Moscow
It was a relief to finally get off the train at its final stop in Moscow - nearly four days in a train cabin had made us appreciate the outside world again, even if it was below freezing. We only had three days here before…
Travel
The Great Train Bazaar: Trans-Mongolian Railway
Five days and 6,266 km from Ulaanbaatar to Moscow, in a carriage turned into a travelling bazaar of jeans, blankets and shop mannequins.
Camping in the Gobi Desert
Two nights in a ger camp in the Gobi Desert, driven out from Ulaanbaatar — mutton stew, wild horses, and keeping the fire lit through −10°C nights.
Morning in Mongolia...
And so began our journey from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar... We boarded the train early, on a cold April morning in Beijing. The train wasn't heated except for a small corner where a samovar (or hot water tank) was slowly bubbling away. The hot water tea…
Beijing and the 798 Arts District
Although we'd already taken the high-speed train for a brief stop-over from Shanghai to Hangzhou, our journey to Beijing would be our first long distance travel on China's fast expanding high-speed rail network ( reported to be the smoothest and fastest train ride in the…
Hangzhou and some Emperor Longjing Tea
The outer city high-speed rail terminal of Shanghai came as something as a surprise to us, though given the investment China has been inputting into its rail links over the past few years it probably shouldn't have. It was light, bright, and shiny with something…
On the Trail of J.G. Ballard and New Wave Art in Shanghai
The overnight sleeper from Hong Kong to Shanghai — 1,991 km in twenty hours, with green tea on tap and a Chinese couple redrawing our route.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is familiar to most people as a nexus of capitalism and is often portrayed as the world's busiest city, where individualism and the rule of the dollar note have always gone unquestioned. However, it is actually a much more complex social and historical…
Menacing Hills and a Brush with Food Poisoning: if we can just make it to Hong Kong...
Yangshuo to Hong Kong after three days of food poisoning: bus, overnight train to Guangzhou, an hour to Shenzhen, then the border on foot.
Among the Karst Peaks of Yangshuo, Guanxi Province
The moment we arrived at the Yangshuo Mountain Retreat, we knew we were somewhere special. We were dropped off by taxi on a deserted, wet mountain road which wound its way through immense karst peaks (irregular limestone formations) that dominated the plains of the valley…
From the City to the Mountains by Train and Bus
Nanning to Yangshuo by train and bus: 5 hrs 30 in third class to Guilin, then forty minutes on the local service into the karst peaks.
Into the mists of China we go...
396 km from Hanoi to Nanning by sleeper, with a 1.30 a.m. border check at Đồng Đăng and an unheated Chinese carriage waiting on the far side.
Hanoi
We stepped off the train in Hanoi at 5am in the morning and were greeted by the chill of a misty platform which was quickly filling up with taxi and tuk-tuk drivers. We had been advised to always go with one of the green and…
The Reunification Express
A thousand miles from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi in a four-berth sleeper, on the line the French built, the war split and Vietnam reunified in 1975.
Night Herons and Elephants of the Forgotten City in Huế
Huế is a town with a rich history and a turbulent past which has dragged it through everything from the feudal dynasty of the Nguyễn Lords in 17th-19th centuries through to the Tet offensive and massacre at Huế by Communist forces in 1968 and the…
The Fabric of Hoi An
Hoi An is a small town, almost half way between Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon and Hanoi on the East coast of Vietnam. Very accessible by train and then bus or taxi from nearby Danang, it provides a compelling antidote to the hectic city life of…
Crossing the Mekong Delta into Vietnam
Kep to Ho Chi Minh City through the new Hà Tiên border: a dirt track, a casino, then four hours of coach and chain ferry along the Mekong.
Kampot Pepper and Le Bout du Monde in Kep
The riverside idyll of Kampot lies just an hour and a half's drive west from Sihanoukville. There used to be a train which ran between the two every other day but the passenger line has been suspended due to bad tracks, so we opted for…
Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville to get a Vietnamese Visa
Siem Reap to Sihanoukville by bus — four hours on half-made road to Phnom Penh, two more to the coast, to collect a Vietnamese visa in minutes.
Angkor Wat
I have heard Angkor Wat spoken of as many things - 'pineapple towers', rubble mountain, overgrown jungle, the Tomb Raider set, magical this, spiritual that, enchanting, devastating and even 'Disneylandish'. But none of these really prepare you for the experience itself. It's one of those…
Sifting through Arts Cafés in Siem Reap
We had originally planned to spend our first day exploring the ruins of Angkor Wat but found ourselves completely exhausted after the long day of travel from Bangkok. Instead we rested in the comfortable hammocks of the Khmer family-owned Golden Temple Villa and later made…
A Window to the Wetlands: Thailand to Cambodia by Train and Tuk-Tuk
Bangkok to Siem Reap overland: a £1.50 third-class train to Aranyaprathet, the Poipet border on foot, then three hours by shared taxi.
Moths, Monks and Prickly Heat in Bangkok
Our first impressions of Bangkok were of a strange, hedonistic city combining old-world markets, beautiful temples, seedy strip clubs and slum-like houses with manic motorbikes, gigantic shopping centres, banks and LCD screens. The heat was intense on the first day we arrived and a dust-like…
Trang to Bangkok by Bus
828 km and thirteen hours overnight by double-decker bus from Trang to Bangkok, after Chinese New Year sold out every sleeper train for weeks.
An Island Border Crossing: Koh Lipe, Thailand
Koh Lipe has no airport and no jetty — you arrive by ferry from Langkawi, transfer to a longtail boat, and are stamped in at a hut on the sand.
The Great Hornbills of Langkawi
Watching great hornbills on Pulau Langkawi, a few kilometres south of the Malaysia–Thailand border, after the dawn ferry across.
Street Food and Art in Penang
After we had spent a few days in the highlands, we had to brave another hairy trip through the winding mountain roads (it turned out that the driving was just as crazy on the descent). The journey to Penang took only a few hours and…
The Cameron Highlands: the Land of Tea and Strawberries
I was quite looking forward to the bus ride up to the Cameron Highlands, envisaging a slow drive along winding jungle paths into the green, misty hills. This was before I had experienced driving in South East Asia however, having only had a little taste…
Kuala Lumpur: a Tale of Two Cities
Our guesthouse in Kuala Lumpur (referred to as 'KL' by just about everyone in it) was a very laid back place and a good introduction to the beginning of our journey across South East Asia. It was here that we were introduced to the quirks…
Wind Powered Cargo Ships and Arriving in Malaysia
Off the AS Carelia at Port Klang in the early hours of 6 January, a US$300 port-agent bill, then the one-hour Komuter train into Kuala Lumpur.
Tropical Storms and Piracy Warnings
A piracy warning faxed to the bridge off East Timor, a tropical storm in the Timor Sea, and the run down the Malacca Strait towards Port Klang.
A Rock n' Roll Christmas (of the non-musical variety)
Christmas aboard the AS Carelia: dinner on Christmas Eve in the crew's mess, then gale-force winds off the Whitsundays that threw us out of bed.
New Zealand
Auckland and Tauranga aboard a container ship: 24 hours in port, twenty crew, meals with the officers, and the Rena's oil still on the rocks.
The AS Carelia: A Freight Adventure
Boarding a container ship at Brisbane for 6,800 nautical miles to Malaysia — then the only vessel taking passengers from Australia to South East Asia.
Melbourne to Brisbane
There is no direct train: 1,965 km in two XPT legs via Sydney, 10.5 hours by day and an overnight run into Brisbane Central at 5.30 a.m.
Melbourne Excursions
During our time in Melbourne we made several weekend excursions to the surrounding countryside, in an attempt to explore some of the beautiful coast and bushland that Victoria is famous for. On Melbourne's doorstep there are opportunities to spot some of Australia's extraordinary wildlife including…
Melbourne Markets
As Spring gave way to summer in Melbourne, there was more and more to explore every day as new craft, food and festive markets began to explode onto the scene. Melbourne is known for its permanent markets too, however, and below is a short round-up…
Chasing Freedom and Yarn: Street Art in Melbourne
Street art in Melbourne's laneways — Hosier Lane, the yarn bombers, and a city that gave up trying to scrub its graffiti off.
Crazy for Coffee: Café Culture in Melbourne
Never will you look at a cup of the black stuff in the same way again after sampling Melbourne's most sacred beverage - for here it has become a form of high art - and not just where taste is concerned. Care and detail is…
Finding our feet in Fitzroy
It didn't take long for us to fall in love with Fitzroy and its surrounds; its streets never failed to entertain, subtly changing overnight, just enough to keep you on your toes. One day a shop-front would be filled with yarn or paintings, the next…
Melbourne: From the CBD to Fitzroy
The YHA Central hostel is a relatively new outfit, located on Flinders Street in the building of an ex-city hotel and so it provided an ideal jump-off point to go out and explore the CBD and its surrounds. Our first day in Melbourne was bright…
Sydney to Melbourne on the Countrylink
Eleven hours and 953 km from Sydney Central to Southern Cross on the CountryLink XPT, through Cootamundra, Wagga Wagga and the spring Yarrow fields.
Sydney
Leaving the boat for the last time was a strange, if not liberating, experience. Our YHA hostel was located very nearby, on the crescent of the hilly Rocks area of Sydney (which wasn't climb up to while carrying so many over-packed bags). From the hostel's…
Arriving in Sydney: 3 weeks and 7,415 nautical miles from L.A.
Twenty-two days and 7,415 nautical miles across the Pacific from Los Angeles, and the ten-metre swell that carried us into Circular Quay a day early.
Life at Sea
What 23 days on the Pacific is actually like: the equator, the International Date Line, six time-zone changes and a fortnight chasing flying fish.
New Caledonia
Île des Pins and Nouméa: an unplanned early call after rough seas, Cook's pines, and rock with 2–3% nickel from the old Australian continent.
Suva, Fiji
Suva, Fiji: a bus into the hills to Colo-i-Suva's waterfall pools, a regrown mahogany forest, and a capital shaped by three coups since 1987.
Samoa - The 'Last Place on Earth' (until December)
Samoa on Moving Planet Day, 24 September 2011 — the island that switched sides of the road in 2009 and skipped a day to jump the date line.
Pago Pago, Tutuila Island, American Samoa
A day ashore at Pago Pago, American Samoa — an island tour in a home-built bus, the 2009 tsunami's unfinished rebuilding, and the last tuna cannery.
Hilo, Kona and Honolulu
Five days out of Long Beach to Hawaiʻi: rain-soaked Hilo, Waikīkī and Diamond Head on Oʻahu, then Kona for coffee and a hillside hot-tub garden.
Hawaiian Hawaiʻi
Our first stop in the South Pacific was Hawaiʻi which I had been looking forward to visiting, especially since learning about indigenous Hawaiian culture from a Hawaiian man (who was going home to Hilo) on the boat. Not surprisingly, prior to Western contact, Hawaiʻi's native…
Passenger Liners and Environmental Practice
The Cruise Line International Association (a body representing the interests of North American cruise companies) reported in September that the cruise industry is one of the fastest growing areas of tourism. The environmental practices that cruise companies choose to either adopt or neglect will therefore…
Feeling sick on the Ocean waves
Twenty-three days from Long Beach to Australia aboard the ms Volendam — and why a cruise liner was the only way there without flying.
North Hollywood, Los Angeles
Getting to spend some time with Naomi, Ned, Kai and Isan in their North Hollywood home was a really great way to end the American leg of our journey. Having started and finished the first cross-country part of our travels by staying with friends and…
San Diego
With a bit of time left on our side in the US, we decided to take the Pacific Coast Highway through Newport and OC Country to San Diego. Despite the obvious 'cultural' link with Josh Schwartz, we found Newport to be far less 'OC' than…
Sustainable Sea Travel: The Pacific Voyagers at San Pedro
On Cabrillo beach, near the yacht club and port of San Pedro, the Pacific Voyagers had moored up their seven Vaka Moanas on the beach for a short break before their onward journey to San Diego. These were the same boats we had see n…
San Pedro and Cargo ships
San Pedro is a working port town and we struggled to find much accommodation here apart from rather large chain hotels frequented by businessmen, cruise passengers and strangely rather a lot of Mexican wedding parties. It was in a café here that we estimated that…
Santa Monica: Putting the 'me' back in Environmental
Santa Barbara may be the official Californian home of the annual ' Earth Day ' festival (first started there back in 1970) but Santa Monica is proud to have been surfing the sustainable movement wave for some time before the word sustainable 'beca me a…
The Chumash Indians of Santa Barbara County
Like many Californian towns and settlements along the coast, Santa Barbara bears the mark of Spanish occupation in the form of its Mission (definitely worth a visit for the view from the tower alone - Santa Barbara's was the tenth to be built in California…
Santa Barbara
Leaving behind Morro Bay and its rock, we made our way slowly further south to Santa Barbara, arguably one of the last relaxed oases before you hit the urban jungle of LA. Santa Barbara prides itself on its smart, chic - with a hint of…
Cambria and Morro Bay
A Hostelling International inn in Cambria on the California coast, and how far it took its own sustainability — solar, greywater and compost.
Big Sur
The concept of the Great American Road Trip has been immortalised in song, speech, film, on paper and canvas and probably many other mediums over the last century or so. Highways more famous than the land that surrounds them slice through dirt, desert and rock…
Carmel
Carmel is as it sounds: a gentle, sweet seaside town which reminded me slightly of certain pockets of the Isle of Wight (especially when the sea mist was in). We stayed in a cosy bed and breakfast, complete with porch and rocking chair, just down…
Santa Cruz
We arrived in Santa Cruz just in time to catch a stunning sunset. Living up to its 'free and easy' reputation, the beach was filled with barbecues and the air of wood smoke as people began to light the first beach fires and open their…
San Francisco
Due to the delays with the train getting into San Francisco (see Chicago ) we only had a few days left on our hostel booking and further accommodation bookings down the coast meant that this visit would have to be brief. After catching a connecting…
California Zephyr - Chicago to San Francisco
Chicago to San Francisco by Amtrak sleeper: 2,438 miles, three nights and ten hours late, over the Rockies, the salt flats and the Nevada desert.
Chicago
We took the overnight train to Chicago, not getting much sleep but passing through idyllic-looking rural farm land along the way. The Chicago stop-over was supposed to be brief - a one night stay in the downtown hostel with a quick visit to Lake Michigan…
New York and Washington
New York had been experiencing a heatwave when we arrived and although we apparently missed it at its most brutal, it was still around 101 Fahrenheit whic h made the rubber soles of my shoes feel as if they were melting into the already baking…
Southampton to New York
Seven days and 3,190 nautical miles from Southampton to New York aboard the Queen Mary 2 — what a one-way transatlantic crossing is actually like.
8 Days to go...
There are now eight days to go until we head off from Southampton to New York. After months of moving house (twice - Anna from Farringdon in May, then both of us from Tooting Bec in early June) and boiling our lives down to whatever…
East to West or West to East?
One of the first decisions we had to make when planning the trip was whether we wanted to travel from East to West or vice versa. There seemed to be a certain air of comfort in travelling Eastwards, getting the train or boat to France…
Tired of London (tired of life?)
After nearly six years of living/working in London, the daily northern line commute/high speed pace of everyday life had started to grate. Much as I love London, I had begun to feel like I was seeing more of the underground and office than anywhere else…