http://travelblog.dylanav.com Any excuse will do... Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:17:48 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Just to finish off, here's a (heavily abbreviated) list of some of the highlights of our honeymoon... Watching the mists swirl in the wind and finally, in the end, reveal Machu Picchu (Peru) early in the morning of our last day of the Inca Trail Having the hike to Condoriri (one of ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/89 As the more observant readers (both of you) would've noticed by now... we've actually been home for a couple of days now. Thailand was great, but we didn't do much touristy stuff. And by "much", I mean "any". Pretty much exactly what the doctor ordered, topped off nicely with catching ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/88 Alright, last lot of things that make one go "Hmmm..." Apart from the dozens of (rather amusing) examples of what is commonly referred to as Chinglish (Chinese badly translated into English, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinglish, one example I can remember was a sign that warned us to "Slip Carefully"), I have to admit ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/87 Forgot to put these up, figured better late than never... Upon moving into our room in Kathmandu we were slightly intrigued to find a complimentary box of matches with not the hotel logo on it but... Microsoft Windows? Perhaps one of the latest initiatives of the Gates Foundation? When checking the expiry ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/86 Well, the backpacking part is well and truly over and we are now on the part of our trip which, kind of worryingly, Justine keeps calling "the real honeymoon" :) . The "flashpacking" started a few days ago in Bangkok in which we saw no temples, but plenty of shopping ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/85 After that, the trip was all quite suddenly over. We had a couple of nights in Hong Kong, mainly spent saying goodbye to everyone on the tour and doing some shopping (latest updates have been typed on our new laptop :) ). We did manage to fit in a quick ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/84 Always figured it would be a bit tricky to get my hands on some english magazines while travelling around China, but wasn't sure how tricky. So, after having a pretty decent look around Xian (with 8 million people), and Chengdu (with 13 million people) and not being able to find ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/83 I'm sure we all have images in our minds of what certain countries or areas are like. Mine of rural China (without thinking about it too much of course) was of rice paddies, typical Chinese straw hats, bicycles, etc. I'm sure you've seen the postcard. As I mentioned previously, the ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/82 I'm sure everyone has heard of earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale that took place in Wenchuan, 92 kms northwest of Chengdu on Monday 12th May. Going by current estimates it has killed over 60,000 people, injured many more and made over 5 million people homeless. We first heard about ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/81 After an awesome few days away from the cities, unfortunately we were back for more. Despite my general prejudice against cities, Chengdu was a pleasant surprise. A few nice parks, some great Sichuan food (spicy!) and an overal far more relaxed atmosphere made this place definitely worth visiting. The highlight ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/80 Anyway, after Xian (the fourth city on our trip which, until the Tibetan protests caused a reroute of our itinerary, was supposed to cover "Nomadic China"), we made our way to Emei Shan (Mount Emei). This is one of the four big Buddhist mountains in China which means it has ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/79 That's right. We've managed to join our Intrepid tour and let's put it this way, they don't beat around the bush. Interestingly, our original itinerary was going to go to a few places on the outskirts of the Tibetan Himalaya, but had to be rerouted due to the protests that have ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/78 Our travel style that is. But we've managed to get away with it once more :) In other words, we were able to get our China visas. On the other hand, I've had more relaxing stopovers... As I mentioned in an earlier post we accidentally managed to leave the application for our ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/77 Of course we came to Nepal, like so many others, not just to enjoy the scenery, but to go for a walk. Well, having just finished the Annapurna Circuit, I think we might be walked out for a bit :) . Don't get me wrong, it was the best trek ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/76 Back in Kathmandu now. I say back because, even though there have been no posts yet in Nepal, we have just finished the (18 day) Annapurna Circuit and are now back in Kathmandu for a few days before we head off again! Doesn't time fly when you... uhm, don't have ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/75 Not quite in the What The category, but thought I'd share them anyway. Safe to say the Japanese do things differently than some and one of the reasons this is a cool place to visit... This place is clean. And by clean I mean spotless. Trains, buses, public toilets, footpaths, you ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/72 The last few days we've been busy rounding out our stay here in Japan with stops in Takayama and Matsumoto in the Japanese Alps and of course Tokyo. Takayama is home to a reconstructed rural town called Hida-no-sata with houses as they were (and in some places still are) a few ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/73 As mentioned before, I won't be able to post all my Japan photos till a later date, but I figured I'd put up a few here for now... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/59 One of the nicest walks we've done so far was that around Atago-san. As with all of the walks we've done, temples were floating around, but this one actually lacked a lot of the touristy aspects which we've grown accustomed to. Sure, there were a few others (only Japanese of ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/58 Have spent the last week or so exploring Kyoto and surrounds. All great stuff and worthy of the "not to be missed" description often given to it (if you're into guide books). One observation though: it is very easy to overdose on temples. They are everywhere. Which kind of makes sense when ... http://travelblog.dylanav.com/archives/57