Midwest to the Northeast - An American Tale

"Half the fun is getting there..."
I often quote this line as it usually seems relevant to my adventures. We have an exception that  proves the rule. Greyhound are an epic fail of a company. It took me twice as long to reach Chicago from Buffalo (Niagara) because they over booked the coach TWICE and didn't have extra coaches... Common sense states you only sell tickets for which you have space...This is SIMPLE maths. Last time I ever use Greyhound. Despite this I had some fun bad mouthing Greyhound with the other disgruntled passengers.

Eventually after 8 hours in the station I was on a bus to Chicago. The 'windy city' such named because its politicans talk as much air as it does blow around the city. I met Mr Gill after a pint where some Police commented on my nice looking pint of German beer. We headed out to saunter the delights of Chicago's evening activities, bars, cheap pizza and seedy but friendly 'dive' bars. Both knackered from our respective travels, being very drunk it was time for a new day.

Chicago is quite big, tis home of the 'skyscraper', Obama, deep dish and some other things like gangsters. We saw the first Skyscraper on a rather dull walking tour. It wasn't even very big. Despite this we left the tour saw some much cooler buildings and walked along navy pier.
(photo is not of the first skyscraper, in fact I've no idea what these buildings are)

In the evening we went to check out 'Taste of Chicago' - food was expensive for what it was, but was interesting. They had a sweet tractor though. We got tickets and hoodwinked some more off a Cop eating a rather large turkey leg. He expressly told us not to spend them on beer.... this is obviously police code for "go and buy beer" so we did. Our barman only took half the tickets he was supposed to so at this point we are 2 nil up against the Taste - Free coupons and free beer.
Eventually we went in search of food, after Welshie made friends with another officer of the law. We eventually settled for Deep Dish Pizza... I hate to say it, but this was a big highlight. It was very very tasty.

In later days we spent a lot of time at the beach. We saw some fireworks and drank with the director of Transport for Chicago. He was called Chuck and took us to a cool Blues bar.

Boston came next. Boston has a rich history which they are very proud of... or to put it more accucrately; a history of rebellion against the British which they constantly ram down your throat. Guys it was 235 years ago, get over it. Despite this, I got a lot of love for Boston. More casual than Chicago and much less skyscrapers. we did the usual tourist traps, a trolley tour, the Bruins stadium(they are the team who beat Vancouver), a harbour cruise and of course the Cheers bar - Nobody knew our names, I was the only Sam, it was full of tourists but it has to be done.

We took a trip down Cape Cod in a car, this was excellent. We went to Provincetown, a big gay town with men in vests offering pedicures. Then we hit the beach as it was very hot!  It being new England everywhere was named after a place in the south west ie, Truro, Plymouth, Taunton etc. This shot below was taken in Falmouth!

Other things I enjoyed in Boston, was of course Clam Chowdaaaaaaa. Which is superb and comes in a bread bowl. I also got very drunk, some people blame this on 4Loko, both times this has been drunken bad things have happened BUT I blame Hiro, both times I have been drinking with Hiro it has ended odd and it was his friend who got the Tequila's in.

Anyway next day nursing severe hangovers we walked around Harvard. Here is Andrew 'relaxing' as any true student would at Harvard.

Last real sights we saw were some graves. Namely 'Samuel Adams'... you probably know him from the beer (its how I know him). Lastly we ate/drank near the harbour in a place called 'Dicks Last Resort...' where they proudly claim to 'be and act like dicks'

Rounded off the North-East US tour with a trip to DC. Obvious sites include White House, Capitol Hill, Lincoln memorial, Washington Monument etc etc and about a million free museums. It was bakingly hot here(35+), making any sight seeing an arduous effort and the museums air con an absolute godsend. The museums were excellent, ranging from the Natural History to Air/Space.

We also took in Arlington Cemetry, Holocaust Memorial museum and the Pentagon. The latter being rather dull except for a 9/11 memorial.
Washington, as you'd expect from the stately capital is rather stately! All the sites are neatly arranged near each other and overlook one another in quite an organised fashion.

In a strike of genius ironic hilarity. The Dalai Lama was in town for a conference on buddhism. This meant there were lots of monks and hippies also around for the conference. I could have heard him talk if I paid the £££ it cost. This is ironic because earlier in the trip I had been to Tibet and his palace which he himself cannot because of the Chinese. The Chinese have 'asked' Obama to council his meeting with the Dalai Lama, which is completely ridiculous. Further proof that Tibet isn't part of China.


Lastly, and probably rather uninteresting to 99% of the world, I quite like the Metro stations. They all seem identical and look exactly like they do in Fallout.
Miami tomorrow for humidity galore but a beach at least.

Hockey, Mountains, Lakes, Glaciers and Towers (Going up to come down)

This post may contain numerous inaccuracies and not all the photos as I have not uploaded them yet. Its been a while since I last post and obviously this post should cover the whole of Canada.
The title references most the things I did in Canada. I went up quite a few things, and so I also came down.

I arrived in Vancouver smack bang at the beginning of the Stanley Cup Play Offs. They even had the hockey broadcast in the immigration hall. This set the scene for the first couple of weeks. Hockey, Hockey and Hockey.

After spending a few days in Vancouver, I headed off to Victoria to meet my friend Mercedes who is currently working as a Naturalist for a whale watching company. In Victoria we saw some sites, I had a canadian breakfast (Pancakes, Bacon and Maple syrup). We saw some things, the houses of parliament for BC, a farm, won a quiz etc etc. Mercedes also took me Whale watching, we saw a Humpback which was pretty cool.

We also watched the Canucks win their second game of Hockey. I returned to Vancouver, took in a few more sights, ran around Stanley Park and watched more Hockey, this time on the street. The atmosphere was excellent and are what I will remember (no riots for me) Canucks eventually lost but by then I had headed to Whistler. Before I left, I went to Hip-Hop Kareoke was which absolutely fantastic. I loved Vancouver, it is chilled, interesting and I met lots of interesting people (despite the hostel being full of jobseekers :P)

Whistler, was the next stop. It was alot of fun. I spent far too much money on 'Adrenaline Junkie' activities. Firstly hurtling down mountains via Zip Lines, including a 2200ft line which was awesome. After this I threw myself down mountains on a Bike. Also totally worth it and a lot of fun, also absolutely knackering.

The next step was an overnight bus to Banff. Banff, is one of those picturesque little towns surrounded by mountains and despite being a small town it is rather fun due to it being so close to 3 skiing resorts. In Banff itself I went to the 'hot springs' - which aren't a patch on the numerous springs in Japan but was a nice relax after the long bus. The second activity in Banff was Sulphur Mountain. Due to injury I got the cable car up to the top and walked to the adjacent mountain for epic views of the valley.
The best thing I did in/around Banff was a day trip to Lake Louise and the Colombian Ice field. Both completely astounding wonders of Nature...
I also saw some wild Bears, Two Black Bears and one Grizzly :)

Banff was rounded off by a stint in the bar with a French Canadian Ska Punk band. There is alot more to do in Banff; hiking, canoeing, biking etc.

Next up was Calgary. Im going to be honest here, I didn't really like Calgary, This may be due to my own annoyance of spending longer here than I wanted to due to my own misbookings. In the same sense it was being rebuilt, seemed to lack cohesion and lacked city feel. The main reason I went here was to visit Hooters, purely because I've been to Hooters in five other counties and now six. Ironically there is a Hooters in Toronto making this whole excursion totally pointless. However I did visit the Zoo, and that was excellent (and hilarious - see slightly rude pics). I know my Dad has a contact in Calgary but I just didn't feel it, As mentioned that may have been my own fault.*


* I met a girl in Boston, and she also thinks Calgary sucks.

Escaping Calgary I flew to Toronto. Due to previously mentioned misbooking I only had one full day in Toronto. Cramming in as much as I could, I enjoyed Toronto and am disappointed I had so little time to take it in. I walked around a lot, saw the Hockey hall of Fame, City halls, (both old and new, the new one was rubbish 70s modern carp) I finished Toronto off with a trip up the CN Tower, the views were excellent as usual. The last thing I did in Toronto was have some proper Canadian food, the national dish of 'Pountine' for those that don't know, Poutine consists of Chips, Gravy and Cheese Curds. It was surprisingly nice.

The last Canadian experience was Niagara Falls. One again a natural breathtaking beauty. However alot of the 'sights' around the falls are costly experiences. I would say that some are not worth it. For instance on the America side, there is a viewing platform that barely shows you anything that costs $15... yet if you walk around you get much closer and its free. Either way Niagara falls was excellent, I quite want to go back in Winter to witness it while frozen, which no doubt will again be quite a sight.

That whistle stop review of Canada is all for now. I am in Chicago, I have met up with Welshie and as such shenanigans are occurring. However, for this you shall have to wait until the next time.
Will post the photos when I get the time. Are plenty on the FB or Picasa in the meantime. (links to the topt)

Lastly, Witnessed some Chicago thunderstorms today which were pretty cool.

Ninjas, Magic, 10 Course Dinners, Maids, Spaghetti Metro and Love Hotels

The indeterminable adventure that was the first few days in Tokyo and then some more weirdness of the Japanese variety. Excited? Well I was too…

I arrived into Tokyo from the kamukura express, I didn’t have any mony so my friend and I went to look for cash so I could buy a ticket to my hostels station. After several failed attempts, 711 as usual paved the way. I met Hiro, had lunch saw a typical temple, after this we went to Roppongi, saw some stuff and then had ice cream where as they made it they sang to us. We went off for dinner a bit later. This was at ‘Ninja’ a hideout for ninja’s where they cook fancy food. Ten courses in the ninja village served up by ninjas, including a ninja magician. The food was interesting and at times very tasty. Recommended for taste and experience though. We ended the night drinking with Emilie and Misaki, two girls I had met in kamukura.

Next day we went to Akihabara, electronic city to look at fancy gadgets. A techies dream, every bit of swish technology ever imagined. Hiro suggested we go to a ‘maid café’ then tried to back out. Here the waitresses dress as maids, an are supposed to act like the customer is their master. It’s pretty odd, aimed at Anime Otaku, but has become more popular. Basically its hooters for nerds. Hiro went for dinner and a concert and I got ready for the entertainment of the evening, a trip to Womb, nightclub extraordinaire (rated top 4 in the world’s top 100 clubs in 2009) Before this, I met Hiro and drank with him and his parents in a bar in Roppongi, I sang some Sinatra with the live band, badly I might add. Womb is a blur, but was awesome all the same.

The next day, the rain began. A typhoon was on its way and it was VERY wet. This theme would remain the next two days. I did little this first day after womb, except for Tempura dinner with Hiro and parents. Next day was a walking day of touring the young, fun and exciting areas. First stop, Shibuya. Home to shopping and the busiest pedestrian crossing. I watched everyone march across wielding their umbrellas. I walked to Harajuku, home of the weirder. People here cosplay dress up congregate here on the weekend. There were also some concert going on at Yoyogi stadium, maximizing the number of umbrellas around. I walked down shopping street, when I could, amongst a wall of umbrellas (common theme).

I am unsure as to which exact day some things happened in this order. I went up Mori Tower to see the view of Tokyo city spread out, I got there at dusk and waited till it was properly dark to see the lights of the city. I went to Ikebukuro, saw a mall called ‘Sunshine City’ and a Cat Café. This one, differs slightly to a normal café. After a small entrance/hourly fee, all drinks are free and you mingle and play with cats. After this, I went to Shinjuku and walked all the way back to Shibuya. This time with less rain. I woke up at 5am to go see the fish market in action. This the worlds biggest is the home of tuna. I saw the biggest tuna ever, fresh from the boat. Walking around was quite the experience. Later after breakfast I wandered around Hibuya park and the Imperial Palace gardens.
Later on, I had dinner with Hiros family again. This time tasty Kobe beef, It was sooooooooooo good. Three kinds of beef cooked to perfection, including fire. After drinks in his hotel bar, A set in the bond film ‘You Only Live Twice’ we went to Gonpacho, a Izayaka (basically a pub) that was the inspiration for a scene in Kill Bill.

This virtually brings me to the end of Tokyo time.
I haven’t mentioned the Spaghetti Metro. Like all train travel in Japan it is fast and efficient. However it resembles the image of spilt spaghetti on the floor. Another interesting (for me anyway) is that my traditional style Ryokan is surrounded by ‘Love Hotels’.
Im now in Canada, home of ice hockey. After two flights, the second of which was fairly interesting. A guy in front of me had a seizure, babies screamed almost constantly and there were epic views of Vancouver on the approach I arrived in Vancouver. The Canucks had just won the first play off, so with no sleep I went out and partied with the Canadians.
A time of firsts, first crossing of the dateline, first time in Canada/Japan etc. Thus begins the ‘second part’ of my trip. North America. I will miss Asia but it’s good to be back in the west.

Monkeys, Castles and early starts

I began writing this at 5am as I waited for the first subway to run on my way to the world’s biggest fish market, where tuna is sold whole for astronomical figures (think 5k plus). The streets are all empty and the metro has only now started to fill up. 

This on which is my last full day, is hopefully my earliest start. I’ve seen 4am before on my trip, but not from this side of sleep. Not that I ‘slept’ particularly well. My dreams are playing havoc with my perception (keep dreaming I'm at home, which is not particularly pleasant.) I don’t even think I probably nodded off until 2am. Giving me 2 hours of sleep, even though I went to bed at 11.

However, as its best to do things chronologically... says who? Here we go - Reeeeeeeeeeeeewind.

Ito as foretold last time, led to Nagano-Ken. My base for this area would be Nagano itself, home of the winter Olympics 1998. A few monuments/signs still hint at this and is Naganos main claim to faim. On my first day, the weather was still lovely and I went walking around Nagano. The main attraction is a temple called Zenko-Ji. As I arrived just before closing time it was quite quiet, this gave a nice feel, a more temple esque feel actually. The other thing to note about temples in Japan is that they are all very spacious, and have lots of greenery surrounding in the gardens.

Sights of Nagano itself done for the day, I had dinner, I think this was either noodle soup or pre-made sashimi due to being in ultra-cheap mode. These quick/easy/cheap dinners are actually pretty tasty.

The second day of Nagano involved taking a bus up towards the hills for a walk to Yudanaka to visit the ‘snow monkeys’ (Please note there was no snow at the moment). Despite the lack of snow, there were plenty of monkeys. Unlike the monkeys in China, these ones were pretty docile and indifferent to the presence of the humans. This is probably in a large part to the banning of feeding them. Before venturing to visit the monkeys I had a bath in the local hut. After all this I had some local style ‘soba’ Noodles. I thought these were dull and bland (They are however gluten free for all you food allergy people).

Third day was Matsumoto castle day, the temperature rocked up to 30 degrees. Matsumoto is a city southwest of Nagano and home to an original wooden style castle. This was one of my favourite castles/sights, it overlooked mountains, of which snow could still be visible. You could go inside the castle and visit the top.
In the evening of this day we had a Sake party, all of which came from Fukushima, in a sort of solidarity movement. We also had various snacks, including but not only Grasshoppers, Sea Urchin and Jellyfish – not all tasty.

Day four it rained, so I did nothing. Day five I went to Kamakura. Not a lot happened in Kamukura, I walked about 16km, saw another big Buddha (this makes four at least) and some more temples as per the usual. The real highlight of kamukura was the guesthouse. Another traditional style with all the walls being removal doors. We had family cooked dinners of bbq fish and Takoyaki (a sort of octopus dumpling) both were excellent and the atmosphere perfect.

Time for Tokyo, I almost feel as if Tokyo should be its whole own post, so why not? Coming tomorrow I reckon, when you’ll hear about Ninja’s, spaghetti metros, maid & cat cafes and a whole host of other weirdness.

As always more pictures on the picasa, and even more tomorrow. Enjoy.

The sun may rise in the east....

I have now been in Japan for a few weeks. First impressions were, in contrast to China, Clean, modern, efficient and expensive. Exactly what I was expecting. Its harder to go 'native' than in China because western comforts far from being a rarity (as in China) are more common. Before I delve into what I have been doing, I shall point out some Japanese quirks...

1. Food, Although relatively normal they have some right proper odd foods, ie whole strawberries with cream in bread. This is just bizarre...

They also eat poisonous fish, raw horse etc. I will go into this in more detail at the relevant time.
They do have eating sorted, whether you are in a group or alone. Alone you sit at the bar/cooking area and watch them. This is great for loners like me, no longer do I feel a social outcast at meal times.

2. Fashion - (as expected) people here dress quite ridiculously from time to time. People my age often dress like 8 year olds, in princess costumes etc or just odd clothes. There are plenty of people who dress normally too, but when its weird its extreme.

3. Toilets - Almost the same except for all the fun gadgetry on the side. The seats are often heated, has a French style bidet squirter that can be adjusted for strength of water splash and temperature.

4. Automatic doors - More a pet peeve than a quirk. The automatic slidy doors open too slowly. They don't start opening until you are inches from the door. I've had some close instances where I almost walked in to the door.

5. Umberellas - Whether its raining or sunny you will see about a 1000 umberellas.

6. Shoes - Shoes come off almost everytime you enter a building, from the Temples to Restaurants and Hostels/Hotels.

7. Lastly, Onsen/Sento (baths) These are dotted around everywhere. Due to Japans volcanicity plenty of rich mineral water seaps out of the ground, where a bath house will spring up. Unlike a swimming pool in England, you enter naked and most baths are segregated, although some communal ones do exist.

(They also drive on the correct side of the road [left] and obey traffic laws, oh my days)
If I think of anymore I'll add them when I need to.
___

Onwards to travel times. After leaving Korea, I got my boat and slept on the floor overnight. Ariving in Shimonoseki I saw all it had to offer, it was nice but boring. I saw some clowns, the aquarium and climbed a hill to see it and Kyushu Island.

I also went to the fish market, which was fun seeing all the fresh food being made into Sashimi. Shimonoseki is also famous for its 'Fugu' Puffer fish to you and me. It is the poisonous kind that if prepared wrong, you die. You will most likely know of this fish from the Simpsons episode where Homer eats it and thinks he is going to die. I of course ate it too. It was nice... and I have lived to tell the tale.

Next stop on the tour was Hiroshima. I don't think I need to point out quite why Hiroshima is most famous. I visited peace park and the A-bomb history museum. I was impressed by the unbiased portrayal of the events leading up to the A-bomb, as a historian who has studied this I felt it was quite a balanced report and gave both sides. The Museum itself housed roof tiles, pieces of clothing and other artefacts from the aftermath of the blast, including pictures and written records. It was quite a harrowing experience seeing the damage and suffering caused. Hiroshima itself as can be expected for a city rebuilt is quite modern and clean. Despite the sadness of the museum I liked Hiroshima. I also ate the 'speciality'* food here which is called Okonomiyaki, a sort of sandwich dish made up of a pancake on one side and a omelette on the other with noodles/seafood inbetween.

* I say Speciality food here because many places also claim Okonomiyaki as a speciality. (There is a photo on picasa)

Continuing the whistle stop tour, I moved on to Osaka. Osaka has been my favourite place so far in Japan. Bigger than Hiroshima, it has a sense of excitement/fun that Hiroshima lacked. In fact I liked Osaka so much I went back after Kyoto. Its more bright than Hiroshima, with neon everywhere. The station is huge, comprises about 3 massive department stores and an underground maze of shops and restaurants. It is topped in ridiculousness only by Kyoto's architectually interesting station (more on this later)
In aspects of sites to see, I saw Umeda Sky Building, The Castle, museum of housing, Ebisu Bridge and Amerika Kure. I also went to the aquarium, this hosts a massive tank depicting the pacific, it houses a Whale Shark and a giant Manta.

Amerika Kure and Ebisu Bridge are two spots where the cool kids hang out. Amerika Kure so named because it replicates american culture; musically and fashion wise. Ebisu bridge is smack bang in the middle of Dotombori, the 'nightlife' area and a massively long arcaded shopping street. I just stood in these areas for a few hours watching people, silly fashions and restaurant staff trying to entice customers while I waited for the sun to go down and the neon lights to take full effect.

Kyoto is next. This the old imperial city for quite a long time. It is host to mostly Temples, Shrines and Palaces. It also rained heavily. I saw some temples on the first full day but gave up halfway through as I was soaked to the bone.

(this shows rain pouring off the top of a temple)

The next day I got wet, saw the Imperial Palace gardens, Saw a market which was dull compared to others I have seen. I gave up for lunch, had a hot Caramel Chocolate at starbucks and thankfully the rain stopped. This allowed me to complete the 5km walking trek of Temples/Shrines in the eastern part of Kyoto. (I skipped a few cause once you've seen one temple you've seen them all)

I have forgotten to add that on this second day, I also explored Kyoto's train station. This is another grand looking building surrounded by shops and restaurants. It is 11 stories high, has a skywalk running above the concourse and has steps leading all the way to the top floor.

After Kyoto as noted, I went back to Osaka. From Osaka I made a day trip to visit Nara, specifically to see the largest wooden building in the world. (2/3rds the size of the original!) Here I am in front of it...

There were lots of deer around, who were amazingly tame and friendly despite the warning signs depicting otherwise...

After Nara and a night out in Osaka it was time to venture to Kawaguchiko, at the foot of Mt. Fuji. Lucky with the weather (as with Everest) although cloudy it was clear to see my second iconic mountain of the trip.
On day two I cycled around the area, seeing Bat Cave, Lake Saiko and Lake Kawaguchi with views of Mt. Fuji.

Kawaguchiko's famed dish is raw horse, or 'Basashi', in my haste to try it, I forgot to take a picture. It was very tasty, not chewy in the slightest and distinct. The other famous dish is Hoto noodles, thick noodles like tagliatelle, but thicker and wider.

After Kawaguchi I headed to Ito, on the peninsula to relax for a few days. It is a spring town and my hostel itself is a traditional 100 year old building with a 'Onsen' in the basement. My room also smells of Salt 'n' Vinegar crisps oddly enough.

Thats all for now, Hope you enjoyed this mammoth post of Japan. Nagano, Kamakura and Tokyo still to do. Less than 2 weeks of asia left :(. More Photos on the Picassa/facebook pages.

Top Of The World

The title of my blog being Sauntering Vaguely Downwards, it hasn't made a lot of sense that most of my travel has been Northwards (up) and up mountains. But Now i've been to the top of the world (or as close as im ever going to get) everywhere is now officially 'downward'. Thus here we go, travels in Tibet.

To get to tibet one must first jump through some hurdles set by the goverment, this was made a bit difficult as I was not in Chengdu when I was fixing the permit. Scans and emails later all was achieved and I had acquired a permit (which we never showed to anyone at all) Actually the permit I have is only a photocopy, the real permit was never really shown to us. Anyway enough permit talk.

Much more exciting, Trains. The train ride takes 44 hours. We had beds in the standard sleeping area. There was also soft seats, now seats on chinese trains are often over crowded places, I can't imagine doing it for 44 hours. Unfortunately we had to cross these war zones to get to the restaurant car. This meant crossing and climbing over people sleeping on the floor in amongst the rubbish they had thrown there. The train was quite uneventful except for some out standing views of the Qinghai plateau at about 3000 metres looking out on to what appeared to be an endlessly flat desert. Watched the sunrise come up over a mountain here too.

On too Lhasa then. Lhasa is the capitail of Tibet resising at an altitude of about 3400 metres. It has a heavy military presence, have regular patrols and you are not allowed to photograph them. This was my first taste of proper oppression (other than the internet firewall). The Tibetans themselves were lovely and welcoming, always having time for us and a genuine smile. The shops sell similar sorta touristy knick knacks and prayer stuff for the pilgrims. Pilgrims, literally 1000s of these guys, Lhasa is the Buddhist version of Mecca, well for yellow hat sect buddhism anyway.

The pilgrims come to see Potala Palace and Johkang temple mainly, as with all holy sites in Tibet the pilgrims walk around these sites a number of times. 3-5 usually. Potala Palace is 5km around and so the trip takes over an hour. Potala Palace is the home of the exiled Dala Lama, the legitimate head of state, in my opinion it is grander than the palace of Versailles. The sky is amazingly blue in Tibet as this picture of the Palace highlights. The guy who built it had 3 wives! One Tibetan, 1 Chinese and one Nepalese (actually wikipedia says he had five)

We also got taken to some quieter temples off the beaten track by our guide, this was not scheduled and was different. It had a much more intimate feel as we viewing actual pilgrims rather than tourists. We wouldn't have known or have had the confidence if we'd been alone. Despite spying on them they still didn't mind us trundling around, infact I think they were pleased.
Lhasa over with (3 days or so, in which Clare I only went to one bar) it was time to hit the road. 8 hours and a temple later we arrived in Shigatse, Shigatse was like a usual chinese town in that it was massive and messy. The temple we saw here had monks debating, ones would stand up and ask questions while those who sat down answered. This was shown on Michael Palins himalayas so thats worth checking out if you can.

Shigatse began day number 2 of 8 hours travel. This time the end goal was EBC (Everest Base Camp) this involved 4 hours on a bumpy dirt track of road. We also passed through some high passes of over 5000metres. We were rewarded with some glimpses of Everest far away in the distance covered by cloud. Not good omens, however this fear was not to last as we got closer it cleared up and we could see it in the fading light. However the best views were still to come. I apologise now squeamish people but its relevant. I felt really ill this night, and around 3am I got up to go outside and inevitably lost the contents of my stomach. (Either altitude or stomach bug). This in itself allowed me to see Everest, lit by nothing except a full moon and the stars in a completely clear sky. This is probably the best view I had but no camera, which can be a blessing. Anyway the clear sky held and the next morning we could see it all clearly as we walked to Base Camp proper, where the real hikers hang out in tents. They were all asleep tho...

Time to leave Everest for the 8 hour return trip to Shigatse and then the extra 8 to Lhasa the following day. Next day flew back to Chengdu which was easy enough, bringing an end to almost 6 days of solid travelling. (I spent ten days in Tibet, 8 of which were travelling days) Chengdu was kinda dull, I like it and I like returning but I was knackered. I gave the hostel staff the Lhasa beer I'd promised and promptly slouched in the garden to recap on the world and relax. On the last day I watched a football match, they were diving and acting up all the time just like normal, Chengdu lost to a rather dubious penalty.

Qingdao was similar, I ate some lovely sea food, walked around on some military ships and went to the brewery. Much to my annoyance the Submarine wasn't open to the public at this time, so thats twice in Qingdao I have now failed to walk around the sub.a In Qingdao I had arrived at 1am, they hadn't a record of my booking, and it was full... sensing disaster they actually stuck me in a double ensuite room for the same price as before, Travelling just like monoply ' Hostel error in your favour, advance direcetly to go' Qingdao's hostel also had lovely big fluffy white dog, and a rooftop bar overlooking the whole city. It was a pretty cool hostel, based in an old observatory.
The boat to Korea was entertaining, I met the only other westerner on it and we played some cards, talked about England, China and common stuff like that.

In Korea on the first day I did some cultural things, Joyghese temple which had lovely lanterns everywhere, Chungyok tower, a palace  a bell tower. Since then I have been socialising with the English teachers out here who have been very accomodating. Clar, this is where I pub crawled again - Goose to Underground to Whos, Back to Underground and then back to whos! Ha. Today I went to a play put on by expats about Vegas.

This brings us to here, tomorrow I may leave for Busan/Japan or I may spend it planning Japan a bit. It depends how I feel.
I may have left some things out, or not but ask away and i'll reply.

oh and heres some Scorpions, bugs and worms I ate :)