Crossing borders & pushing boundaries
In and around World
After being responsible for far too long, I am heading off on my OE, starting in Asia then working in the UK.
I have been thinking that leaving a happy life behind on search of adventure is quite a strange thing to do, purely on the thought 'there must be more than this'. Or not even that, more the thought 'I have heard that there is more to life than this'! but the decision is made, it is time to throw responsibility away for a few months, push some boundaries and hopefully learn some things along the way.
Route taken and entries written by Keren
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1
Leaving Wellington
After 2 weeks of packing up my flat, tidying up odds and ends, saying goodbye to family and friends and trying to fit what I want to take into my pack... Continue reading »
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2
Incheon - not much to write home about
I am currently writing this in Incheon airport - which is 1 hour from Seoul. Yes I havent managed to leave the airport yet! Well, I had to... Continue reading »
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3
Lost in Ulsan
Here I am in Ulsan, where my friend Rachael has been living for almost a year now. Rach was there to pick me up from the bus station, it was so... Continue reading »
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4
Museum without walls
Just 50 mins outside Ulsan is Gyeongju, which is the one of the most important historical sites in Asia. It is an ancient capital of the Silla p... Continue reading »
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5
Last day in Ulsan
Sean and Adrienne arrived in Ulsan on Saturday, following the backpacker route of going where there is free accommodation!On Sunday, being a holely da... Continue reading »
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6
Lost in Busan
After another easy bus ride to Busan, and an easy subway ride into town, I arrived at my lodgings for the 2 nights I am here at Busan - a beautiful lo... Continue reading »
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7
A whole lotta Seoul
My Korean adventure is almost over, and I saved the best for last - SeoulI caught the bullet train from Busan, mainly just to see what a bullet train... Continue reading »
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8
Beijing with a bang
My first sight of China was amazing - breaking through the clouds to see snow covering all the fields surrounding Beijing. Even more special was... Continue reading »
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9
The Wall finally! and others
I joined my tour on Thursday night, first thing to do was to go out to dinner for some Beijing duck, in a great restaurant, near the hotel but in... Continue reading »
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10
Xi'an - once were warriors
We arrived in Xian at 7 in the morning, after 12 hours on a sleeper train from Beijing. Our tickets were for the "hard sleeper" class, which are... Continue reading »
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11
Scammed in Shanghai
Shanghai as a city is very different from Beijing and Xi'an, a bit short on cultural sites - but this is made up for by neon lights and shop... Continue reading »
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12
Eating and shopping in Shanghai
Tammy arrived in Shanghai on Sunday, to stay one night and two full days before taking the overnight train to Beijing. It was great t... Continue reading »
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13
Back in Beijing
Since we have been back in Beijing we have barely seen the sky - Beijing is covered by fog/smog. I am unsure what it is exactly, as I cant belie... Continue reading »
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14
Saving the best for last
On Friday the 23rd Anna skived off work to come sightseeing with us for the afternoon, plan was to do a much anticipated hutong tour. Hutongs ar... Continue reading »
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15
Stepping into a movie set
On an impulse I decided to book a trip to Guilin, as I had read in my extensive research (while pretending to audit) that it was a beautiful place to... Continue reading »
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16
Bling in Bangkok
I met Rach at Bangkok airport, our flights coinciding almost perfectly, and headed to our guest house - arriving at 1am in the morning. Afte... Continue reading »
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17
Transit in Hong Kong
This isn't a real entry, just to make the map look more real. My transit to Bangkok was complicated due to there being no direct flights from guiling... Continue reading »
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18
Being lazy already on Ko Chang island
Much of our time in Bangkok was spent planning our trip around the region, seeing as our planning together had been almost nil up to then. After... Continue reading »
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19
Crossing into Cambodia
We had heard all sorts of horror stories about the border crossing from Thailand into Cambodia, but our experience couldn't have been easier, if a bit... Continue reading »
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20
Cambodian ghost town
A two hour taxi ride from Sihanoukville is a little town of Kampot. You have to take a taxi as there is no buses that currently ply this route - makin... Continue reading »
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21
The downside of Phnom Penh
After a two hour bus ride that was actually 5 (thanks LP) we arrived in Phnom Penh, and promptly discovered why many travellers we have met do not lik... Continue reading »
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22
The upside of Phnom Penh
Apart from what went previously, I have really enjoyed Phnom Penh so far. It is way more relaxed than Bangkok, we go everywhere in tuktuks or mo... Continue reading »
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23
Angkor Wow
We spent three nights in Siem Reap, the town beside the temples of Angkor, the most famous one being Angkor Wat. Due to us not being temple... Continue reading »
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24
Stopover in Phnom Penh
On our way to Vietnam we stopped off in Phnom Penh again for one night, which we spent mooching around the guesthouse not doing much! Continue reading »
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25
Mighty Mekong
We decided that instead of taking another boring bus trip, we would ride the Mekong river into Vietnam instead. The boat takes 7 hours to get to a lit... Continue reading »
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26
Steamy Saigon
My titles are truly terrible aren't they? We had 3 nights, or 2 full days in Saigon, so we tried to fit as much in to this little time as possible. On... Continue reading »
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27
Cooling off in Dalat
Dalat is a stunning 7.5 hour bus ride from Ho Chi Minh City - a long time in a bus but made shorter by the views of the central highlands as we passed... Continue reading »
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28
Floating bars and karaoke
We choose Nha Trang as our beach stop in Vietnam, due its easier transport connections and snorkeling. Once we got there we wished we had tried... Continue reading »
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29
We need bigger bags (and muscles)
We had wanted to take a train from Nha Trang to Hoi An, but due to it being a Vietnamese holiday we were stuck on an overnight bus. To make matt... Continue reading »
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30
Phew that was Hue
Hue was the capital of Vietnam when Vietnam had Emporers and so there are many historical sites to see in the area. We raced around in the... Continue reading »
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31
Meandering the old quarter
The night bus took us to a backpackers in the old quarter of Hanoi, and we decided to stay there as it seemed like a pretty cool place to hang out in.... Continue reading »
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32
Tour rage on Halong Bay
Vietnam is like a huge tourist escalator but we hadn't minded this until we got to Halong Bay. Halong Bay is famous for its beautiful scenary, k... Continue reading »
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33
Hanoi stopover
On the same day we got back from the tour we were booked to go to Sapa on the overnight train. This left us enough time to shame our guest house... Continue reading »
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34
Rice fields and blankets
On the day we arrived in Sapa it was raining. So we did some emails, ate some lunch hoping that it would finish. After lunch when it was s... Continue reading »
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35
Perfume Pagoda
Being the suckers for punishment that we are we had booked a tour to the Perfume Pagoda, starting at 7.30am after arriving back in Hanoi on the night... Continue reading »
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36
The hammock of South East Asia
Lonely Planet describes Laos as like getting into a hammock compared to the rest of South East Asia, and as we arrived in Vientianne we could see thei... Continue reading »
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37
R&R in VV
Vang Vieng is one crazy little town. Evidently there was nothing here 8 years ago except for a village, then it was opened up for tourists to ta... Continue reading »
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38
Pretty Prabang
Luang Prabang is a 6 hour minibus ride from Vang Vieng, and is famous for its archeticure - another world listed site. The bus ride here w... Continue reading »
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39
Biking, earthquakes and Lao Lao
We hopped on a rickety old bus to for the 8 to 10 hour journey to Luang NamTha - ofcourse it was 10 hours. The bus was hilarious, just after we... Continue reading »
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40
Crossing Borders
Our bus to the Laos border was fun - a little 18 seater with 31 passengers some how stuffed into it. Rach and I were lucky to get little wicker... Continue reading »
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41
Finally trekking
A night out we wanted and that is what we got, eventually. We spent some time wandering the backpacker area trying to find bars with people in t... Continue reading »
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42
Angkor Wat its not, but still pretty cool
Sukhothai was the capital of an ancient Thai kingdom, dating from the 1200's and started to claim back some land from the previously dominant Ang... Continue reading »
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43
One night in Bangkok..
Arriving by bus into Bangkok we jumped into a taxi, who took us to Khao San road almost without us asking him to - as we didnt stay here when we were... Continue reading »
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44
Becoming a diver
After a gorgous sleep on the night train I arrived in Surat Thani and was shuttled into buses to take all the westerners to the pier, where we were sh... Continue reading »
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45
Dashing through the southern states
There have been escalating problems in the Southern states of Thailand, which are largely muslim with some people wanting to be independent of Thailan... Continue reading »
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46
We ain't in Thailand anymore..
After crossing the border and getting some money changed at a terrible rate at a gas station as I couldn't find anywhere else, I flagged down a bus on... Continue reading »
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47
Beach paradise finally!
Did you know that Malaysia is one hour ahead of Thailand? I didn't, until I missed my bus to Kuala Besut, the jumping off point to the Perhentia... Continue reading »
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48
Welcome to the Jungle
I hopped on an outrageously expensive minibus for the 8 hour journey to the Taman Negara National Park, worth it though as I got there in one day.&nbs... Continue reading »
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49
Melaka journal
After arriving in Melaka finally I checked into a lovely hostel, then went to find something to eat down the road. I soon had 3 older guys sitti... Continue reading »
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50
Last destination in SEA!
My first day in KL was horrible - running around trying to find a phone that worked to arrange my flights to Dubai and London, and trying to find the... Continue reading »
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51
Where in the world am I?
Dubai is a crazy crazy place. I was lucky enough to stay with Stevens brother and sister-in-law in their lovely house in the middle of the desert... Continue reading »
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