiday, we've learnt that there's no 'F' in 'sumo wrestlers', there's no 'F' in 'pandas', there's no 'F' in 'Hong Kong views' and there's no 'F' in 'Dolphins'! This is becoming something of a theme of our holiday. There may well be no 'F' in 'Whales' either!

Hong Kong is a fun city. On the first night here we visited the night market in Temple Street. It's a great place to by designer goods a bargain prices. Roollex, Deisel, Timberlamp, Won Dutch and Calvin Clean you name it you can buy it and I have no reason to believe that they are not the genuine article!

We purchased some watches. Personally I think a Nike watch for less than 2 pounds is an excellent deal. I expect it will last me for 3 maybe even 4....weeks before it stops working. It was fun to haggle for it anyway.

Hong Kong is famous for the amazing view of the harbour from the top of Victoria Peak, particularly at night. We'd seen the cheesy light show from the harbour the night before. All the building lights flash in time to some music and there are some "LASERS" and spot lights. So we thought we would hop on the tram, or to give it it's correct name the funicular (and it was fun), and watch the show for the second night but this time from 400m up.

Not a sausage! Apparently it is a great view but from where I was standing you couldn't see the lights on any buildings. Warm enough to wear a T-Shirt but fog that stopped us seeing more than 50m! The digital pictures men at the top were doing a roaring trade as they would take a picture of you and super-impose you on to a view of Hong Kong on a beautifully clear summer evening. Unfortunately at the moment a faked photo is as close as you can get to seeing the Harbour.

We will have to return to see the view another time. I will probably need a new watch by then anyway.

Tai chi; the art of awareness. Well at 8am this morning, Rhod and I were feeling far from aware. We had heard about these free one hour tai chi lessons run by the the great Master Ng and his assistant Pandora. So there we were, bleary-eyed but ready to dabble in this ancient art. Unfortunately we did not possess a pair of M&S silk pyjamas which appear to be the uniform of choice.

We were part of a group of 12 people, only 4 of whom were tourists. The rest were chinese, who could have done the routines with their eyes closed they were so good. Rhod and I took our places at the back surprisingly though I daren't look at Rhod as I felt that laughing would be inappropriate.

It was all going swimmingly. We were 'grasping the bird's tail', 'flapping the white crane's wings' and 'picking the needle at the sea's bottom' with the best of them. Anyway, "What would people back home do if they could see us now?" I pondered. I obviously thought aloud as who should suddenly turn up? A camera crew, complete with inept presenter clad in un-ironed silk pyjamas who had clearly been told about 5 minutes ago to get himself down to the harbour and join in with the remedial bunch of tourists attempting tai-chi. And where should he position himself? Right in the middle of Rhod and I!

So keep your eyes peeled for a couple of pasty white slightly unco-ordinated tourists (one of whom's hair is wrestling with the humidity) on some dodgy Sky travel programme one day!

"When you return to China madam, you will need to get a new visa."

Thanks, but no thanks. I think us and the chinese need some time apart. Don't get me wrong, we don't regret going, as that is what travelling is all about, but it is a challenging country if you are a backpacker. We did envy the guided tour groups we saw though. They seemed to be having a great time and because they were a group, the gawping was divided equally among them!

Anyway, back to this visa. We officially left China on Sunday and officially entered Hong Kong on Monday. So we have called the transition period 'Chinese no man's land!'

The best way to get from Shanghai to Hong Kong is to fly - 2.5 hours of luxury. But we are not ones to listen to advice, let alone take it. We chose the train, the 27 hour train. Our previous 2 train journeys were only quick ones (11 and 17 hours respectively!) We had had to endure sharing our 4-berth cabin on these occasions with chinese businessmen and a brummie who lives in Croydon. The habits of this motley crew consisted of staring, sucking teeth,smoking and snoring, all of which led me to have what Rhod called my 'train face', one of utter disgust and loathing.

However, on this occasion we found ourselves companion-free! No train face for Anna! The journey went surprisingly quickly. We managed to pass the time chatting to other travellers we met and giving impromptu english lessons to the chinese train guard whenever he passed. It said alot about the english text book he was learning from. He asked if we could correct his pronunciation as he read aloud a passage about a vicar being surprised about a church bell ringing after years of being broken! That's really going to help him in his career on the trains!

So we are now enjoying fitting in to Hong Kong lifestyle. We are less of a novelty here.

Sorry it's been a while. This is because we struggled to get good/cheap internet access in Shanghai. Hopefully the next few joyous accounts will help ease the pain of no post for 9 days.

Shanghai was a surprise. Not a surprise in the sense that it was a modern city unlike the other 2 we had seen in China. I was expecting that. I wasn't surprised by the fact that they had lots of neon lights and a super fast train (more later). I knew that. The real surprise was that beer was 14 times more expensive than Beijing! 14 times! This has got to be a joke. It's like buying a beer in.....London or any other major city. Rest assured I was not pleased. There seemed to be no logic behind the pricing because the result was that nobody ever went in the bars. They were always empty. I'm no business man but I would think a full bar with cheap beer is better than and empty bar with expensive beer.

Good news though. The staring has continued and the general street selling was still rife.
"Hello Shoes?" they had wheels and lights that flashed when you were rolling.
"No it's ok I have shoes"
"Hello Watch?"
"No thanks I have a watch, would you like to know the time?" This throws a street seller to the point that he walks off.

We spent our time in Shanghai well. We got the lift 350m up the Oriental Pearl TV tower to look over the city as all the lights came on. We also went on the Maglev train. As an engineer I couldn't turn down the opportunity to go on a train that does 430Km/h. It was great you can get to the airport 30km's away in just under 8 mins. The bad news is that if you have no need to be at the airport it's not really very interesting so all you can do is return to the city in the same amount of time. In 35 mins you can cover 60km including 20 mins trying to entertain yourself in an airport.

On our final day in Shanghai we decided we had had enough of being grabbed, stared at and shouted at. We thought we should go somewhere we could feel at home.....Shanghai Zoo!

I've not been to a zoo for a long time and it really opened my eyes. The people of Shanghai love their animals. They take great joy in feeding them. Particularly when it says please do not feed the animals. They like to take sticks and poke the bears to prompt a bit of action. They like to lift their kids over the safety barriers so they can get right up close to the wild boar and taunt it with some food and some small chinese child fingers. It was unbelievable. Perhaps my most favourite part was when people shouted and threw stuff at the Lions and Tigers who were asleep in an attempt to wake them up. It was no surprise that most of the animals were hiding at the back of their pens. On a serious note the zoo was dirty and old and most of the animals did not look well. Should you be able to see the rib-cage of a Rhino?? It wasn't the pleasant day out that we had hoped for especially as the main thing we went to see, The Panda, had emigrated to America! Good luck to it. I hear it's the land of the free.

We are now in Xian which is pretty much central China. To get here we had to come on the sleeper train from Beijing. It was the first but not last sleeper train experience for both of us. We paid for soft sleeper beds. This means we have 4 to a cabin that was about 6.5 feet wide and 6.5 feet long. The happy travelling party were myself, Anna and 2 Chinese business men who liked to have a good stare at us but didn't say a word. I'm comfortable with this now as in return I have taken to having a good stare back at them. I'm happy to say that I missed the sight of one of the men getting changed out of his suit and into his pyjamas on the top bunk. I kept my clothes firmly on and pulled the duvet over my head, which was fortunate as I woke to the sound of one of them faffing about centimetres from my head whilst trying to get his washbag from the table next to me. Hmm, can't wait for the 26 hour journey we have coming soon! It was an experience. We whiled away about 3 hours in the buffet car with some other people we knew on the train and also a German tour group in the 40's-50's who liked to drink, sing and dance. I didn't think the Germans had this sort of fun but they certainly kept us entertained.

The good news is we managed to sleep for most of the journey. We arrived at about 8am and we managed to find the hostel no problem. We are obviously getting really good at finding our way around now we are settling in to being travellers. The girl from the hostel who met us at the station, got on the bus with us, paid the fare, told us where to get off the bus and led the way to the reception desk helped a little bit but we easily did the rest on our own! First impressions...less spitting but more homeless/limbless people who seem to work up quite a speed when chasing you for money on their skateboards!

Xian is the home of the self proclaimed 8th wonder of the world, the Army of the Terracotta Warriors. Or the 'Tellacotta Walliols' as they are known to the locals. They are an impressive sight. The scale of the area in which they stand is huge and they are not sure how many more they will find in the surrounding area. They only found them in 1974 but they are over 2000 years old. To get there I wrestled some Chinese in order to get on the bus. If they won't queue, I won't queue! I think I came off pretty well after pushing most of the crowd out of the way and getting on fairly quickly. I then stood guard over the back seats in order that Anna and the other 2 people we were with had a seat. I enjoyed it immensely. I think I will fight my way on to some more buses in future.

The chinese being the shrewd business people that they are, never pass up an opportunity to relieve the tourists of their money. As soon as we left the pits, there they were, mini warriors of all sizes in their hands, begging us to come "looky, looky!" Obviously we were happy to oblige and we now own our own miniature warrior after some impressive bartering! He will be standing guard in the toilet when we get back home.

...and I challenge you to find 2 bikes worse than ours!! Well my Shanghai Forever was passable, Rhod's was worse. However it's at times like these that we must remember that old adage 'A bad workman always blames his tools.'

If you can cope with near-collision experiences with buses, bikes, motorbikes and taxis, this really is the way to enjoy a hassle-free Beijing. We somehow managed to make it round Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the back-street hutongs, following the simple rule that if the traffic lights are red, you can go. If they are green you can also go. There seemed to be no hard and fast rules to support the amber. This was fortunate for Rhod as his excuse-for-a-bike had no brakes! To add to it's woes the basket had a hole in the bottom, both wheels were buckled, the tyres were barely pumped up and the pedal fell off if you put your foot on the wrong side. I thought we fitted in a treat. If only we had one of those cone shaped straw hats I don't think anyone would have spotted us in a crowd.

If you can imagine what a stir 2 westerners cause just walking down the streets in Beijing, imagine what a sight 2 westerners riding bikes down the street can cause. As I was following Rhod, I noticed one lady stop in her tracks laughing, poke her husband and direct his attention towards Rhod. I'm glad we could be of such amusement to the good people of China!

Today we have taken part in different great wall events.

I have been, what I like to refer to as, Extreme Walling! I have been Remedial Walling! Or the man's wall and the lady's wall. That's not fair as I was desperate to do the Extreme Walling but I didn't think exposing my gammy foot to 70 degree inclines was quite what the doctor ordered. We don't know what the doctor would order because we haven't been to see one and if we did we wouldn't understand a word he was saying.

The Remedial Wall was the idyllic picture postcard image you see of the wall. My tour consisted of an Australian couple, Dave and Erika, (who had been travelling since 1998 and were in no rush to settle down and get jobs), a Polish-Norwegian guy called Marius (who had run away to escape from National Service) and 2 Irish girls, Helen and Racheal, who we had already made friends with at the hostel a few nights before. Luckily for me, Helen and Racheal were in no mood for breaking-into-a-sweat walking so were happy to plod along with me and my gammy foot (at a pace both my grannies could have rivalled) while the other 3 set off into the distance.

It took about half an hour to climb the steps to get onto the wall. I shunned the leisurely if somewhat life-threatening ski lift and persisted with the stairs ignoring my foot which was probably screaming "Get me onto that chairlift now!" (Childhood memories of a summer in Annecy being on a ski-lift with my mum and sister came flooding back!) The view from the top was amazing - the wall just stretching as far as the eye can see in both directions. It truly is an awesome sight and the weather just added to its beauty. We did walk a fair old way and I was feeling particularly pleased with myself by the end. We had lunch on the top of one of the many watchtowers dotted along the wall and after about 3 hours got the luxury closed-in cable car down to where we first began. Well, I say luxury, it was until we emerged from the safety of the boarding area, gathering speed, and were literally hurled off the edge of the wall, our lives in the hands of a piece of cable!! We lived to tell the tale however and it will be a day to remember.

Now over to the Extreme Walling version with tales of wo and manly feats which obviously far outweigh my achievements!....

Todays blog is fuelled by Tsingtao Beer. 30p a pint. Happy days

I'm on my own today as Anna has a bad foot as she has mentioned. This means I have been let loose in Beijing all on my own. It also means she won't correct the spellings in my blog.

I set off full of hope and exploration. I passed the man who has tried to sell me DVD's on 4 previous occasions. We trade banter like old freinds. I have no DVD player and he has no English. It's beautiful. I keep walking dodging the spitters in the street. The Chinese don't wear masks. At first it thought this was because they were not as clean or concerned about fumes as the Japanese. The reality is that they don't wear them because one would seriously inhibit their ability to spit on the floor which they like to do regularly and with some ferocity! Walk through a crowd of Chinese people and you need some Riverdance skills in order to keep your shoes clean.

I'm off to the forbidden city. It's forbidden because no one was allowed in for 500 years. To get there I have to hot foot it across Tiananmen Square apparently the worlds largest public square which is great until it gets closed and you're the wrong side of it!. You can't ride a bike in the square and that makes for a pleasent walk. Try to walk anywhere else and you get attacked by the 9 million bicylces of Beijing!

I've bargained with the man in the square and I'm now looking at a Chairman Mao watch (he waves instead of a second hand. Genius) for 30 rmb instead of the original 120. My bargaining has consisted of walking and saying "no thanks I don't need one". I've declined the kite seller and made a realtively smooth passage to the forbidden city.

"I'm sorry sir can I give you a guided tour of the forbidden city?" "Excuse me sir can I give you a tour of the forbidden city?" " I show you round the forbidden city only 100RMB" "Do you need a tour guide for the forbidden city?" "Where are you from? Do you know any chinese? Do you want a tour guide for the forbidden city?" No, No, No, No and England No No!

I'm not that impressed with the forbidden city. This is maybe because I lack culture and an artistic streak but on that subject I was again asked on 4 separate occasions to visit and art gallery and comment on their work. I must look like...... a tourist! I walk the city and observe the tour groups lead by their guide with a flag on a stick. I snap some photos but the reality is it doesn't really float my boat.

I leave to find the the worlds largest public square is closed. Parliament is kicking out and that means I'm not allowed in. The square is now full of coaches and Audi A6's with blacked out windows. I find my way down a narrow street to get to where I want to go.

Near the hostel I got stopped for the probably the 50th time. "Excuse me sir can I speak English with you" I agree expecting the usual ulterior motive of art gallery, tea house, tour of Beijing etc. I was taken by surprise. They guy just wanted to talk to me. He was an English Student and loved London. He's never been to London but he loved it anyway. It goes to show that not everyone is out to fleece you.

(Vickers/Finns - hope you like the slick use of the word 'ferrago'!)

Well I'm trying to set a new record for longest time anyone stays in a hostel without venturing outside. I have somehow managed to injure my foot, probably from carrying my bag. This however has left me hostel-bound. Yesterday, I managed a 10 minute walk up and down the street outside. Today I managed an hour's foot massage in the shop next to the hostel. Yet another example of me spoiling everyone else's fun!

Anyway, chinese foot massage! Slightly painful, particularly the part where she yanks your foot in all directions, but all for only 4 pounds!! I managed to make a new friend in Cindy (strange chinese name I know!) She could only speak limited english but, like most chinese people, seemed to have the words 'love', 'boyfriend', 'husband' and 'marriage' firmly rooted in her vocabulary. So we stumbled along for the whole hour talking about all those things. Good job I don't mind. They all seem to be obsessed with it here. When we were stopped in the streets the other day, the question 'Are you married?' seemed to crop up surprisingly early on in the conversations, followed by some nervous giggling! Anyway, I taught Cindy some english and she tried to teach me some chinese. We ended by talking (I think) about the Forbidden City in Beijing, a huge tourist attraction. She only knew the chinese word and I only knew the english word. Anyway, I think we were talking about the same place. I hope so because she said she would like to go there with me! I have suggested meeting her on Friday at 11am so who knows where we'll end up or how long we can string out the conversation about boyfriends and marriage for?! Watch this space for news on Cindy and Anna's big day out! (Think I'll drag Rhod along with me for moral support! He doesn't know this yet.)

We were meant to be going to the Great Wall yesterday, we put it off until today, and then last night we put it off until tomorrow. Tomorrow is our last chance to go. Poor Rhod has been so good but if I can't go tomorrow he will go anyway. I've sent him out to do some sight-seeing today as I feel so guilty about him staying in with me the whole time. He will do the more extreme wall tour involving 70 degree inclines whereas I will do the remedial tour involving cable cars!

By the way, hope you like the totally random photo.

"I'm an art student I'm going to Europe with my university. I would like to know what European people think of my art. Please come to my gallery."

The man thinks we are art critics. We don't want to disappoint. I can't speak for Anna but I consider my self a type of artist?! (And I have GCSE Art. I can do this.) I'm very creative as my mother will tell you...

We've been hijacked near the forbidden city and now we are on our way to the gallery. We know what's coming but we have been caught off guard as we have recently done battle with the world's busiest train station in an attempt to get a train ticket. We were successful but it wasn't the most straight forward of tasks and we are slightly dazed.

Our new Chinese arts student friend has steered us to his gallery, which is a posh term for "very narrow shop with alot of lights"

We are showing great interest. I'm personally taking the approach of a lot of nodding, holding chin pensively, turning head and saying "uummm" a lot. I think he's fooled by my critiqueing skills. Anna is having a more sensible conversation with him...that is until asked whether the Europeans would like his Chinese calligraphy paintings. "Oh yes!" I reply. "Women in particular love chinese calligraphy. It's very popular to have it tattooed onto your body." His face drops and it suddenly dawns upon me what I have done. Only after the words have ushered from my mouth do I shamefully recall reading the passage in the Lonely Planet that states how tattoos cause great offence to Chinese people. Well done me.

In the end we get the hard sell. We tell him it's all wonderful and will kick up a storm in Europe. Unfortunately we break the news that we are only 2.5 weeks through a 10 month trip and couldn't possibly carry his beautiful art around the world without damaging it. His smart arse friend in the corner pipes up with "You can mail it home" Awkward bugger. Now we have to find a way of saying "Actually we don't want any and we will be leaving shortly" without causing too much offence. Turns out we just edged our way towards the door with random words flowing from us. Nice paintings, Europe will love them, thanks, sorry, bye. And we were gone off in the direction of Tiananmen Square dodging spit at every step.

Yes is the answer and I'm probably about to get out of it.

After 3 flights and as many plane meals we have arrived in Beijing. Full of confidence we decide we don't need a taxi. We can make it to the hostel on the bus. We are armed with some written instructions and a blurred map with no scale. What more do you need?

The airport express bus was easy and cheap and dropped us at the Main Station. That's where the fun started.

I first became aware of my new best friend when I tried to put my backpack on. Unfortunately my new friend had already attached himself to my back and was in the way. He was keen to offer us a taxi, hotel, food, marriage to his sister and all manner of other treats. We said no politely and then then carried on saying no in an increasingly more forceful manner. We dropped our new best friend (we are so fickle) and quickly picked up another who had a tuk tuk. We managed to wrong foot him as he displayed how quickly his tuk tuk could go, we stopped, let him drive off and hid behind a van! So after 4000 offers of a hotel we made it to the station. Unfortunately we couldn't find the bus station and as it was nearly 10pm we made a quick dash towards the metro. Metro trip was fine. I think we might be celebrities because people like to stare at us!

So we hop out of the metro at the right place and start to make use of the blurred map. We are followed for 200m by a woman who has mis-interpreted "no thanks I don't need a hotel" in to "oooo yes please can you follow us down the road and try and make us walk in the direction of your hotel!"

The blurred map and no skills in the Chinese language are not serving too well in the Hutong (very narrow chinese street.) We walk too far. The we walk back. And finally we walk down a road that we hope is right and after about 30 mins of walking in various directions we get to the hostel.

In hindsight....Yes we did need a taxi.

We check in tired and shocked and wondering what on earth the daylight will bring.

Assuming that the worst is over we get to our room. Lovely. On closer inspection however we start to discover the delights of our Beijing hostel.

Take note all you hostel owners out there...White is not the ideal colour to have your sheets if you aren't intending to wash them between guests! I exagerrate somewhat but they were not gleaming Daz-white shall we say.

OK, let's try the bathroom...That's a rather large bin for a bathroom, I thought. That's because you are not allowed to flush any toilet paper down the loo here. It doesn't even have a lid. Great!!!!!!!!

Maybe tomorrow will bring some more positive thoughts...

So sadly we come to the end of our time in Japan. Throughout our stay we have been noting some differences and similarities between Japan and dear old Blighty. We won't patronise you (Do you know what patronising means???) by stating which is which so we'll let you decide which of the following are similarities or differences...

• They have McDonalds.
• People who work in McDonalds (and any shop for that matter) smile at you, seem genuinely pleased to serve you and can speak perfect English.
• They have public toilets.
• Public toilets are clean and most have heated toilet seats. Some even have optional flushing sound to greet you on entry, automatic flush when you stand up and an optional 'bidet' setting!
• Women wear knee high boots.
• Women actually look good wearing knee high boots.
• They have very busy train stations.
• Train stations are quiet, clean, pleasant places to catch trains that run on time.
• Beer comes in vending machines.
• Hot coffee in cans also comes in vending machines.
• Taxi drivers wear ties and white gloves and they open and close the passenger's door (automatically).

On a serious note, everyone should find the time in their lives to visit this country. It has made a huge impression on me and I have very fond memories of my time here.

On a less serious note.....

Japan has been fun. My lasting memory will be that of a deer wiping its nose on my coat twice.

I`ll cut to the chase and confirm there will be no photo to support the blog. The Japanese like to get naked together. In the sento baths in the city or in the thermal spring heated onsen in the mountains, they are not fussy. So you just have to join them.

Today we have been walking/hiking in the hills near Kyoto. We got a very small train/tram in to the hills and jumped off at a place called Kibune. The map (hand written and with no english words even daring to make an appearance on the page) would have you believe that the path we wanted was about 5 mins up the road from the station. After 30mins of walking through the middle of nowhere we found the path. The boards at the start point contained lots of information and directions which I have no doubt would have been outstandingly helpful if you could read Japanese. To ensure we were in the right place (there was little doubt we were in the right place as we were in the only place anywhere near) we conducted a spot the difference game using the map and the information board comparing various Japanese symbols. This is a painstaking process but often the only way to work out where you are or where you want to go. As a tip for anyone attempting this. Pick one symbol out of what you think might be the name and then seach high and low for it.

It was all good and we set off up the hill in what appeared to be the less popular direction of travel judging by the number of people going the other way who chose not to pass the time of day with us.
(Finns/Vickers/Herons take note - hiking can actually be quite a pleasant experience if you are wearing the correct clothing. Enough said.)

The walk was very pleasent pasing a number of temples and shrines that all had different meanings and significance. I would like to tell you all about it but once again I`m hampered by my lack of Japanese.

At the end of the walk we headed for the japanese nakedness venue of choice. The mountain onsen. It was Anna`s idea so I will let her explain....(can I just add at this point that it was advice from an ex-resident of Kyoto that gave me the idea.)

I must admit there was last-minute stagefright as neither Rhod or myself knew just how many of our clothes we would have to remove, so being true prudish Brits we had brought our swimming stuff along with us......oh, there was no need for those! We had to go into separate male and female baths and changing rooms - this isn`t Sweden!
Let`s just say that we observed the customs and enjoyed our thermal baths immensely, looking out over the valley of Kamara with the sun beating down. Absolute bliss, but probably not good on the old blood pressure!

We ended the day in a conveyor-belt Sushi restaurant. Surprisingly tasty stuff. Perhaps we`ve been missing out all this time.

We got the train to Hiroshima today. What an amazing city. We mainly spent our time wandering around the Peace Park looking at the A-bomb dome (which amazingly stood up to the bomb) and the various memorials that have been put there in memory, like the cenotaph and the eternal flame. All of these you can see in the photo.
The museum was fascinating. We spent hours there just reading all the information. It was a very sobering day and we learnt an awful lot. You would not believe how well the city has recovered from the tragedy.