[slideshow] After considering hitchiking, the Greyhound bus, sharing a trip with randoms from the hostel noticeboard, renting a campervan or buying a car and driving myself, I settled on the often least favourite option of the solo traveller to make the trip from Perth to Exmouth – the group tour. Turns out it was the…
[slideshow] Hit by the humidity after 28hours on the air con bus from Koh Samui, Singapore was stifling, yet spotless – as everyone said it would be. Concerned with only a shower and a solid meal, I was pleasantly surprised how helpful people were in finding my hostel for me! The subway was too confusing…
[slideshow] Cambodia has become a trendy, almost cliché, destination for gap yahs and travellers – but don’t let that put you off – as it’s as grateful for the tourist dollar as you can get and it is certainly an experience you will never forget. Films like “The Killing Fields” and books including’ “First they…
[slideshow] About a two-hour drive outside Ho Chi Minh City are the Cu Chi Tunnels where the Viet Cong defended Vietnam from American invasion from the 1960s. A bizarre attraction, with a wealth of reconstructed bunkers, tunnels, artefacts of torture and an AK47 shooting range. The ingenious, hand dug tunnels on three levels between three…
[slideshow] Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known (and still referred to by the locals) as Saigon is a must see place – even if you hate it, as many do – just so you can believe the traffic! With a population of 10million (and an estimated 7million motorbikes), it is busy, hectic, filthy (in parts)…
[slideshow]I LOVED Hong Kong. Despite a traumatic arrival, it was a place where acquaintances became life-long friends, I was re-energised to tackle the world and, above all, I had a really, really great time. After being put in touch with an old school mate through a mutual friend (Facebook does have some benefits), a suggested…
[slideshow] For art lovers and explorers alike, Moganshan Art District in Shanghai, is well worth a visit – even if modern art isn’t really your thing. Easily accessible by subway and a bit of a walk, the graffiti lined hoarding (that Banksy would be proud of) which leads you to a maze of exhibition spaces…
[slideshow] For some reason Shanghai was like my own personal Mecca. Arrival signified that I had made it overland across China and could do this traveling lark after all! It was a welcome (albeit brief) reunion of fellow Vodkatrainers, lost to individual itineraries for a few weeks. It also signified my first real taste of solo…
[slideshow] Behind the relative glitz and glamour of Beijing and Xi’an, Chongquing gives an insight into the real urban China. Located in the Sichuan Province, the municipalities’ 32 million people live in a sea of high rises on a scale I have never witnessed before. Tower block central, 30 plus stories high, it’s difficult to see…
[slideshow] Proclaimed as the eighth wonder of the world and now a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Terracotta Warriors are the reason many people visit Xi’an. I remember seeing them on Blue Peter and Newsround when I was a kid, but I didn’t know the story and wasn’t prepared for the sheer scale of the…