365

365 days, 16 countries and a full circumference of the globe. So how much would a trip like this cost? The tickets, 20 flights, cost almost exactly £2000. We bought a couple more, at about £120 each, along the way. A long van rental in Australia? Just over 50 days in the off season cost us about £1500 between us. Considering that was our accommodation as well it wasn't too bad. But if anyone if staying longer than a couple of months then buying a vehicle is the way to go.
Our American Subaru set us back a couple of thousand quid and we sold it in a rush for about £900 with it's nagging new fault!


So the real cost it just living. All in all I probably spent about £12,000 just on food, getting around and sightseeing. I bought only a couple of momentous from the trip as carrying the newly purchased items or sending them back expensively is a hassle I can live without. It was enough to carry a backpack and another bag in my hand on those long travelling days, not that they were packed with clothes. For the first 6 months I survived on one pair of boxer shorts!
Since I've been back in the world of odd new phrases like 'credit crunch' many people have asked me what my favourite country is. I've not even scratched the surface as far as world travel goes but I'd definitely like to see more of Japan and New Zealand. America's landscape is amazing and just everyday living in South America was for me the true spirit of what a trip like this is all about.

One person has asked me what my worst country is and to be honest that's an even harder question. I plumped for Bolivia because the people were miserable, there was a lot of civil unrest once we left, but there's some truly beautiful scenery there. The unwanted attention in China and the annoying con-men in Bangkok were only minor bugs in an otherwise exceptional trip. We spent a year almost constantly travelling and encountered only one dodgy situation and even that was not a full week into the trip.
Would I do it all again? Well, yes. I'm not sure if I'd stay away for as long as a year again but six months definitely. Although, for anyone who hasn't already done the year trip then I would recommend it unquestionably.


I've been set a back and left speechless soo many times along the way with soo many memories that keep coming back to me that will stay stored away in a dusty corner of my brain forever. I've come back a red wine and green tea drinker but other than that nothing has changed except for my massive appreciation for the great country of my birth. It's funny how much things about your own country you miss, good British ales for one, and how much the people who live here take everything for granted and really do a good job of putting it all down.
As I go about my daily business I often think that at this very moment there's guys in flip-flops and shades doing some welding in China. There's a bronzed, beer bellied 50 year old guy catching a few waves on his surf board. There's a tour guide explaining the Inca ruins in three different languages. There's a perfect Argentinian steak being served, a stunning American mountain range being snowboarded, a huge New Zealand glacier being explored inside and a funk band playing in the dark clubs of the white city of San Francisco. Whatever it is, wherever it is, when you're travelling there's always something going on and it's almost impossible not to love it.

The end of an Asia

So that wraps up the Asian leg of the trip. How's it been? An experience from start to finish. I was totally unprepared for what was involved but then you can't really prepare for the everyday life here until you live it.
China was a bit dodgy sometimes but incredibly interesting and exciting in a way. Japan was probably the highlight, along with the real surprise of the islands of Thailand. I forgot to mention we also saw the island where 'The Beach' was filmed and that we slept to the sound of croaking frogs that sounded like a group of cows had surrounded our cabin. I never knew they could be soo loud! Kuala Lumpur and Singapore were both good and are definitely worth a stopover.
All in all I'd go back to most places, China last but I'm glad we went.
At this point we were ready for Australia and a bit of normality. Or so we thought.

Systematic travel

An average day in the travelling life is pretty hectic when you have limited time in a place. It pays to be sort of organised so you can quickly get on with seeing stuff.
Before we arrive anywhere we usually have pre-booked a place a day or two before. Once you arrive you try to get as much information as you can from the train/plane/bus station. Japan was great for this as the tourist info places are all really helpful and the maps are great.
We usually jot down brief instructions, or at least the address, of the place we are staying so it makes it a little easier to ask people or look on maps on how to get there. It usually helps to ask at the tourist info or at your hotel on what the best things to see are as this saves time in strolling around looking at the not-as-good stuff.
You quickly have to get used to every city so in Japan this got really tough as we had limited time. Constantly having a map with us was essential.
Working out local transport is sometimes tricky but we've found most people are helpful, many people helped us out in Japan just because we looked lost even though most times we were fine!
Just trying to do the best you can in the time you've got is tricky but it's all a brilliant experience and no day is ever the same. Every time you leave your room in Asia something happens, which is partly why it's been soo difficult to keep up with this blog!
Right, next city!

Hong Kong Airport.
Somewhere in China. It's all a blur.

Pondering the social and democratic change affecting China and it's commerce...probably.

Xi'an pronounced she-an

As I can't view my previous posts in China for some reason I can't quite remember where I was up to. Beijing, before going to the Forbidden City I think. Anyway, it was pretty cool. And huge. 9,999 and a half rooms. Not all open to the public. Some of it was under restoration due to the Olympics next year, as with a lot of places in China, but it was still pretty cool. Very impressive and surprisingly odd, like China itself. How anywhere could have a huge area of decadent buildings and temples that the general public can't go in is just odd. Especially when everyone outside is poor as hell and the emperor is living in quality surroundings with as many women as he could possibly know what to do with.
Some of the old Chinese rituals are pretty wacky. For instance, you don't really want to work for an emperor who dies, which they all do eventually, because you'll be ritually killed too. You don't want to build a tomb that the emperor is buried in either. Because afterwards they make you drink wine which destroys your vocal chords so you can't tell anyone where he's buried. I'd rather not bother getting involved myself.
Another thing I've noticed here is that everybody has the same colour hair. Which I think is why I'm such a freakshow here. Everywhere we go we get stared at and we've been asked to be in quite a few photos with Chinese people. Pretty disconcerting.
We had to see the great wall so at the last minute before leaving we booked onto a day tour including a burial tomb and some other crap 'shopping' thing that was clearly tied into the tour guide's contract. He was cool though, looked a bit like Jackie Chan. We had 2 hours on the wall over a mountain called Badaling. It was steep. We started at one point and walked over the frickin mountain in the intense heat to come back down the otherside to meet our guide. It was really good. The views were spectacular, and for one I didn't realise the Great Wall of China had steps on it. It was amazingly steep though, some of the steps were huge. Definitely a cool experience and something you've got to do. We met a cool Australian couple on the tour too, ended up walking most of the wall with them. They were a good laugh and also very kind to let us go back to their room afterwards so we could put our bags there whilst we went to the public showers. It's really hot here. We also went to a Jade factory, a traditional tea house and a silk shop. They all basically show you the process then try and flog you stuff. The silk and tea shops were the worst. In the silk shop there must've been 50 staff and no customers. Which meant we had the surreal experience of strolling round looking at stuff we weren't interested in whilst 10 Chinese girls walked behind us. Everywhere we went. Eventually we found our way out once the tour guide turned up, it was a proper maze, he seemed embarrassed by the whole thing.
So that evening we go on the train for an overnight sleeper to Xi'an, the old capital of China. The train journey was 11 hours so we got into a 4 bed compartment. Quite comfy as it happens and not too pricey. We were waiting for ages to see who would join us and eventually a mid 40s Chinese guy came in. He didn't look happy at all to be in the compartment with two westerners. Especially when he realised we couldn't speak Chinese. After a few phone calls and a lot of puffing and sighing he left, never to return. He muttered 'not popular' in English when he left. I dunno whether he meant he wasn't popular or we weren't. Anyhoo, the attendant came in and told us no-one else would be coming into the room, which was excellent.
In the morning as I woke up to the sunrise on the way to Xi'an. I got to see loads of the countryside and the odd city. It's a beautiful place, but it has it's drawbacks. I kinda grew to like Beijing but not too much. There's something about the whole place that is good but also very bad. It's strange for sure.
We arrived in Xi'an at half 8 in the morning and instantly a different prospect to Beijing. Much cleaner, more modern, not as humid(just plain hot as hell), a lot less cheats, proper licensed taxis and no-one(hardly) speaks English...at all. Luckily we learned some hand signs in Beijing and now we barter quite a bit, there are tourist prices for everything so almost anything can be bargained for. The Chinese are all about the money and when they see us they think we have pots of it, and I suppose we do in comparison, so they'll try and rip you off as best they can. Not so much here in Xi'an though. I quite like the place but I'm ready to move on. We've an internal flight booked to Shanghai, preferable over the 15 hour train ride(this country is massive).
One thing I have seen here that's worth a note, we went to a Chinese theme park, as many in china they are based around Chinese history(this one called 'Tang Paradise' after the most successful period in Chinese history), and we were the only foreigners there. At the end of the day was a huge waterfall/movie/firework display. They actually projected images onto water. It was very weird but way cool. Again we got laughed at a lot and asked to be in photos but it's not as bad here as in Beijing.
Today we went to see the Terracotta warriors. If you don't know much about them I will explain. In 1974 a farmer digging a well out in the countryside found some clay artifacts. It turned out to be one of the best archaeological finds ever. An estimated 6000 life-size clay crafted warriors and horses were buried in a tomb for one of the most famous emperors in Chinese history, from 2 and a half thousand years ago. It's pretty huge. It took 470,00 men to build it all. It was wrecked when the emperor died though so they've had to piece together all these warrior dudes. Each one is totally unique. It's pretty amazing to think about but not that great a spectacle. They still have a lot of excavation work to go so it'll keep changing for decades. Got to see it while I'm here though because I can't imagine wanting to come back to China for a while. I'm glad I came and saw the place but I wouldn't just come here on holiday.
I best got off to have a full meal and a couple of beers for 70p. Classic.

Probably the hottest day on the trip so far. What you need to do is stand by a waterfall and look inconspicuous!

Datafurong Park. A themepark for the Chinese. Doesn't look anything like Alton Towers.