Last hours....

It was very quiet in my room, now that Kealie had left so I used the time to throw away most of the clothes that I had worn almost non stop for a year (no wonder I am wearing the same clothes in almost every photo!) and tried to make by back pack lighter than the 20 kgs I have been lugging around, along with a full backpack as my hand luggage!

I got the 9am bus to the airport to find that it didn’t take as long as I’d anticipated and there were very little shops that were open. Once in duty free, I was dismayed to learn that, as the UK wasn’t my next stop and that I was stopping in Helsinki, I was not allowed to buy any duty free! The vodka would have to stay in Russia! The only good thing was that my backpack now weighed 17 kgs and that included everything that was usually in my hand luggage! At last, it was of a bearable weight!

I spent a lovely two hours in Helsinki airport drinking endless cups of tea before getting on my final flight back to London. I arrived into Heathrow mid afternoon to be greeted by my parents and brother and was told to hurry as the rugby was on and that they were missing it! So much for missing me but its good to see that nothing changes!

I've had a truly amazing year of travel, meeting some brilliant people and having some really crazy experiences that will always stay with me - thanks to everyone that help create those memories!

I can't believe that this year has finally come to an end! What a brilliant year it was....!

St Petersburg

The overnight train from Moscow arrived into St Petersburg at 8:45am and we were met by our final honcho, Kate. After going to our hotel to find that it was not ready, we went and had brunch, which consisted of yet more beetroot!

We took a public bus to Petrodvorets, the "Russian Versailles" - the summer home of Peter the Great, where we spent the day. It was a very grand palace which had an amazing set of gardens with fountains and golden statues. The water from the main fountain leads down into the Gulf of Finland. We followed it down and decided to go paddling in the gulf! We think that we were able to see Finland in the distance!

When in Russia, the ballet is a must and we got tickets to see Swan Lake that night! Thankfully the programme was in English so we had an understanding of the plot but it wasn't needed as it was a magnificent performance. On the way home, we managed to get 6 of us in a taxi (for a reasonable sized tip!)

The next day, we went to The Hermitage, which houses millions of items of art. On the way in, we passed a couple of busking musicians. They asked Steph where she was from and when she said Australia, they burst into the first verse of Waltzing Matilda!

We spent hours in The Hermitage - there was almost too much to see in one day. The architecture of the place was outstanding and there were so many priceless paintings on display.

We headed off for lunch and were taken to a Georgian restaurant on recommendation of our honcho. Needless to say, I won't recommend eating here - they took ages to sort out our food and the delightfully sounding chicken dish came raw!! It was sent straight back!

We then saw the Church of our Saviour on Spilled Blood, which looks pretty similar to St Basil's in Moscow! It was on this spot that Alexander II was blown up by a terrorist group in 1881! Inside, it is covered in mosaics which were amazing!

We headed over to the little Zayachy Island to see the Peter & Paul Fortress. It was here that Peter first broke ground for the city. The fortress is a hexagonal one that was built in 1703. We walked the Nevskaya Panorama and looked back at the city. Along the walk were photographs from a recent competition which were impressive. We didn't stay there too long as it was getting pretty cold and most of us were in shorts! On our way out, we posed for photos by the Peter the Great bronze statue!

As tonight is officially the last night with the group, we headed to Gismat, a local restaurant to have a farewell dinner. It all began fairly tamely but after the alcohol began flowing, things went quickly downhill and involved lap dancing (don't ask!!). This was much to the amusement of the owner who shut the restaurant and we had it to ourselves until the early hours!

We all met for breakfast and said our goodbyes to those who were moving on today, one of which was Kealie who was flying home. It'll be weird tonight without a roommate, especially since Kealie is a very lively person!

Jess, Lee Ann, Georgina, Jo & I headed out to St Issac's Cathedral where you could walk around the base of the dome. We climbed up the 262 narrow steps to the colonnade and took in the 360 degree panoramic view of the city. There is a charge for taking photos up here but we managed a couple, despite a security guard trying his best to bribe us!

We had lunch before doing some souvenir shopping. I was told that I was mad by a stall holder - I was in shorts and flip flops and she had a scarf and gloves on! We stopped for a drink in a nearby cafe and we ordered hot chocolate - only to find that it was basically barely melted chocolate in a cup, and very sweet! The remainder of the group met for dinner that night and I said my final goodbyes to everyone. It was a brilliant group and we all got on very well. Thanks to everyone for the amusing memories!!

Moscow

We were met by honcho Anastasia and taken to our hotel only to find that part of it was being renovated and it was a building site with lots of red dust around! We had dinner in a nearby restaurant and tried a traditional drink - kavas - which was a bread yeast drink! It was not very nice!

The next day we finally got to explore Moscow and our first stop had to be the Kremlin. We went into the Armoury where they have an exhibition of treasures that were collected by the Russian church which included some beautiful eggs created by Faberge, state carriages and royal ceremonial clothes.

We wandered down to Sobornaya pl (Cathedral Square) and visited the number of palaces and churches there - Patriarch's Palace, Assumption Cathedral, Church of the Disposition of the Robe and Archangel's Cathedral as well as the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. All of the buildings were topped were gold domes and shone brightly in the sunshine.

We then walked over to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and caught the changing of the guard. After a 'business lunch' which included a first course of beetroot salad before taking a tour around the city, admiring the many churches and buildings.

We arrived back at Red Square and went to see St Basil's Cathedral. It is the most bizarre religious building that I have seen and used almost every colour imaginable on its turrets. Inside, there were fresco's on the walls which were beautiful. It also had a great view of Red Square.

We then went to a market before heading into the Vodka Museum and learnt about the history of vodka and how it is made. They also had some unusual designed bottles, such as a Kalashnikov rifle shaped one! We also had some complimentary vodka!

The next day, we went and saw Lenin's Mausoleum in Red Square. We were not allowed to stop inside and even walking slowly meant that we were shouted at by guards with guns! It is safe to say that Lenin was not looking his best!

That afternoon, we went to the Central Museum of the Revolution which documented the Russian Revolutions of the early 20th century and its involvement in World War Two. It was fascinating and even included some propaganda posters of the time.

We walked up to the university and to a view point which laid out the whole city in front of us. We had fun trying to spot the sights! On the way back, we stopped at several Metro stations as they are beautifully decorated and very ornate! We also popped into a shop that had a beautifully decorated ceiling.

That night, we went back to Red Square to see it all lit up. It was beautiful. We headed over to the train station and caught the 12:30am overnight train to our final destination, St Petersburg!

3 Nights on a Train!

After leaving Lake Baikal on the 30th August, our trip took us on a 3 night train journey to Moscow. To pass the time, we did quizzes (each writing 5 questions & not allowed to answer them when they came up) and other various time-passing children's games!

We also had the slight problem of not having access to a shower so Georgina, Jo, Lee Ann and I creatively used a bucket (called Hyacinth) and a little jug (called Richard!) and washed our hair in the cabin. It proved quite hilarious!

Finally, we arrived into Moscow on the evening of the 2nd September and were met by honcho Anastasia.

Irkukst and Lake Baikal

We arrived into Irkutsk mid morning and were met by honcho Toli who took us to the little town of Listvyanka on the edge of Lake Baikal. We were taken on a small hike to a view point to get a better idea of how large Lake Baikal is - its the 6th largest in the world with an area of 31,500 sq. km. We could not see the other end of it!

That afternoon, we went and sat on the 'beach' and us brave (or mad) English decided that it would be fun to go for a quick swim. It definitely was quick as it was pretty cold (it freezes in winter!)

The following day, we went to the Baikal Museum that has lots of stuffed things and learnt more about the lake. We then took another walk up to a different view point before taking a boat trip with another Vodka Train group. We moored up and all decided to go for a swim. The only problem was that we had to jump/dive off the boat. Thankfully, Martin was on hand to take action photos! We didn't stay in the water long!

That night, Kealie and I had a Vodka party with the other Vodka Train group (who had had more experience of proper Russian vodka)!

The following day, we headed back to Irkutsk, ready for the afternoon train to Moscow!

Mongolia - Ulaanbaatar and the Ger Camp

We got into Ulaanbaatar just after lunch and were met by honcho Toya. We checked into our hotel to find that the hot water had gone down that morning, so the eagerly awaited showers had to be taken in cold water! That afternoon, she took us on a tour of the city before we went to a dance show. I got told off for trying to take photos (they charged you per photo!) It was very colourful. We then went to a Mongolian BBQ where you select the food you want and take it to the stove and they cook it in front of you! It was delicious!

The next day we headed off for the Ger Camp in Gorkhi Terelj National Park. Our Ger Camp was in the middle of nowhere and there were practically no other Ger's around. It was bliss! The inside of the Ger's had 4 beds around the outside and a fire in the middle (which was lit at night and re-fuelled during the night to ensure that we didn't wake up cold!)

The next day we went and visited a nomadic family who were living near by to find out more about their life. They had 2 young daughters who showed us their Ger and gave us a traditional drink called 'airag', which is fermented mare's milk. It did not taste good but we drank it all the same!

That afternoon we did what all the great Mongolians did - got on a horse and went for a ride! The horses obviously had a set route and it took a lot of effort to get them to go a slightly different path! But it was still good fun!

We then went and climbed a near by hill which gave us a great view of the national park and emphasised the fact of how isolated we were! We were followed up the hill by a dog but had no idea where the dog came from!

The next day we walked over to Turtle Rock - a rock that, unsurprisingly, looks like a turtle! We climbed up the rock until we got to the centre of it. Toya then showed us a small gap in the rock which we had to squeeze through. It was worth it though as it took us out onto a ledge that overlooked the valley!

In the afternoon, we went horse riding again and this time, the horses came to us - bit of a surprise when a horse passed by the front door of the Ger! My horse decided to have a stubborn ten minutes and wouldn't go any faster than walking pace, despite the other horses galloping! Typical!

We also had the chance to dress up in traditional Mongolian fashion - I managed to get the man's outfit!

We spent a bit more time enjoying the scenery before heading back to Ulaanbaatar where there was a frantic dash to get our laundry done and to buy supplies for the next train journey.

We got the 7pm train for Irkutsk and spent several hours at the Mongolian-Russian boarder before we were finally allowed to carry on our journey!

The Vodka Train

For the final part of my journey, I have decided to join the aptly named 'Vodka Train' tour and travel from Beijing to St Petersburg on the Trans-Siberian/Trans-Mongolian route.

We left from our Beijing hotel at 6am (after arguing with the reception staff over my deposit that they refused to pay back - I finally won!) and headed for the train station for our 7:45am departure for Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian captial.

Our tour group consisted of my new roommate, Kealie, two English sisters Georgina and Jo, a Kiwi called Lee Ann, a Bristish-Irish couple Michelle and Martin, an Aussie stduent Jess, an Aussie couple Alex and Hayley and Aussie friends Stephanie and Calista. At every stop we would be greated by our 'honcho' - a local person, usually a student, who would guide us around their city.

In Beijing, our honcho was Mark but I only saw him twice - once at the beginning and once when he dropped us off at the train station!

We reached the Chinese-Mongolian border at 8.45pm (after travelling for 13 hours straight!). After being shepparded off the train, through Chinese immigration and Mongolian immigration, we were left on the platform whilst Mongolian officials checked over the train. It was almost 2am before the train finally departed!

We arrived in Ulaanbaarat at 1.20pm and were met by honcho Toya.

Beijing - Forbidden Cities and Great Walls

I got back into Beijing and could finally begin my sight seeing of this amazing capital city. My first port of call was to Tiananmen Square. This is where Mao Zedong’s body is housed but I was unable to go and see it as he was having a much needed make over! I was harassed by a street seller who wanted to sell me a watch with Mao’s face on it! It was pretty amusing! Outside of where Mao’s body is kept is the Monument to the People’s Heroes which charts the development of modern Chinese history.

I then went into the Forbidden City. You entered the courtyard via a massive gate with a giant picture of Mao above it. It was told off for trying to take a photo of it! Once inside the courtyard there are rows of little shops around the edges trying to sell all sorts of trinkets and souvenirs and it was full of people milling around. I didn’t see a Starbucks there, despite the rumours to the contrary! Inside the Forbidden City was a mass of small temples and small rooms which had been turned into museums. There was so much to see there that you almost need a second day to take it all in!

I went along to the Yonghe Gong Temple to the north of city walls, which was originally used by Tibetan monks. There were 3 or 4 temples within the complex with a variety of Buddha’s in each one. On the way home, I popped into a little Tea Shop and ended up buying a tea set – how I’m going to get it home in one piece I don’t know! My new roommate, Kealie, and I met up with some friends of hers, Toni & Ollie and went for a night out.

I did a day trip to the amazing Great Wall of China, which is a definite must in Beijing. I was dropped at Simatai which is one of the oldest parts of the wall that is most in tact but not too far from Beijing. I took the cable car up the hillside. The view was brilliant and you could see the wall along the top of the hill stretching out for miles. I then took a little trip on the express train to take me to the bottom of the climb up to the wall.

I got accosted by a local woman who would help me on the walk. I kept saying no but she didn’t listen so I had a companion for the climb. She managed to tell me that her family are farmers in Inner Mongolia (the area to the north of the Great Wall but still in China!) and she comes here for a couple of days a week and does three climbs per day. At the top, we walked along the wall and through the many towers that are there. From here, the view goes on for miles with nothing but greenery. It was pretty quiet there which was wonderful! My guide took a couple of photos of me before we headed down and then I had to buy something from her! I ended up with a book on the Great Wall which I didn’t need but that was her fee for her un-required assistance! We had dinner at a nearby restaurant before heading back.

On my final day before leaving China, Kealie and I went to a local restaurant and had Peking Duck which was delicious. We then headed to the night market near the Forbidden City where we tried the local deep fried foods of starfish and deer (but kept away from the insects and octopus!)

We also popped into the Beijing 2008 Olympic shop to get some souvenirs and pose with the competitions’ 5 furry mascots.

Shanghai

I arrived into Shanghai and took the amazing Maglev train into the city - it reaches 430km an hour and takes only 10 minutes! Had to pose by the speedometer in the cabin!

I met up with Matt, a friend who was now living in Shanghai and we went out for dinner with Jin Ling, Adam, Simon, Tony and Scott before going to the delightfully named 'Time Tunnel' pub. We were joined by Julien, Clare and Sandra. Julien got up an sang a song (after borrowing a guitar from the live band that the pub had on!) It was quite a good night!

The next day, I headed to Nanjing Lu - the main shopping area. My aim was to walk down to The Bund but the heavens opened and I ended up buying an umbrella from a women who miraculously appeared when it started raining!

That night, I went to Adam and Sandra's house warming party that had a 'French' theme and we had wine & cheeses. We then moved onto playing on the Wii, which was my first experience of it. I managed to hold my own in the doubles tennis match but lost quite badly in the boxing!

Matt and I went sightseeing to the 'fake' Old Town which tries to sell you every souvenir possible! We went into a tea shop and met a sales woman that Matt knew. We were allowed to try a variety of different teas and she persuaded Matt to buy some for me!

We then went to the real Old Town and saw the restaurant on the water. It was full of small windy streets and we ended up getting some food in a little cafe that I would never have found on my own. We had the traditional food of dumplings.

We then headed over to The Bund (finally) and got a great view of the skyscrapers over the river. We had a drink in the Captains Bar so that we could watch the sun go down and catch the lights of the city.

The next day I met up with Julien and Clare and we headed to the Shanghai Museum. Julien stayed in the shop whilst Clare and I explored the three floors of exhibitions. Some of the artefacts were from 6000 years BC!

On my final day in Shanghai, Clare, Julien and I had arranged to go to the water villages but the information on the brouchure was wrong and there were no buses to it. So we went to the local park and found a group of elderly people playing Jianzi - a weighted shuttlecock that they kick around with their feet. We all joined in but were upstaged by them!

That night, I had dinner with Matt before going to the pub to say goodbye to everyone.

Xi'an and the Terracotta Army

After flying into Beijing (via Hong Kong), I took an internal flight to Xi’an and the home of the Terracotta Army. I managed to wander aimlessly around the subway in the centre of Xi’an in a vain attempt to find my hostel and ended up having to ask directions! I was only one street away!

I went to visit the Bell Tower in the main square. After listening to the un-impressive audio tour, I caught a music show that they had. They had five people playing traditional Chinese instruments and managed to end the show by playing Auld Lang Seine! I then went to the neighbouring Drum Tower and caught a drum show. This was far better than the music show!

I then headed to the Great Mosque in the Muslim area of the city then I headed over to the Beilin Museum. There were lots of statues and pottery items but most of the signs were in Chinese so it was a little hard to understand!

The next day I took a tour to see the one thing that I had come to Xi’an to see – the Terracotta Army. Unfortunately it was one of those tours that take you to 5 or 6 other places first hoping that you’ll buy some overpriced item and gain them commission!! The first stop was the Dibao Silk Company which gave us an interesting talk on how they make silk but didn’t persuade any of us to buy anything! Next we stopped at the Banpo Matriarchichal Clan Village which is about 6000 years old to see the excavations that they have done.

We then stopped at the Terracotta Museum and got our first taste of the warriors – by coming face to face with two life-size ones (with no head to allow you to stand behind them and taking a photo of yourself as a warrior!) They showed us how the warriors were created and allowed us to buy miniature versions of them for 50 Yuan (about £4) or you could order a life-size warrior for 1,000,000 Yuan (£98,000!) and they would ship it to you! I chose to go with 2 small ones! What would you do with a six foot terracotta statue anyway?!

Our next stop was the Huaqing Hot Springs where the Emperors used to go for their leisure time. This is also where the Xi’an Incident occurred in 1936 when Chiang Kai-shek was arrested by his own troops and made to sign a treaty with the Communists. The bullet holes are still in the walls (with little signs next to them to point them out)! We then went onto Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum which is yet to be excavated. After watching a dance show in the boiling midday sun (with no cover), we climbed the 412 steps to the top of the hill to take in the great views from there.

Then we headed off to the main event. It was a relief to be able to go indoors away from the sun, but the 3 pits that hold the Terracotta Army are inside metal constructions and there is no cooling system there so it was boiling! The sight of the army took my breath away. There are up to 8000 life-sized warriors buried there with only a fraction of them excavated. They were lined up in battle formation and it is said that no two are alike – they all have different facial features and clothing and that there were possibly modelled on the army at the time (6 BC). They even had horses there.

We watched a short documentary about the discovery of them in 1974, when a farmer found a terracotta head in his field! We stayed there about 2 hours, visiting all the pits and taking so many photos! It was definitely worth the trip to come here and visit this!

That night, I went out for dinner with Andy & Connie, two people that I met in the hostel followed by a trip to the main square where the Big Goose pagoda is. They were having a fountain display and lots of people decided to cool down by going in the fountains! The next day, I went and visited the Big Goose Pagoda, which was part of the Dacien Temple. I climbed to the top of the pagoda (which had a mini exhibition in it) and had a great view of the city.

The Crazy Capital - Tokyo!

With my body still aching, I made my way to Tokyo. I decided that the first place I should visit should be the Imperial Palace but you can barely see any of it, except the forts on the edge of the moat. I went and visited a couple of shrines in the north of the city - Yushima-seido and Kanda Myojin before visiting the Nikolai Cathedral - the first cathedral in Japan. I finished off the day with a tour of Ueno park.

The next morning, I met up with Mary, Lee and Samira from my hostel at 4:45am and we made our way to the Tokyo Fish Market. I'm not a big fan of fish and this was an overkill on the senses! We watched the auctioneer selling off giant frozen tuna which was fascinating! Then we decided to go and get breakfast - sushi of course! It was very surreal at 7:30am! But it was the nicest sushi that I have tasted!

I then go on the train to Nikko, a town 2 hours north of Tokyo. That afternoon I went to see the Shinkyo Sacred Bridge - an old bridge that crosses the river and makes you walk back to the same side that you came from! The river was an impressive rapid though!

The next day I walked around the world heritage site and saw 5 shrines - the Rinnoji Temple (Sanbutsudo), Toshogu shrine, Yakusido, Futarasan temple and the Rinnoji Temple (Taiyuin). The most impressive of these was Yakusido - it has a painting of a dragon on the ceiling and a monk showed us how to make the dragon 'roar' (by clapping two blocks together directly underneath its mouth - anywhere else didn't work!) Later on I made my way back to Tokyo.

I wandered around Shibuya area and saw the statue of Hachi-ko dog - who followed his master to work every day and even did the same walk after he'd died. The city apparently fell in love with the dog and made him a statue when he died! Then I went to Omotesando - the home of every fashion designer shop! I did allow myself to wander around various shops but left pretty quickly when I saw Luis Vuitton purses at extortionate prices!!! I also saw the Meiji Jingu shrine.

The next day I went to Asakusa and saw the Sensoji Temple. To get to it, you have to walk through a market place which sold every type of tourist tat that you'd need. Some of the silk garments were pretty though! I also went to Rappongi Hills and visited the Mori Art Museum, which had an exhibition about an architect who created some very ugly looking buildings! In the same building was also the Sky Aquarium (on the 53rd floor) which had lots of types of fish including some very small Nemo's. It also gave you great views of the city, including the Tokyo Tower (a larger version of the Eiffel Tower), which I went and visited.

On my last day in Japan, I had to go & collect my Mongolian visa so Mary and I headed over to their consulate in Shibuya. That night, I stayed awake, chatting to people in the hostel who couldn't sleep and finally headed off to the airport at 4am so that I could get my flight to China!

Climbing Mt Fuji

I decided to spend a couple of days in Mt Fuji but hadn't really decided whether I was going to climb it or not. I took the bus to the 5th station (at 2300m) and then decided that I did want to try an climb Fuji (the summit is 3776m!) I bought myself a walking stick and off I went!

The first part was pretty easy going - there was even a group of school kids walking it (they were under 10 at least!) - and it wasn't long before I got to the 6th station (2390m). After this, the route became a little more tiring with the path zig-zagging up the hill and sometimes making the tired walker climb up over rocks which wasn't fun for the knees! I got to the 7th station (2700m) and still felt pretty good. At the various huts en route, they will brand your stick so that you can track your route so I indulged in this!

By the time that I got to the 8th station (3020m), the clouds had come in and you couldn't see below or above you - just the path that you were walking on! It was pretty surreal especially as there was snow on the ground in places!

I got to the 'real' 8th station (3250m) and it was starting to get pretty cold plus I was feeling the effects of the altitude a bit. I had a rest (and a hot chocolate!) and carried on. By the time that I got to the 8.5 station (3450m), I didn't feel good enough to carry on. I was given some 'air' in a can from some friendly Japanese people and began to make the journey down - taking 2 hours over scree which really wasn't fun.

I got back to the 5th station after walking for 6 hours - my muscles were aching but I was glad that I'd made the trip up there. I won't be doing it again!!!!