We've met a whole bunch of awesome long term travellers along the way who like to blog as much as we do, so we've added a new 'Who We've Met' section on our About Us page to keep track of them.
Check out their blogs here.
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The Everest Region was one of the key destinations on our overland trip to Australia. Home of some seriously tall mountains, we aimed to be here for November, to catch the tail end of the second hiking season. Finally, the hiking boots we’d been carrying for the last 6 months would come into their own.
With tourism numbers severely down due to the April 2015 earthquake, and the economy brought to its knees by the fuel crisis, there seems to always be a media frenzy when it comes to Nepal. On the plus side, the trails would be far quieter than normal, the local economy would benefit more from our visit, and we wouldn’t have to fight over buffalo momo’s. We took a leaf out of the book of our friends over at routinelynomadic.com and decided to go for a bit of Q&A. So click read more to find out how much it all cost us, what we packed, and …. We spent a lot of time waiting. For buses. For embassies to return our passports. For portable kettles which don’t turn off when they’ve boiled so we still think they’re heating up...
So we read. Added to the About us page is a brand-new section of the books we've read. Drop us a line for with any recommendations - we're eager for more! Country number 12 has just been added to our destination pages! We skimmed across Northern Greece with one main aim...seeing the soaring monasteries of Meteora. Check our our photos and a few stories here.
We had quite an adventurous few days around Guilin and Yangshuo - the premier destinations of Guangxi province in China. Riding out the tail-end of the National Holiday here meant the crowds dissipated a little, prices dropped a tad, and there was an approximate 0.025% drop in spitting.
Click read more to find out how we got to, around, and back from the venerable Lòngjî Rice Terraces. ~ a quick wrap up of a hectic month ~We’ve just eaten a steaming bowl of spicy noodle soup for breakfast, washed down with a pretty average coffee, and are sitting in a sunny cafe in Shangri-la, the proverbial Chinese city of paradise where our time in China is sadly coming to an end. It’s been a country of long walks, long train rides and glorious scenery, and as we’ve just arrived at our highest altitude yet of over 3000m we thought we’d take some time out to reflect on the whirlwind this month has been while we take some time out to acclimatise to our new altitude.
China is a beast of a country. There is years worth of travel to be done here, and from the beginning we knew with only one month we’d have to be pretty selective with our destinations. We drew up our initial plan which we later realised was severely ambitious, and were quickly forced to cut it back to about a third of what we had initially planned. The crippling censorship of the internet makes it only more challenging, and we quickly discovered that most of the tools we rely on for planning on the go aren’t accessible at all. Our blog’s also suffered, with no access to Weebly, Instagram, Facebook, Gmail or Google Maps, its made it frustrating at times, but once we figured out the Chinese way of doing things we were working our way through the laneways, highways and mountain trails of China like pros. For travel tips, highlights and our itinerary, click 'read more' below. We recently hit our 6 month anniversary; 6 months since the surreal moment of watching a van pull out from our driveway in Shoreditch with all our things. A collective 8 years of our lives, sealed into 24 cardboard boxes, neatly stacked and marked. The day was flat and gray, with the ever-present hum of traffic. As typically London as could be. 6 months later, here we are, buried deep in south-western China. We’re in the little wooden caravan village of Shaxi, one of only three surviving on the ‘Tea Horse’ route - one that connected Yunnan to India, a sister to the Silk Road. It’s the kind of village you’d be forgiven for thinking exists all around rural China - until you actually travel through the countryside. This one is really special; Shaxi is the kind of rejuvinating place to gaze out the window and watch the seasons peacefully drift by. We’ve washed our underwear in the sink, hobbled onto trains with food poisoning and gotten lost countless times. These (and more) romanticised aspects of travel are all things that eventually happen to anyone who’s on the road for long enough. (Except, perhaps, getting tear-gassed. Seriously - it’s not fun.) But the route we’re taking, overland from London to Sydney, has shown us something unique - something more than we thought it would ever be. There is a gentle cultural blend which has no regard for country borders - a melting of everything that makes up the identity of people. If anything, this slow cultural blend follows the geographic contours of the world. The flow of religion through the world is integral to the culture of the people who inhabit a region - seeing the sprouts of Islam in Europe blossom as we counted down the kilometres to Turkey, was astonishing. And then the influence was promptly cut-off as we crossed the geographic guillotine of the Caucasus mountains To the victor goes the spoils, and so each country has its own version of history. Empires have spread over such vast areas, and it’s no wonder countries choose to celebrate certain aspects - indeed, we’ve all heard of Chinnghis (Genghis) Khan, and his mighty - if abruptly short - empire. With food and eating habits so integral to our daily lives, it’s no surprise to see how these traditions are related to the empires and their cultural influence (thanks hugely to the Ottomans). For every country that lays claim to a special home-made spirit, there is another with the same grandma-perfected recipe, guaranteed. Current world events have become more meaningful for us; our feet were plodding along on the same Turkish soil where attacks occurred. Russia’s military operations are feeding a paranoia of travellers through its borders. As we write this, borders are even closing in Europe, due to increased migration. Our route is simply not possible now - only 6 months later. And through all this time, the gradual change of people, of faces. Our ‘Portraits: London to Sydney’ photo project is going strong. Seeing the influences of various ethnicities dance and mix with each other is incredibly interesting. We can’t wait to see it completed. Our journey hasn’t been about conquering the world. We haven’t ‘done’ Eastern Europe, nor did we ‘do’ the Trans-Siberian railway. As one ex-pat put it to us in China, ‘the more we travel, the more we realise how little we know’. Watching the blend of culture; of religion, history, eating habits and people, by travelling overland is an utterly fascinating experience. Next stop: Nepal. After so many recommendations to detour via Albania, we did it - and had an amazing time. Have a read of our adventures here!
Its a pretty common route, jumping on the Trans Mongolian in Moscow, a few weeks enjoying the vast open spaces of Mongolia and then onwards to China, but if you are like us and travelling for many months, the logistics of visa’s can get tricky. We met so many travellers following the same path, but surprisingly little info online on how to apply for a Chinese visa from Mongolia. Many travellers are able to apply from their home country before the journey begins, but if you are like us and 5 months into the trip, this isn’t an option.
Travel blogs were the most useful source of information, but the application process seems to have changed from previous years and may have even become slightly more relaxed. Previous items such as a letter of invitation aren’t required now, which is thankfully one less piece of paper to worry about. So, if you are an Australian applying for a Chinese Tourist visa from Mongolia, here’s the process. Note: This seemed to be the case for most other countries too, unless you are Indonesian and then you can only apply with a Mongolian permanent residency card (which makes it virtually impossible….this happened to an unlucky Indonesian in our travel group) The FYROM is home to the spectacular Lake Ohrid - the jewel in the crown of the Balkans. And half the adventure was getting there. Read all about it - and see our photos here.
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EMMA & PETEWe're just two Aussie's who met in London, married in Prague and travelled overland back to Australia.
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