Into the Orient
In and around Asia
Our trip is taking us first to Australia to visit family and friends, then Japan to see more family, Korea to see friends, Southeast Asia, China and on the Trans-Mongolian train across Russia to Europe. We hope to experience many new cultures, make friends and open our minds along the way. And, of course, we want to have fun!
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler Adro&Sean
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1
Ready to go...almost...
The car has been sold, the last day of work has been finished, goodbyes have been said, and we're still not packed! We leave in 2 days time for... Continue reading » -
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Hot, Hot, Hot
Friday and Saturday blurred into one. Friday was spent packing the bags, picking up the last few items and not bein able to put mon... Continue reading »
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3
Fush 'n' Chups on the Beach
We were all excited about going to Noosa. The four of us packed our bags and piled into the car for the 2 hour journey with hopes of sun, san... Continue reading »
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Thrill seeking fun
We gladly took the sleep in on Thursday as we needed a break from the fast-paced fun we'd been enjoying so far. It can really take it out of... Continue reading »
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5
We're Not in Kansas Anymore, Toto.
The flight to Tokyo was boring and unlike the flight from Wellywood to Brisbane it was definitely long enough to experience The Numbing. We s... Continue reading »
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6
Big Bro's Bootbox
First, we forgot to say in our previous blog that Adrienne used a Japanese style squat toilet! At the ryokan in Tokyo there was a western st... Continue reading »
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7
Kobe Karaoke
A big group of Peter and Ani’s friends met up with us at an Irish bar in Sannomiya for a drink before we all headed out to Torehinu for dinner. The... Continue reading » -
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Himeji-jo
Saturday had been put aside to visit HimejiCastle, said to be the “most splendid Japanese castle still standing”. We jumped on a train, and 35 minu... Continue reading » -
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Historical Kyoto
Peter and Ani took us out to Kyoto, to visit the Kiyomizu Temple and the Imperial Gardens (like Tokyo, you can’t visit the Palace). It costs... Continue reading »
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10
Osaka
Having visited Peter’s work and talked to one of his secretaries about the ferry to Korea, we jumped on the train again to Osaka. Our first p... Continue reading »
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11
A Moving Day
We arrived in Hiroshima from Kobe having taking a 1hr 20min ride on the Shinkansen. The first thing on our agenda was to visit the PeacePar... Continue reading »
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12
Thanks For Having Us
A quick entry to make sure that the map is looking good and to say a big thanks to Peter and Ani for putting up with us for a week.
Ani was o... Continue reading »
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13
Sayonara Japan
The train trip went really quickly. Sean had to catch up on a week's worth of diary, while Adrienne had a much easier time, and we had our ne... Continue reading »
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14
Pusan Prattling
As announced earlier in the evening, the ship came to a stop in Pusan harbour and the engines were turned off. A pity though that it was at 3 am an... Continue reading »
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15
A Free Ticket to Heaven
Buses are an easy way to get around South Korea, so we jumped on one headed for Ulsan to see what Rachael had been up to for the last 10 months. K... Continue reading »
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16
To Seoul!
We had planned to see more of the historical sites at Geyongju but waking late and the 4.5 hour bus ride from Ulsan to Seoul (W21,500 pp) laid waste t... Continue reading » -
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The Real "Team America"
5:45 is not a good time to wake up when you only got to bed at 12 am the night before. Bleary eyed we chucked togther our stuff and headed to the U... Continue reading »
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18
It's All About Seoul
The DMZ tour took most of the day and we were back in Seoul by about 4 pm, with enough time to check out Deoksugung Palace - one of five in the are... Continue reading »
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19
It's Still All About Seoul
Keren was in Seoul and we met her at the cable car (actually a gondola) for the Seoul Tower. The ride up was, um, interesting. The subw... Continue reading »
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20
Dirty Feet
Customs didn't ask for our onward ticket and we were pretty disappointed about that, particularly after the rush in Incheon to secure one. The temp... Continue reading »
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21
Leaving Korea
Our flight was at 10am and we were up early (5:30am) to catch the airport bus (no. 606, W8000 pp). It took just over an hour to get from Choe... Continue reading »
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22
The Rice Terraces
Surprisingly the bus trip wasn't that bad because we slept for a large chunk of it in relative comfort... i.e. better than an airplane. It would be... Continue reading »
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23
Caving and Coffins
Waking up at Banaue View Inn to no view due to fog, we found that the mandi (bucket and ladle used for washing) was warm! What a treat for us... Continue reading »
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24
Birthday Bus
Birthdays aren't meant to start at 5:30am but unfortunately for Sean, this one did. We were heading to Baguio to get a bus for Manila.&n... Continue reading »
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25
In Transit
The bus from Baguio arrived at about 4:30am and we were allowed to "sleep" in the bus until we were ready to go. This bus was really unc... Continue reading »
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26
The Filipino Chill Pill
According to our guidebook, White Beach is a quiet beach for relaxing compared with other Puerto Galera beaches. Since the book is out of dat... Continue reading »
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27
Moving On
We arrived at Batangas Pier only to have our relaxed vibe stolen from us as taxi drivers tried, unsuccessfully, to convince us that their taxi was... Continue reading »
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28
Kuta Kalling
Cebu Pacific winged us to Jakarta Airport, where we planned to get a flight to Bali. We cleared customs by 1am and were quickly harassed by t... Continue reading »
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29
Bali's Cultural Centre
It normally takes a wee while to find cheap accommodation in Ubud but the first place we went to offered us Rp35,000 per night. Taking Hann... Continue reading »
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30
Kedi-vegas
With our scooter loaded up again, we rode into the wide green yonder heading for the crater area of Ganung Batur. We knew it wasn't going to be a l... Continue reading »
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31
Nyepi
With about 140kg on the scooter, we made it to the top of the crater - slowly. This achieved, we glided down the other side through a beautiful... Continue reading »
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Island Hopping
Having survived Nyepi and avoiding trouble with any Nyepi cops, we fuelled up on the great breakfast at Ari's, before getting on the scooter again.... Continue reading »
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33
One Bad Cup Of Java
This is a longish entry, but here's a quick summary:
Mt Bromo = excellent
Mahkota Travel = evilFor the story, read... Continue reading »
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34
Methinks Angkor Instead
Our bus took about 10.5 hours bit it went surprisingly fast. The bus driver was insane and managed to get Adrienne feeling a bit queasy at th... Continue reading »
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What a Relief!
The airport is about an hours journey from KL and we paid RM8 (NZ$1=RM2.4) for non-stop bus to KL Sentral. A beautful sunset welcomed us... Continue reading »
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We're Outta Here!
Our second visit to Jakarta was, again, brief. We just needed to get to the airport. A motorised ojek took us to Gambir train station w... Continue reading »
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Reliving The Spice Trade
The bus ride to Melaka was incredibly comfortable after what we'd experienced in Indonesia. We were met by a couple of "touts" but they didn'... Continue reading »
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38
Singapore Fling
We arrived in Singapore after a quick stamp at customs. Our bus station (Queen St) happened to be close to where we had booked accommodation... Continue reading »
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Customs on Holiday
Customs into Malaysia when coming form Singapore, is a test of patience. A mob of people surge towards the customs officers in what initially... Continue reading »
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40
Fireflies at Night
We headed off from KL once we'd grabbed food. and for RM2.80 headed 2 hours to Kuala Selangor; it's a nature park on a smaller scale to Taman Negar... Continue reading »
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41
Proper BOH
We couldn't go directly to the Cameron Highlands from Kuala Selangor, a brief stop in KL at the Puda Raya station helped us get there. It was durin... Continue reading »
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42
Bridge Over Troubled Waters
We boarded the bus in Tanah Rata and were surprised to hear: "Hello Adrienne. I danced with you", coming from one of the seats. After being reintro... Continue reading »
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43
Island Time
While waiting to board the boat to Langkawi (there are two - one at 8:15am and the second at 8:30am), we were told that the sea was rough overnight... Continue reading »
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Island Thai-m
Our boat dropped us at the pier near Satun at the same time we left Langkawi (1 hour time difference). Once through customs (our NZ passports se... Continue reading »
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45
Karsting About In Krabi
Having made the decision to go diving, we went to Krabi, with high hopes of getting a sweet package to Ko Tao. Krabi is located in a beautifu... Continue reading »
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46
Diving Into The New Year
Ko Tao appeared as a little oasis in the blue sea. We'd slept pretty well through the night considering we had Thai sized thin, mattresses to sleep... Continue reading »
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47
Where's The Dirty, Smelly City?
The ferry from Ko Tao arrived in Chumphon via a river, alongside which we saw hundreds of boats lined up ready for their next fishing trip. I... Continue reading »
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48
One Life For Every Sleeper
Normally touts are wrong and try to sucker you into paying heaps, but Kanchanaburi was different. We were taken to the Riverside Guesthouse,... Continue reading »
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49
Still No Stinky, Smelly City
After a bite to eat for dinner, we searched for a tuk-tuk to take us cheaply to Patpong where we hoped to peruse the night market, and view some pi... Continue reading »
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50
What Wat's What?
Having slept well on the bus we were picked up by a guest house to be shown their place. It's a great practice because we got a free ride int... Continue reading »
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51
Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?
The trip to Chiang Khong wasn't hugely interesting. The firey red trees turned purple as we journey towards the Lao border. We chatted with David,... Continue reading »
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52
Scorched Laos Policy
We had decided on Muang Sing because it looked to be a bit off the normal tourist trail. Along the way we looked in wonder at the villages with hom... Continue reading »
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53
Birthday Bus II
Don't worry, the title isn't advertising for some crap movie sequel - it was Adrienne's birthday instead. Yay! Like Sean's birthday, we celebrated... Continue reading »
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54
3 Months Travelling Together and We're Both Alive... So Far
We survived the bus to Louang Prabang and grabbed a tuk-tuk to town (K10,000 pp), to begin the search for a guest house. 10 minutes later we had a... Continue reading »
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55
Bombies For All
Sometimes it helps to be poor.
We had an uneventful bus trip, just enjoying the change of scenery from hills to plains and the increased weal... Continue reading »
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56
Tourist Trap
Thankfully halfway to Vang Vieng, the woman on our bus who couldn't handle the windy roads (i.e. bus sick) disembarked. A free tuk-tuk from t... Continue reading »
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57
Imperialists, Puppets and Mercenaries
Add a bit of French colonialism, some diced American imperialism and Pathet Lao communism, with a sprinkle of NGOs; you get Laos' capital Vientiane... Continue reading »
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58
Si Phan Don
Once dropped off in Pakxe, we jumped in a minivan for the trip to Don Det (K50,000 pp). We were given a coffee (without asking) at a stop along the... Continue reading »
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59
Irrawaddy Dolphins
Si Phan Don is on the border of Cambodia, so we had booked a bus from Don Det to Kratie in Cambodia for US$20 (and picked up a free bottle of water... Continue reading »
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60
Wat's At Angkor?
We had a long and somewhat eventful bus trip to Siem Reap. The bus we first got on was travelling all the way to Phnom Penh so we changed buses at... Continue reading »
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61
On The Rails In Phnom Penh
What a sweet place Phnom Penh is!! We were both excited to be in a chaotic, dirty city that is full of life. Our accommodation was at Lazy Frog Gue... Continue reading »
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Entering the Mekong Delta
We left our guesthouse expecting a short bus ride to the river, instead a couple of guys had to get their passports back from being issued visas. T... Continue reading »
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63
Homestay
The roads can be a little rough in Vietnam, we discovered this on our bus ride to Can Tho. The roads are sealed, just not smooth. After some confus... Continue reading »
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64
Coconut Candy!
Arriving in My Tho we jumped off the bus, put our bags on our back and waited for instruction. We were almost forgotten, as the rest of the bus was... Continue reading »
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65
Streamy Saigon
With the help of Marcos we found a great place to stay called Tam Ngoc ($5) which wasn't far from Happy Tour (the company who had run our Mekong To... Continue reading »
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66
Lil' Ol' Dune Buggy
The 5 hour ride to Mui Ne went quickly and we were in a quiet beach town albeit stuck in the tourist area (no local restaurants or shops!!). Xang U... Continue reading »
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67
Dalatful
Not what we'd call the most comfortable ride but we made it to Dalat and unfolded ourselves form the van. We'd been dropped off at a hotel that tri... Continue reading »
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68
$3 Boat Trip
We were surprised that the bus stopped at a decently priced hotel. Because the open bus tickets are cheap, they make their money by collecting comm... Continue reading »
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69
Tailoring Mecca
Adrienne had been looking forward to Hoi An for the last month. Why would a seasoned traveller be so excited? The answer is simple, Adrienne is fem... Continue reading »
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70
Old Capital
The bus from Hoi An sucked - 4.5 hours to cover 160km!? On arrival we went for a wander and found Dong Tam Guesthouse ($5) which had a great... Continue reading »
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71
DMZ II
The day started early, the DMZ tour bus picked us up at 6am. Three hours later we arrived in Dong Ha, ravenous and were served our mediocre... Continue reading »
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72
Bloody Beautiful
Our bus ride turned out really well apart from the fact that we had to get off the bus at 4am... bugger! On arrival our theory was simple and had b... Continue reading »
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73
We Got Marmite!
Marion and Andrew were flying into Hanoi today, after a couple of days in Bangkok. We were really looking forward to meeting them and not only beca... Continue reading »
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74
Not Quite Ninh Binh
The bed at Hanoi Capital wasn't very good but at least we managed to get some free breakfast before heading on our tour. One thing that did suck w... Continue reading »
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75
Bac Ho (Uncle Ho)
We wanted some good spring rolls and were directed to a great cafe that we probably wouldn't have gone to normally, because it was full of whitie... Continue reading »
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76
Meet George Jetson
Ok, the title is a bit ambiguous but Nanning was so unexpected. To us it was modern enough that we wouldn't have been surprised to see a Sp... Continue reading »
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77
Another Day, Another Country
The bus we had organised through the hotel to get to the border town of Dong Dang the next morning turned out to be a particularly uncomfortable... Continue reading »
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78
Back to the Future
Cough, splutter, buzz, drip, drip... the sounds of Shanghai. Every building is air conditioned (you don't have to pay extra for it here!) a... Continue reading »
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79
One Grain of Salt Please!
Welcome to China's "Most beautiful City" or at least the CCT (China's TV network) version of it. The actual city itself is the same as any... Continue reading »
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80
The Venice Of China
Another uneventful train ride graced us a safe arrival in Suzhou. This city is meant to be the Venice of China but kind of unlike Venice we g... Continue reading »
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81
Just A Quickie
Our Russian visas were ready, so we had a quick stop in Shanghai. We left our luggage at the station and missioned off to the embassy, where... Continue reading »
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82
Once Were Warriors
Sorry about the lack of photos but the camera was stolen. We're going to get some from fellow travelers later. And yes Keren, we did co... Continue reading »
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83
Old School Charm
Sorry about the lack of photos but the camera was stolen. We're going to get some from fellow travelers later.
Buses normally stop at a... Continue reading »
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84
Home of the 2008 Olympics
And we thought Shanghai was polluted?! Beijing had a soft haze of pollution that obscured anything distant and part of it's cause was appar... Continue reading »
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85
Peking Duck
We had a busy evening on arrival back in Beijing. First to the police station to pick up a report for the stolen camera, then to pick up the... Continue reading »
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86
Secret Wall
Leo Hostel does a "Secret Wall" tour to the Great Wall that sounded right up our alley; RMB180, no tourists other than our group of 20, and an un... Continue reading »
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87
Luck Be A Lady Tonight
Waking up on the outskirts of Erlian, a bizarre sight lurked by the roadside - statues of dinosaurs. It was actually a really awesome thing... Continue reading »
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88
Ugly Buildings, Nice People
After a nice sleep in a soft sleeper (4 beds and a door - we didn't close it because it was hot!) we had the usual fare of noodles for breakfast.... Continue reading »
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See Ya Chinggis
Finishing the long drive was a relief but mixed with a bit of melancholy because we knew that it was the end of a great time in Mongolia. W... Continue reading »
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95
My, Mr Lenin. What A Big Head You Have!
We'd heard all the stories about how nightmarish it could be and were told by a lot of people to go through Russia as quickly as possible, that p... Continue reading »
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96
We Found The Middle Of Nowhere!
A gentle knocking got us on our feet, telling us to get our packs together because we were in Zima. At 5am. Brilliant...
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The Right Place This Time
We had learnt our lesson from Ulan Ude about booking tickets ASAP. It was a slight nightmare getting tickets out of Tomsk because summer is... Continue reading »
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98
Train Riding
We caught an early train to Novosibirsk after witnessing an early morning beer session at the platform. We thought we'd take a quick look around th... Continue reading »
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99
More Ice in Summer!
We arrived in Kungur Tuesday afternoon after the longest train trip we'd had.Having quickly learnt the need to book in advance, we booked ou... Continue reading »
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100
The Place, Not The Person!
We often found it a little difficult to pick which was the correct train to jump onto at the stations, but sometimes there was an electronic board... Continue reading »
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101
Church-Land
The bus station in Suzdal is a walk of about 20 min outside of the town centre. There was a lot to see. In this town of only about 12,000 there are... Continue reading »
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102
Fleeting Frolic
Arriving late evening from Suzdal meant that we didn't have any time to enjoy the sights of Vladimir. We viewed the Assumption Cathedral but were t... Continue reading »
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103
Yay! We Weren't Arrested!
A drizzly and grey Moscow greeted us with excellent examples of Soviet architecture and a lasting lesson on the ills of misusing concrete in too fu... Continue reading »
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104
You've Got A Real Purty City
Doing our best imitation of pack laden meerkats we emerged from the metro and peered at the beautiful buildings that make up central St Petersburg.... Continue reading »
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105
Tere Estonia!
We arrived in Tallinn at 5:30am, but realised that we told our friends Silja and Priit (who we met at Mt Bromo in Indonesia) we were arriving at 7:... Continue reading »
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106
Home in Haldreka
With the bus stopping in little Nurste, we had begun our little taste of Estonian life in the village of Haldreka. Priidu (the farmer) picked us up... Continue reading » -
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Kiriks and Giants
At the end of the week we headed to Käina, where we visited Käina Kirik (church) ruins before heading to Kassari. Legend has it that the local... Continue reading »
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108
Week Two
The beginning of our second week at Haldreka saw Estonia's Independence Day. Estonia has two independence days, one on February 24 to celebrate th... Continue reading » -
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A Day Off
Alice had to take the Renault to Tallinn for some maintenance so we jumped in for the ride. In order to get to Tallinn at a reasonable time, we... Continue reading »
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110
Exploring The Peninsula
We played a truly international game during on Friday night: Monopoly. Adrienne cleaned up!! There was a protracted war of retribution between... Continue reading »
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111
Rain, Rain, Go Away...
Our third week on Hiiumaa started off with a long awaited haircut. Sean had started to look like a character from Dragonball Z (big hair) and Ad... Continue reading »
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112
Day Trippin'
Our friends Mark and Susan were getting married on Saturday. We hoped our postcard from Estonia would suffice in place of us.
D... Continue reading » -
113
Locked Out
Rugby World Cup time!! Our mission was to find a place to watch the hallowed event in Estonia; definitely not a bastion of rugby.
The week... Continue reading »
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Rugby... in German?
Good ol' Priidu sorted us out with the rugby. His friend Stefan has satellite TV, which provided us with a live feed of the Italy vs. New Zealan... Continue reading »
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