JillR

Bought a giant backpack...sewn a flag on the back...
Gloucester, United Kingdom
T minus 16 hours and finally after 9 months of planning I'm ready to go! It's been pretty stressful getting everything sorted over the last couple of weeks: flu; wrong ticket numbers; BA strikes; Surgery: we've sent your anti-malarial prescription to the pharmacy/ Pharmacy: no, we don't have your prescription/ Me: Holy crap I fly tomorrow!!/ Surgery: oh, it's here after all.
Everything on my mega long list has been crossed off and now all I can do is wait! I'm thinking I won't get any sleep tonight!!
Things I am going to miss: my family and friends, my flat, bread, milk (although everytime I've drunk any in the last few days I've felt really sick afterwards- maybe separation anxiety setting in prematurely!), cheese, my pillow and a decent cup of tea!
I can't believe I go tomorrow, it's come around so quickly!! I'm so excited to be doing something that is going to challenge me in so many ways and teach me so much about the world and how I fit in to it, gush gush gush!
1st stop: Guilin, Guangxi Province.
Bye for now, zaijian!!
written by  JillR on March 26, 2010 from Gloucester, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: And now for something different...

Oh the green green hills....of Guilin
Lianhua, China
Hello, just wrote a very long entry but lost the internet and now it's gone. I'll try again soon but I thought I'd try to write something so you know I'm still alive! I'm having lots of fun, surrounded by the most amazing mountains, staying in a beautiful traditional village and we've had a few hours of sunshine so far. I'll write again as soon as I can!!!
written by  JillR on April 1, 2010 from Lianhua, China
from the travel blog: And now for something different...

Ni hao! Wo jiao Yan Yi Li!
Guilin, China
Hello!
It's the end of week one and I've so much to write about I don't know where to begin!
I arrived in Guilin after a long flight and a very long wait at Shanghai airport. I was met at Guilin airport by Ting, who is one of the co-ordinators of my program, and she took me to the hostel in the city centre where we'd stay that night. The 3 others on my program (1 English, 1 Dutch and 1 Belgian) had already arrived so Ting took us straight out to eat (it was about 6.30pm by then). Guilin is a pretty big city, very touristy with lots of neon and fast food restaurants. We took a quick walk along the main street but really all we wanted to do was sleep so we went back to the hostel pretty quickly.
The next morning we were driven 3 hours south of Guilin to Fengyan Village which has been our home this week. Fengyan is a tiny, very traditional village surrounded by karsts (the big pointy hills you see in any pictures of China back home that aren't of the Great Wall) and fields. The karsts go on and on for miles and miles and are stunningly beautiful. The farmers are able to grown crops a long way up them which is pretty amazing! The village is full of crumbling old houses, you can't tell which ones are just riuns and which are still people's homes. And there are stray chickens, puppies and children running all over the village. The older people of the villlage generally ignore us but parents with young children always bring them out to say hello when we pass. Quite often we'll have 3 or 4 kids following us when we walk around the village.
We are staying with the family that runs our program - Isabella who is the head co-ordinator, her sister and brother-in-law who drives us about in his minibus, Ting, who is their daughter, and another in-law who cooks for us. This week we have also had 2 Chinese girls with us to help us out. Isabella has a 2 year old son who is doted on by everyone and as a result thinks he owns the place. He's quite badly behaved, but it must be very hard for the family to disclipline him when every 2 weeks a new bunch of foreigners arrive to spoil him rotten and laugh when he does something naughty. There is also an Irish guy with us who will stay here for the next 6 weeks teaching at the village primary school.
The house is gorgeous - they bought a very old but very grand house and did it up really nicely. Our neighbours have 2 rooms with dirt floors and no electricity.
This week has been very busy, we've had Chinese language and culture lessons, visited the nearest big town, Gongchen, which has a temples to Confucious and to the master of Kongfu. We've also been to a village that was built recently by the government as a example of what a perfect Chinese village should be. The houses were very big and it was very clean, but a little soulless. We were taken to a popular tourist spot for the Chinese, another modern village in front of a kasrt with steps to the top. The view from the top was incredible!! So much green!! We took a boat on the river that runs through the village, during which the Chinese air force turned up on a day trip, all in immaculate blue uniforms. The boats were like great big punts with a table and chairs amd a canopy. Most of the air force took a boat ride as well, and as they were all getting on their boats, one of the houses next to the dock caught fire. All the villagers came running with fire extinguishers - the men from the air force just sat and watched!
We went to the market in a nearby small town (a big village really) called Lianhua and were given some money to haggle for food for dinner. We had been taught the phrases to use, but every time I tried to speak to a stall holder they had to explain to our Chinese guides that they only spoke the local dialect, so even though they could understand me I wouldn't have been able to understand them. And the one time I was getting on fine with a stall holder the potatoes I was trying to buy were so cheap I didn't need to haggle!. The market was full of crazy vegetables and lots of chuncks of meat, including pigs' feet, ears and faces! Not very nice.
During one of our culture lesson we were given a list of hundreds of typical Chinese names so we could choose one for ourselves. Mine is Yan Yi Li - Yan is the family name and means a swallow and Yi Li is the given name and means moral and beautiful. I wanted to add modest as well but there wasn't a character for that!
This weekend and the next few days is the Qing Ming festival during which families will clean up their ancestors' graves and eat lots of dumplings, so last night we were taught how to make dumplings and had a bit of a dumpling party! We made hundreds of them!
Next week we were supposed to be teaching a lesson or two a day at a school in Lianhua but because of the Qing Ming festival there are no classes on monday or tuesday. So earlier today myself and the other visitors took the bus back to Guilin where we will stay til tuesday seeing the sights here. Then it's back to Fengyan to teach the english alphabet and nursery rhymes to Chinese kids! The week after we will go to Yangshou (another very very touristy place) for the week, and the final week of the program will be a week of trekking and visiting minority villages.
The weather has been pretty bad - apart from a few hours of sunshine earlier in the week it's been cloudy and quite rainy. On the bus to Guilin I was talking to a Chinese lady who said this weather is pretty bad for this time of year which is a little disappointing. Our house in Fengyan is very cold - usually colder inside than out during the day. They have a bar which has been the warmest place to be in the evenings so we've spent a lot of time playing cards and Majiang down there. The food we are getting is OK, usually the same things each meal which is getting a little dull! Yesterday morning we had noodles and pancakes rather than noodles and rice which we all gobbled down. Guilin has a few western restaurants so we've just been for pizza and cake and coffee. It was so good! As we were drooling over the menu displayed outside an Australian said "been living off rice for 4 months too?" and we had to admit it had actually only been a week which was a little embarrassing!
The internet at the house is extremely slow and unreliable so I probably won't be able to write again next week. I have taken loads of pictures but no-one speaks English in the internet cafe I'm in at the moment so I don't think I'll even try to ask how to upload pictures! Hopefully in Yangshou I''ll be able to. "Cafe" isn't quite the right word for where I am at the moment - it's more of an internet warehouse! There must be about 200+ computers here, most of them occupied by people doing internet gaming.
Well that's about it for now, fingers crossed this computer won't loose this entry before I can display it!!
Happy Easter!!! xx
written by  JillR on April 4, 2010 from Guilin, China
from the travel blog: And now for something different...

Oodels of noodles！
Guilin, China
We go back to Fengyan in a few hours so I thought I should take this opportunity at the
hostel to write again while I can。Yesterday we went to Seven Star Park which is a huge park in Guilin with 7 karsts that form the shape of the big dipper （although you can only see that if you are in a plane。 There are some caves you can visit with interesting stalectites and stalecmites that they have lit up in crazy phsycadellic colours which is pretty cool but I thought they would have looked nicer with much plainer lighting！It was a little bit too Disney-like。 Some of the rock formations looked a little man-made as well！ But the park was very well looked after and there were lots of cute pavillions and waterfalls and some monkeys！Much better than the monkey walk at Trentham，sorry Robyn！
Then back in the city centre we were constantly hassled by people wanting to take us for trips on their bamboo rafts or visit their teahouses， and we ate at a fastfood noodle-rice bar which unfortunately was way too spicey and what we thought was Chicken was tofu， so we were all a little disappointed with dinner。
We are about to go for breakfast - noodles with pork， peanuts and seasoning - a typical Guilin dish。 We had it yesterday morning and this time we know it's delicious！！It's our favorite food of the whole trip so far and all agree we could eat it all day！
written by  JillR on April 5, 2010 from Guilin, China

Gongcheng - the real O.C.
Gongcheng, China
We have left our beautiful little Fengyan for the small but busy Yangshuo, a very touisty town on the Li River. Here you will find more Western people than anywhere else except Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an or Hong Kong. On the down side it means we don't feel much like the first intrepid explorers to step foot in this area anymore; on the plus side you can get pizza, burgers and chips in every restaurant!
On wednesday, thursday and friday we each had one 45 min lesson at the primary school in the next village along. Each morning we spent hours thinking of what we could teach them and songs we could sing for them, but when we took our first lesson we found the students already knew everything we had planned on teaching them! My first class was 3rd grade, which is our year 3 and they were very naughty! Their teacher didn't stay for the lesson so I was completely on my own trying to get them to listen and not sway seats when I wasn't looking! On thursday I had the 4th grade, who were very well behaved and enthusiastic so I really enjoyed that lesson. On friday I had the 5th grade and they were just as naughty as my first class and even less interested in learning english! But I enjoyed the three days and gave me a little headstart on what I need to prepare for next month in Cambodia where I'll be working at an orphanage for 4 weeks.
On thursday evening we took a walk around the village and found courtyard where a group of teenagers were playing ping pong, and who invited us to join in. After a few hours we tried to leave but they insisted we came inside where they had loaded their kitchen table with biscuits and nuts and other snacks for us! We couldn't refuse so spent another couple of hours having half conversations with the families who lived in the houses around the courtyard and drinking tea and beer with them. They were so friendly that when it came to about 10pm and we really didn't want to leave we proimised we'd come again the next night. The following morning, Leah and I went back to the market in Lianhua and bought a great big bag of biscuits for them. That evening we went back to their house but there was no one in the kitchen except two old ladies who hadn't been there the previous night! We felt a little bit awkward handing over these biscuits to two strange ladies, but they had obviously heard about us and called the boys who we had been playing with and they came home pretty quickly! We played more ping pong and then again were invited in for snacks and oil tea, which is pretty much the most disgusting thing I've ever drunk - oil, tea, ginger and garlic, all squished up and boiled. Yuk! But very good for you aparently. We drank what we were given, but the grandmother kept pouring everyone else more of the stuff, and they obviously didn't like it much either because anytime the person sitting next to someone's back was turned, the first person would pour their tea into their neighbours bowl! We felt really lucky to have spent the two evenings with our new friends, every once in a while I'd look around and think wow, I'm on the other side of the world from home, sitting in a stranger's kitchen being given food like they'd known me for years! When else would I get this kind of experience again! And they were so nice, the ring leader, Gu Shi was telling us about his job making mobile phones in Shenzhen near Hong Kong, and his brother was proudly showing us pictures of his new baby son. They had a chinese/english phrase book and we were teaching each other how to say random phrases and laughing at our respective terrible pronountiations!
It was sad to leave Fengyan, it had started to feel like home. I should probably explain about the title of this entry - there are oranges everywhere! They grow them all around the village and all across Gongcheng county so you see them on the trees, in every shop and on every stall, in trucks, great piles of them stacked up in garages, and littered all over the floor! They get wrapped in little plastic bags, and whenever they are thrown away because t\hey are too old, the bags get tossed too! There are great big rubbish heaps covered in oranges and if they get into streams or rivers you see them bobbing along in their little bags.
Yesterday we were driven to Yangshuo, were we are staying in rooms in an enormous boarding school. The bathrooms are pretty nasty but on the whole it's OK, and only a short walk to the centre of town. Last night we went out for dinner and then on to a couple of bars. The last one we went to was playing very strange dance music - 'I am the music man' set to a really fast beat for example. There was a little dance floor and I'm very happy to say we did England proud! There were quite a few chinese people in the bar (mostly tourists rather than locals I think) and eventually everyone was on the dance floor having a really good time. At one point we all formed a circle and one by one we all took a turn in the middle, everyone cheering everyone else on, and then we all did the conga together. It was a fantastic night of mixing with non-europeans, plus the head barman Wan Wei gave us free drinks all night!
And hooray! The weather is hot here! It's still pretty cloudy and humid, but we're wearing tee-shirts not 6 jumpers! Tonight I'm even going to crack out the skirt!
This afternoon we have 3 new people arriving from england to spend the week with us, so I'd better head back to the school to meet them. Again, no pictures, sorry! I showed the man in the internet cafe my camera's memory card but the computer won't read it. I'll try somewhere else later in the week, this is getting really frustrating!!!!
written by  JillR on April 11, 2010 from Gongcheng, China

Photos Photos!!!
Yangshuo, China
Hey, hope you like all the photos! Only a small selection but they took so long to upload! Also the rotate tab wouldn't work so you're just going to have to look sideways!
written by  JillR on April 12, 2010 from Yangshuo, China

I heard you got some rain... looks like we're in for the same.
Yangshuo, China
We've had a fantastic time this week! We had a tour around an ancient village, had some taiji, calligraphy and chinese knitting lessons and roamed about the countryside. The weather has been pretty awful, wet and rainy and cold, but we've managed to enjoy ourselves. We climbed Moon Hill, which is a tall karst with a natural hole in the middle at the top. There are 800 steep steps to the top but the view at the top was fantastic - the best so far of the trip. We were supposed to be cycling out to the hill but the weather was so terrible we took our minibus. The rain was good enough to hold out until we were halfway back down! Later in the afternoon the clouds lifted a little so we took the bikes out for an hour or so and cycled to the villages behind the school and along the river.
Yesterday morning we were taken to a village belonging to a group of minority Chinese. It had been made into a tourist attraction - the story was that a tribe of around 3000 of them lived in the forested mountains of south-west China and 3 years ago the Chinese government relocated 300 of them to Yangshuo. We were told by our Chinese guide that the tour would take us round the village where we would meet some of the villagers and see their way of life. Well....it was like Chinese Disneyland. Lots of "villagers" wandering about in "real" animal skins (more like printed pyjamas) who were aparently too scared to leave their village but were perfectly happy for us to tramp around their village. We were even greeted by the queen, sitting in a courtyard with a 2nd Chinese guide ready to take photos - obviously no queenly duties to attend to! It was really awful, there was clearly no tribe living in the area - these were all locals employed to dress up and dance around all day. We were pretty disgusted actually - the tribe of 3000 does actually exist in the south west and we felt that this village really made a mockery out of them, especially as the owners of the park claimed it was all genuine. The price of the entry ticket was very high, and at every corner there was someone waiting to take your picture and charge you 10 yaun for it, and you can bet hardly any of it gets back to the real tribe. The day improved dramatically after lunch - the weather was much warmer and drier so we cycled about an hour out of Yangshuo to a village along the Li River where it's popular to jump off a very high bridge into very cold water. I had to really psyche myself up to jump but I did it! It was great fun, the water was a lot warmer than I thought it would be, and getting warm and dry afterwards was OK as well. Instead of cycling back the same way, 4 of us hired 2 bamboo rafts to take us back down the river towards Yangshuo and then we would cycle the 2km back into town. Earlier in the week we had taken a boat trip on a different part of the river through an area famous for being depicted on the 20 Yuan notes. It was pretty, but with so many other tourists on the water (plus it was pouring with rain) we didn't enjoy it so much. This 2nd time on the water however, was absolutley gorgeous! For the whole hour and a half of slow punting we didn't pass another raft, and the scenery was maybe not so dramatic, but much nicer and so peaceful! We were right in the middle of the countryside, slowly drifting past tiny hamlets and along rice paddies. When the rafts dropped us off we had to cycle down tiny, very muddy paths winding through the farms and villages and past hundreds of graves and burial grounds. Eventually we got back onto a bigger road which then stopped back at the river and there was no bridge!! On the other bank there were loads of rafts, it was obviously another popular place for tourists to get on the water. We were charged an obscene amount to have some-one take us across, but we had no other choice - we were already so late for dinner and we had no idea how far away the nearest bridge would be! From the other side it still took us about and hour to get back to the school, we were so exhausted! It was quite an adventure! After consulting a map we were angry because when we had been dropped off from the raft they had put us down on the wrong side of the river - obviously in cahoots with the people further down who could then charge as much as they wanted to get us back across! And it was far more than 2km into town! But we really enjoyed the scenery and the exercise so all in all we were happy to have had that experience. Today however, I am aching!!!
We now have the weekend free and then on monday we start trekking! I really hope the weather gets better!!!!
written by  JillR on April 17, 2010 from Yangshuo, China

What a let down...until our last day of course!
Longsheng, China
I'm a traveller, me
Well it rained on monday, so we didn't leave for trekking. We stayed in Yangshuo an extra day and went climbing in the afternoon. On real rocks!! It was brilliant - still a little damp but quite warm, and so much fun! Because of all the wet weather the mountainside was very slippy which made it tougher, but we all made it to the top! I was glad to have had another night for my legs to recover from the cycling and the jumping from friday! The following morning was stilll wet but we had to leave Yangshuo. We took a bus back to Guilin, and another cramped, busy, noisy bus for 2 hours to Longshen. Because the weather was so awful we could hardly see anything out of the windows, but when we were about half an hour away from Longshen the fog lifted a little (or rather, we drove above the fog) and we were in another world! We were really high up in the mountains with another new type of lanscape. We took another minibus for half an hour or so, on twisty windy roads making their way up the mountains, skirting round landslides and trying not to fall off the road towards the traditional Yao minority village of Dazhai. It was about 4.30 pm by the time we arrived so we had a quick walk around the village then had dinner. After dinner we played cards by candlelight as the village's power supply had been cut off by the storms. We weren't too hopeful about walking the next day, and surprise surprise, we woke up to the sound of rain! We braved it anyway and spent the day walking in the mountains and around the rice terraces so several viewpoints (Thousands Layers to the Heaven, Music from Paradise and Golden Budda Peak - none of which resembled anything like what they were supposed to!). The rain was OK for most of the day, only drizzling now and again, which was pretty nice because it was pretty hot! At lunchtime the clouds cleared a little, maybe for about half an hour, which lifted our spirits. After lunch the paths got smaller and smaller and more overgrown and the recent rain had turned a lot of them into streams so we were slipping and sliding all over the place and getting pretty fed up! I fell down and got completely covered in mud and then it started raining really heavily so we were all really glad when we got back to our hotel! The following morning we got a bus to Huangluo Village, whose women have the longest hair in the world. We saw their show that they put on for tourists (a little interesting, but they looked kind of embarrassed to be up there performing), then had lunch and went on to Ping'an Village. The village was pretty touristy, but nice, clinging to the mountain-side with teeny tiny alleyways and secret corners. We climbed up to see the Seven Stars with Moon terrace and the 9 Dragons and 5 Tigers, but again the fog was rather in the way! It was also freezing cold so in the evening we huddled up in our room with hot chocolate and Chinese soap operas. Which are hialrious by the way. Well, they were to us because we made up the storylines and dialogues for ourselves. We were all feeling pretty down because of all the rain we'd had over the 4 weeks, and pretty gutted that before we arrived in China they had had beautiful weather!
The next morning -- a miracle!! Not a cloud in the sky and boiling hot!! We raced up to see the moon and stars terraces before breakfast, which looked so different (mainly because we could actually see them!) from the day before! We ate breakfast outside and got sunburnt in 20 minutes, then bused it back to Guilin. We said goodbye to Ellen that evening, then Leah first thing in the morning, then Tina took Abe back to Fengyan and the China Experience was over!
written by  JillR on April 24, 2010 from Longsheng, China

Hello City!
Beijing, China
A bit of visual China
Phase two of my big adventure - Beijing. I'm here for a week, and it's pretty starnge suddenly being in a city and not being surrounded by either pomello tree plantations, rice paddies or chickens! So many buildings! And it's so vast! The guide book suggests getting taxis everywhere! It's odd to think I can't just walk from the supermarket to the restaurant to the local attraction to the bar then back to the hostel! It might take me a while to adjust!
Today I visited Prince Gong's palace (he wasn't an actuall prince, just a favorite advisor of the Qianlong Emporer). The first part was a complex of buildings the 2nd part was gardens. It was pretty impressive but packed full of tourists! It was hard to get near some of the exhibitions in the gardens. Then I walked along the lakes near where my hostel is but then in started to rain heavily so I quickly went back to the hostel for instant noodles and hot drinks! Tomorrow I'll go to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square!
written by  JillR on April 25, 2010 from Beijing, China

We built a wall!
Beijing, China
A crumbling watch tower
Climbed the Great Wall today! And it really was a climb - some sections were nicely paved with even slabs and level steps - other parts were literally like climbing a ladder. It was so hard going, I walked about a 12km section and took just under three hours. Bits of the wall were away beneath me, I really had to hold on! Except quite often there wasnèt anything to hold on to! (There is no apostrophe key on this keyboard, itès not my bad grammer!) It was great being up there, the view was amazing! All browns and greys, no greenery yet, but there were lots of almond trees in bloom. I was with a group of about 40 people, but as we were all walking at our own pace I soon lost them. It wasnèt very busy at all, which made a nice change! In fact, there were a few sections when I couldnèt see anyone up in front of me or anyone behind me - not a good time to fall and break my ankle! To get back down you could either walk or take the zip line..so of course I took the zip line! It went pretty slowly, but I hadnt seen anyone do it before me so I hadnt seen how fast it went, or more importantly I hadnt seen anyone NOT fall off on the way down! But it was brilliant, a great way to end my long hard walk!
Zip Line!!
Yesterday I went to the Capital Musuem which was a good way to spend a few hours out of the freezing wind. It was free, which was a nice surprise because my guide book said it would be 40 Yuan (only 4 quid, but still...when youre on a budget...). It only opened about 2 years ago, and the building is huge and very modern, with a great big cone going from the inside of the foyer out to the outside. It was also pretty quiet, even though they were holding the opening ceremony of one of their temporary exhibits. Even though itès been very cold here, its also been very sunny, and when the winds not blowing you over its quite pleasant, so Ive been spending a lot of time in parks. Some of them are free, and full of old ladies and gents walking their dogs and birds and grandchildren. The park I was in yesterday had people doing Taiji, Kongfu, having a trumpet lesson and playing badminton with no net. Theyre great to walk around and watch people in.
I fly to Cambodia on saturday afternoon, Ièll write again as soon as I can once Im there!
Next stop: Phnomn Penh!
written by  JillR on April 29, 2010 from Beijing, China

A is for....
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
So here I am in Cambodia now! It's very very hot and humid, I can finally wear most of the t-shirts and skirts I originally packed and throw away all the jumpers and trousers I aquired in China! I'm staying in the centre of Phnom Penh in an OKish guest house, and teaching in an orphanage during the day. It's not exactly what I was expecting - I thought I would be assisting the teachers and keeping the kids entertained during their breaks. But oh no, I AM the teacher! The orphanage is about an hour out of town, there are about 70 kids living there from age 7 to 18. They have 3 classrooms; about 7 or 8 dormitories; a chicken farm; a herd of cows and 2 rice fields. The children are split into 3 age/ability groups and then again into 2 classes. One class goes to the local school in the morning and then has English lessons in the afternoon with us at the orphanage, and the other class does vice versa. I'm not sure exactly how the groups are split - in the morning I have 2 kids, in the afternoon I can have any number between 13 and 21. I have the youngest classes - some of them have a pretty high level of English, some of them can't recognise letters of the alphabet so it's hard to think of things to keep them all occupied! We've been doing 'a or an' for the last few days, although with one boy we are still doing A B C! I found the first couple of days very hard work, but it's getting better.
Music time at the farm
I have another volunteer in the class with me and he plays the guitar so our afternoon class mostly involves singing! That's the only thing that keeps their concentration! One of the more clever boys who sped through the work (and the extra work) I gave him during the lesson came up to me after class today and asked me to give him homework! A lot of them want to learn but it's very hard to explain what we want them to do because of the language barrier. There are several dogs at the school, and just last week they got a tiny puppy from a local village. The kids are very rough with it and love to pick it up and throw it about and put it in the trees. There are also 2 babies who belong to a group of builders who are building a new volunteer house, and the kids are very rough with them as well.
The baby at the farm. I would have taken him but his mum was looking.
Every lunch time we have to confiscate the puppy and the babies at least 3 times! We are planning a lesson for the whole orphanage entitiled 'Puppies don't climb trees and other things to remember when playing with things smaller than yourself'. But on the whole the children are very nice and seem to like us being there! There are 5 of us volunteering at the farm, and about 15 of us in total spread out on projects across PP. Everyone seems nice enough so far! A lot of them are also in the middle of long trips across Asia, it's nice to hear all their stories so far!
I haven't really had time to see much of the city so far, in the evening we tend to go to restaurants near the hotel so we don't have to walk far in the heat! We have the weekend off so we'll hit the sights then!
written by  JillR on May 6, 2010 from Phnom Penh, Cambodia

I'm the farmer, I work in the fields all day.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Just doing some hoeing.
It's been a busy few weeks so I haven't been able to write for a while! All is going well at the orphanage, I'm getting the hang of teaching now! I'm sad that I've only got a week to go with the kids. My morning class is great - I only have one girl so it's more of a private tutoring session but she's very bright and speeds through the work I give her. She's very lovely, except for the odd occasion where an extra student joins us, and then she sulks because I can't giver her my undivided attention!
A busy morning class. Usually I only had the girl in the mornings.
The afternoon class is getting better, we have about 12 students monday, tuesday and wednesday, then on thursday we have 25. The large class is a nightmare, but this week we took them outside and played left/right/up/down which they loved. We had a sad moment earlier this week when the mother of one my favorite students died so he had to go back to his family for a few days. It's easy to forget that these kids are some of the poorest in Cambodia and don't have a proper family who can afford to look after them. But then again it shows how well the orphanage is doing - it's because they look so happy and content that we forget how much they don't have.
Last friday we covered the road outside the orphanage with new earth and stone so that when the rain comes in a few weeks the kids can still get to the local school. It was fun throwing dirt around with the kids and having wheelbarrow races, and the road looked great for a while but now it's getting worn and we don't really see how it will stop the path turning into a stream of mud in the rain! This friday was digging day! We spent the day in the orphange's greenhouses weeding and hoeing the vegetable patches to get ready to plant spinach. It was rediculously hot and sweaty, we could only do about 15 minutes at a time before we had to have a break! Our co-ordinater said I was an excellent farmer though! It's a shame we only have a week left and won't be able to see anything growing.
Last weekend myself and some of the other volunteers took the night bus to Siem Reap and did the temples at Angkor Wat. They were pretty impressive! We watched the sunset on our first night, then the next day got caught in a rain storm at Angkor Wat itself, and had to shelter in a tiny temple for an hour. The rain was like nothing we get in England, huge great big raindrops coming down by the bucket load! We went to the temple where Tomb Raider was filmed, although I'd never seen the film so that meant nothing to me!
This weekend we're staying in Phnom Penh and having a lazy couple of days - today I had a massage and then spent the afternoon at a lovely bar that has a really nice pool. We didn't get any sun though, it was a lot cooler today and it was so nice to not be covered in sweat (lovely). I think it's going to rain tomorrow, but if not it's back to the pool! We've been having temperatures of about 40c, according to one local this tuesday will be 50c! If it's that hot we're not allowed to go to work thankfully!! So I may be back in the air condidtioned internet cafe all day tuesday uploading all the photos I haven't managed to yet!
Hope you are all enjoying the lovely weather I've heard you're having this weekend!!!xxxx
written by  JillR on May 22, 2010 from Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Call it Serendipity
Sihanokville, Cambodia
Serendipity Beach
I finished at the farm on friday! My final week was fun, the last day was the best (except for it being the last day)! In the morning we scrubbed the floor of the "al fresco" dining area - not so fun when we first started but great once we'd turned the whole place into a soapy skating rink! Then in the afternoon we played with the new toys we'd bought for the kids. The lego went down really well, as did the foam balls that you soak in water and chuck at people! It was really sad to leave, I'm going to miss my class a lot. I was given a lot of cards and pictures by the girls I taught - the girl I teach in the morning gave me a card that said 'you come back again pless you by me candy' I'm not sure if she was thanking me for buying her sweets or demanding more for next time!
My Wednesday afternoon class
On saturday we caught the bus down to Sihanokville in the southwest, which is Cambodia's main beach town. It was great, we found a nice hotel right next to the most popular beach called Serendipity beach. There are bars and restaurants all along the beach that set out sun loungers by day and tables and comfy chairs by night. Most of them have barbeques, so for each of the three evenings we spent there we ate absolutely delicious barbequed prawns and barracuda. The food and drink were cheap, there was a really relaxed atmosphere, and it was all stunningly beautiful! For one of the days we went east from Serendipity to Otres beach which was a quieter and more scenic strip. The weather was perfect but I got a bit sunburnt - not too badly though. Two of the girls I was with had hired a moped each so on a deserted dirt track road I had a go! They are pretty simple to drive...maybe thinking of going up a few cc's when I get home... That evening I went around town on the back of one, it was brilliant to have the wind in my face! We did lots and lots of sunbathing but the best bit was swimming and scrambling over the rocks to the west of Serendipity - I'm not sure what kind of rock they were but they were lined with something that looked really metallic - it looked like a Mars landscape or something!
BBQ on the beach. Bliss.
I've just got back to Phnom Penh - should have been going to Singapore tomorrow but have decided to move my flight to saturday to give me more time in the cheaper country!! I'm looking forward to moving on to Indonesia on monday. I'm joining an organised tour so no more worrying about booking buses and hostels! But I've really loved Cambodia, especially Siem Reap and Sihanokville. Phnom Penh itself isn't all that great - it's very dirty, pretty ugly and smelly, and if it hadn't been for the orphanage I would have happily spent my time somewhere else. But working at the farm and being with the kids made it all worth while! I think my favorite moments were when my afternoon class got so involved in and excited about the up/down/left/right game - and were able to remember it all the next day!
One of the most heart wrenching moments of my trip - not only did he figure out how to take my camera out of my bag, out of its case, turn it on and take photos - after a few days he also started putting the strap round my wrist before he started playing!
written by  JillR on June 1, 2010 from Sihanokville, Cambodia

Hello City... again
Singapore, Singapore
Said good bye to Cambodia and landed in Singapore yesterday. I only have a day and a bit here. Yesterday I went for a bit of an explore in Clarke Quay, which is a trendy area with lots of bars and restuarants by the river. I got talking to an American who is working here for a few weeks so we had dinner and then wandered around Chinatown. Today we went to the zoo. It's pretty big and probably one of the best in the world. A lot of the enclosures have deep but narrow moats and no fences blocking the view, so you feel really close to the animals. It was nice to have someone to wander around with, I was worried Singapre would be a repeat of Beijing where I met no-one and get very bored!
Singapore's really nice - tons of modern buildings and skyscrapers but also lots of parks and greenery. They drive on the left (just as I've got used to looking the opposite way to cross the road!) and drive really safely - hardly any motorbikes and no crazy overtaking! The lanes are marked and the drivers stick to their own! The subway is great too - nicely air conditioned! Everything is really expensive though. I wish I had a few more days here, but I would have spent my entire budget for next month by the time I left!
I fly to Indonesia tomorrow afternoon, I'm not sure what the internet connection will be like - I think I'll be in the middle of no-where, but I will write again as soon as I can!
xxx
written by  JillR on June 6, 2010 from Singapore, Singapore

If I had 1,000,000rupiah.....I'd be sort of well off, but certainly not rich!
Semarang, Indonesia
not a lot of rupiah
Arrived safely in Indonesia! We're on Java, in a little village call Ungaran near the big city of Semarang. It's been a pretty slow start, but today we did some hiking in the nearby mountains, visited some temples and had a tour round Semarang. There are 3 of us here, all girls from England. This is their first stop on their travels, so they are still a little unsure of the food, the toilet situation and all the creepy-crawlies! I keep telling them they'll get used to it, but it's a bit awkward when I'm the only one eating at meal times! We're staying in a really beautiful House with a pond in the courtyard and 2 pools out the back! The owners let the locals use the pool so it gets very noisy in the morning when the kids come down before school! It's not as hot as it was in Phnom Penh, so far we haven't used the pool because the water is too cold! We have no shower (just a couple of buckets and a cold tap) and no flushing toilet. It's not great, but never mind!
Yesterday we were dressed up in traditional Indonesian costume - pictures to come! That was fun, but very hot and itchy!
The money here is so complicated - notes come in denominations of 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000, 20000, 50000 and 10000. 5000rupiah is about 4GBP so it's quite easy to get 1,000,000rupiah!
We leave here on saturday, so I'll try and write again next time I can find internet!
written by  JillR on June 10, 2010 from Semarang, Indonesia

It's been one week...
Borobudur, Indonesia
Dieng Plateau - coloured lake
...Since I washed my hair. Yep, after two and a half months of having pretty decent washing facilities, I've finally reached the lowest of the lows washing wise. Pouring buckets of ice cold water over my head isn't my idea of fun! Don't worry, it's clean now, I just had to hold my breath and try not to scream or pass out!
W've been pretty busy since I last wrote - wading up rivers and
Magalang - the river we hiked up. That's up the middle, not just up the banks!
swimming in waterfalls, cooking Indonesian food, climbing mountains at 3am, taking very old rickety buses on looong journeys, and white water rafting this morning! It was brilliant!As well as being in the raft we were also able to swim down the rapids (swim isn't really the right word!) I swallowed so much water and had to be rescued from one very strong current at one point, but I had so much fun!
Sunrise in Dieng
We are in a town called Borobodur at the moment, in a very nice hotel (not a very nice bathroom though) and we've been eating lots of delicious things! Tomorrow we go to Yogyakarta which a pretty touristy place famous for arts and crafts, so lots of wandering round markets!
Got to go and buy a pair of flip flops now (pair number 3 so far!), so bye bye! xxx
written by  JillR on June 16, 2010 from Borobudur, Indonesia

He's a magician...
Surakarta, Indonesia
I don't have much time again so I'll give you a quick run down of what's been occurring... We spent a few days in Yogjakarta, which is famous for its arts and crafts trades, especially Batik the printed material which they use for everything in these parts - clothes, curtains, tablecloths etc. We visited the palaces and museums in the city, and strolled down the famous Malioboro Street with its hundreds of Batik stalls.
One of the magicians doing his thang
We met a couple of magicians who were staying in our hotel and doing a magic show at the mall up the road from our hotel. We went to see their show (pretty impressive) and then hung out with them by the pool later that evening. It was very random but a lot of fun! They tried to teach us some tricks but we weren't very good pupils!
Then we moved on to Solo (also called Surakarta), another arty place, and here we have been cycling, visited more temples and palaces and waterfalls, had a go at making our own batik designs and visited a water park with lots of slides and wave machines.
Most evenings we've eaten down at a street which turns into a food market at night, with hundreds of people setting up BBQs and soup and noodle stands etc. The food has been absolutely delicious and it's been great eating on the streets with lots of other Insdonesians.
This afternoon we embark on a mammoth bus ride all the way to Bali (about 16 hours)!
written by  JillR on June 24, 2010 from Surakarta, Indonesia

Building castles in the sun and singing 'fun fun fun'.
Kuta, Indonesia
My final week in Indonesia is being spent in Bali. We are staying in the resort town of Kuta, which is full of tourists, bars and restaurants. It's not exactly the white sands and beaches you imagine when you think of Bali (think Blackpool instead!) but we're still having a good time. We went para-sailing which was brilliant, and yesterday I had a surfing lesson. I managed to stand up quite a few times when the instructor was out with me, telling me which waves to go for, but when I had the board on my own afterwards I only managed to catch one wave. Fail. It's hard to know which are the good waves, and which ones you should let go. Mostly though, we've just been relaxing on the beach, building sandcastles and playing hopscotch with Indonesian kids!
Tomorrow we have a car and driver booked, who hopefully will take us to some beaches that are more secluded and beautiful, ending up somewhere we can have a BBQ and watch the sunset.
We are finding it a little strange here, having spent 3 weeks in Java in little villages and non-touristy areas, it's so crowded and noisy, and everything here is more expensive as well - not compared to the UK of course, but compared to Java it certainly is!
Our hotel is very nice, we have yummy breakfasts and a lovely pool - a nice escape from the beach where you get someone trying to sell you something every five minutes! Most of the locals are very friendly, but sometimes when you're walking down the street and everyone is trying to get you into their shop or offer you transport or just shouting at you, it just gets very annoying! But despite all that, Indonesia's been great fun, and I'm looking forward to the next leg - Australia on monday!!
xx
written by on June 30, 2010 from Kuta, Indonesia

Long Way Back Home
Sydney, Australia
So I am now as far away from home as I'm going to get!
It's very cold here, and there's been quite a lot of drizzly rain, but when the sun has been shining it's quite pleasant! I'm staying in the biggest YHA in Australia, and it's brilliant! There's a pool, a sauna, 2 fully eqipped, enormous kitchens, a supermarket, bar, cafe, internet, cinema....it's brilliant! Each night they show a film and have a themed dinner - last night was make your own pizza and tonight is Thai night I think. They also arrange trips around town and to local music venues etc so I might do that one evening. I'm sharing a dorm with another English girl and 2 aussie girls - all very nice.
My plane landed at about 5am on tuesday so I got to the hostel, put my bags in storage and crashed out on a sofa in the common room for a few hours before heading to Circular Quay for the Opera House and the bridge. Sydney is lovely, it seems really clean and modern and nicely organised! A lot of the time you could be back in any major city in England, especially when most of the roads are names after English towns!
Yesterday I explored a little more, and took a boat around the harbour as the sun was setting behind the bridge - beautiful (but freezing!). This afternoon I will head to the Museum of Sydney and then try and get a ticket for West Side Story at one of the big theatres here.
For some reason this computor crashes when I try to upload photos, so you'll just have to wait for them!
xx
written by  JillR on July 7, 2010 from Sydney, Australia

Don't say how long.
Noosa Heads, Australia
All aboard the Oz bus!
Well a lot has been going on and I haven't written for ages so this will be a long entry! I left Sydeny early one morning on the Oz Experience bus, which is a hop off-hop on bus that goes up and down the coast and stopped at a place called Spot-X, which gives free surf lessons for customers of the Oz bus. The accomodation was interesting - bunk beds in shipping containers! But it was a lovely spot with a beautiful, and when we went surfing the following morning the sun was shining and the sea was pretty warm. My second surf lesson so far on my trip was pretty successful, I managed to stand up a lot! That afternoon the bus headed up to Byron Bay, where I stayed for 2 nights. The weather was still pretty nice so I walked around the bay and up to the lighthouse and tried to spot some whales (nothing!). It was a very laid back hippie townand I would have liked to stay longer but the bus schedule was pretty restrictive. In the summer months there are departures everyday, but in the winter they only go 3 or 4 times a week, so you have to either stay in one place for a really long time or a really short time! I bumped into a girl who had been volunteering in a different project in Phnom Penh but staying in the same hotel there, and she was also travelling up the coast on the Oz bus. She had been in Byron Bay for almost a week already so she got on the bus I was getting and we travelled up to Brisbane together.
I really liked Brisbane, although again I was only there for 2 nights. They have a similar South Bank area to London, with a big theatre complex and museum and a lovely park/walkway along the river. They have built a really lovely artificial beach on the south bank, with lots of little cafes and restaurants and places to picnic, and the weather was beautiful when I was there, so I spent most of the time reading by the 'beach'. Leanne, the girl from Cambodia, had some friends living there, so the 2nd evening I was there we all went over to her house for Indian and then we went out in the city. It was really nice to be in someone's house having takeaway on the sofa! They were really lovely people, so welcoming and really showed us a good time!
So then we were off up to Noosa, a small upmarket town on the coast, a few hours north of Brisbane. We stopped a couple of times to spot wildlife and go to scenic spots - that's the great thing about the Oz Bus, they don't just take you from A to B, they show you things you'd never know about unless you were travelling with a local.
We arrived in Noosa mid-afternoon and checked into the YHA, a beautiful hostel really close to the beach. It's about 100 years old and the last timber building still used as accomodation in Noosa. The main building has a great big veranda down one side, where you can sit and watch the beautiful sunsets. They were advertising for a volunteer to stay for 3 or 4 weeks working in the kitchen in return for meals and accomodation, so I signed up and here I am! I have to work for about 4 hours a day, either morning or evening, and I get 2 days off a week so it's a pretty sweet life! There are 6 other people volunteering here and we have a small flat on the property with a little kitchen and lounge area so we can get away from the punters.
The hostel is just 1 minute from the beach so we spend most of our free time there, or wandering around Noosa's main street. It's a really great area for watersports, and one of the best surfing spots on this section of the coast. There have only been a couple of days where there have been any decent waves but I've been having a go! Most of the other volunteers surf so we all head down with our boards when we can. We've been really lucky to have access to a car so we've been able to head out of town to explore the area a lot. Last sunday we went to a place called Perigian Beach where there was a market and then live music in the afternoon. It was a great day sitting in the park in the sun listening to local bands and having a few drinks! We also went to a watersports park which had motorised cable wakeboarding which I had a go at. I started off on a knee board and got the hang of that pretty quickly. Going round corners was tricky because your pully starts to go round the corner, you catch up with it so the rope slackens and then yanks you round the corner. You have to steer out from the corner to keep the rope tight, and once I was able to do that you can just go round and round the lake all day! I tried to use a proper standing up wakeboard but failed massivley! I couldn't manage to get off the jetty without falling over, and gave up eventually! Today we did a little sea kayaking because we've finally got bored of lying on the beach!
When I first arrived in Noosa Leanne and I went to Australia Zoo which is about an hour from here. It was amazing! It was a sunday but it was almost empty so we didn't have to queue for anything or peer through hoards of tourists to see the crocodiles!
The weather has been lovely for the past few days, clear blue sky and a very hot sun. There has been some rain, and it gets very chilly once the evening sets in, but on the whole it's nice.
Tonight is didgeridoo night at the hostel! There's a bloke who comes in once a week to teach the didge to the guests. They love it, we don't love having to listening to beginners very week!
I've booked my flight home, which is pretty sad! Most of the other volunteers are also leaving within the next month, some of whom have been here more months and months already so we have a great big countdown chart on our wall. 4 weeks to go! The mood in the flat falls when anyone mentions going home, but everyone is excited as well about moving on. I can't believe I'm so near to the end of my trip, I need more time! I will be so sad to say goodbye to this side of the world, I don't want to think about leaving yet!
Main Beach
written by on August 7, 2010 from Noosa Heads, Australia

Pushing through for Summertime
Noosa Heads, Australia
Alexandria Bay
My last day in Noosa! I'm excited about seeing the rest of Australia between here and Cairns albeit at breakneck Speed! The main place I'm stopping is Airlie Beach on Saturday, where all the sailing trips around the Whitsunday Islands leave from. Then it's quickly up to Cairns, only stopping overnight once. It's been cloudy and fairly cool here for the last few days, so hopefully as I get further north I'll get at least a bit more Australian sun! This part of Oz isn't having a good winter, it's usually much warmer - although the average temperature while I've been here has been around 23 degrees, which feels pretty warm to me! The locals are wishing it would hurry up and get hot! So I'm rushing up to make the most of the Oz winter before I get back to the end of the British summer, although goiong by posts I'm reading on facebook it's not too warm over there at the moment anyway! Come on summer!!
I've been pottering around here, there's actually not much to do except go to the beach, especially as there are no waves to surf on at the moment!
I did go on a day trip to Fraser Island, which is the world's largest sand island. There are no slealed roads on the island at all, so it was all 4 wheel driving on bumpy sand tracks through the rainforests and along the beach! We visited Lake Mackensie, which is filled only by rainwater and it's beautifully clear. The water was pretty cold - colder than the sea so I only had a quick swim! We were also taken on a walk along a creek where lots of rare indiginous plants grow.
Dishy flat
I've had a brilliant 5 weeks in Noosa at Halse Lodge, it's been great having something to do with my time and having a great bunch of people to live and work with! However, I am really excited about coming home and seeing everyone! My feet are getting itchy for England! Can't wait to see you all soon xxxx
written by  JillR on August 24, 2010 from Noosa Heads, Australia

Ships and Dips
Airlie Beach, Austria
Last day on the job
I said goodbye to all my new friends in Noosa and hopped back on the Oz Bus to go up to Rainbow Beach, which is only 2 hours north of Noosa. The gang came down to the bus stop to wave me off which was lovely, and provided a great conversation starter with the other people on the bus! We only had a smallish minibus this time so there were only a few people travelling with me. We stayed in one of only 2 hostels in Rainbow Beach (it's a teeny tiny village really), and met quite a few people who were there to go on camping trips to Fraser Island. I left the next day on the same bus (that was one of the compulsory stops so the bus and driver stopped over too) but this time there was only me, 2 other girls that had been in the hostel and the driver! We arrived in Agnes Waters at lunch time and the girls and the driver checked into a very nice hostel. The owners let me use the girls' room to store my luggage as I would be getting on the overnight Greyhound bus later that evening. In the afternoon the girls and I went for a sunbathe and a walk around the beach then we hung out at the hostel til it was time for me to catch my bus. I only knew the girls that one day, but that one day was one of the best of the whole trip! Because it was only us on the bus we all sat up front and chatted and listened to music and joked around with Sonic the driver, and it was like we were on a road trip together as old mates. It kinda helped that Sonic was young and cute and we all had a collective crush on him! I was really disappointed that I had to leave that night and wouldn't be carrying on with my new gang! They would be travelling up to a cattle ranch in the outback for one night and then on to Airlie Beach the next day, but I had already booked a sailing cruise and would miss it if I stayed with them an extra day! For only knowing the girls for 24 hours, it was a very emotional goodbye at the bus stop!
I arrived in Airlie Beach at about 7am and luckily the YHA let me into my room straight away so I had a quick wash and headed out for breakfast. Airlie Beach is quite nice, not very big, and full of people waiting to go on sailing trips.
The SV Whitehaven, my home at the Whitsundays
My trip began the next day, on a boat called SV Whitehaven. It usually sleeps 24 people, but only 9 people had booked onto this trip so we had pleanty of space! My trip lasted 2 nights, sailing around the famous Whitsunday Islands and doing some snorkelling and some bushwalking. The weather was pretty horrible - on the first evening there was so much wind and the sea was very rough and there was no sun at all, the next day was a little better, and finally this morning the sun came out for our journey back to the marina! The snorkelling was great, but a little cold. I saw some amazing coral and fishes, and some stingrays! It was lovely to be swimming in the ocean and having something cool to look at! We stopped at Whitehaven Beach which is one of the best beaches in the world - beautiful white sand and really bluey turquoisey water.
In the evenings we would play cards and chat, it was a little subdued because there were so few of us, and quite a lot of them didn't seem to want to socialise, but the 3 crew members were really friendly, so I ended up hanging out with them most of the time! The boat had 4 cabins for sleeping, usually when the boat is full double beds and bunks have to be shared and it must get very cosy, but we all had our own beds this time. Although I never used mine, as both nights I slept out on deck with the crew! They use swags which are like big thick oilskin sleeping bags with a thin matress sewn in. It wasn't cold at all but pretty noisy with the water and the boat creaking and things banging around in the wind. Last night it started raining but we were under cover so we didn't get wet at all. It was a fun experience, but a shame that none of the other guests wanted to joing the swag party! The weather could have been a bit kinder but I had a great time on the boat, I was able to help with the sails and steering, and saw a really gorgeous part of the world!
PS For some reason blogabond thinks Airlie Beach is in Austria for this post - it's got it right on the map though!
Ships and Dips!
written by on August 31, 2010 from Airlie Beach, Austria

Go Home!
Cairns, Australia
My last day of my travels! Wow. It's been great. The whole thing. Absolutely great.
Today was my last full day so I did something a bit special - I went hang-gliding.
Me and my hang-glider
Well, I tried. I met my instructor, Kevin, on the top of a Cliff overlooking the sea, and we got the glider prepared and ran off into the air, but after a few minutes we had to land because the wind conditions weren't right at all! But it was a fun few minutes! It was a cool feeling to be hanging there over the trees and the sea. So once we landed on the beach we packed up and drove back up to the take off point to have another go, btu it was clear this attempt would be just as futile as the first. I was a bit disappointed, but at least I'd got up in the air. But then Kevin said, "well I have a micro-light, do you want to have a go in that instead?" So we drove to the tiny take-off strip where he kept his micro-light and we took a half hour flight along the coast. It was brilliant! We flew down low over the sea and over the mangrove swamps and spotted hundred of turtles and a shark!
A leisurely flight around Port Douglas
The scenery was beautiful, and the weather couldn't have been better! When we were finished he drove me to the nearest town so I could catch the bus back to Cairns, and whilst I was waiting I had the best fish and chips I've had in Australia! So it was a pretty amazing last day.
I leave for the airport tomorrow morning at about 9am, so it's goodbye for now, see you back in England for my 'and now for something different' summary!
xxxxx
written by on September 2, 2010 from Cairns, Australia

Me and my hang-glider

A leisurely flight around Port Douglas

Ships and Dips!

Last day on the job

Noosa River

Getting silly in Noosa

Halse Lodge lounge room

A Dingo!!

Lake Mackensie

Rainbow Sands

Dishy flat

Alexandria Bay

Kayaking

Someone who can wakeboard

Someone who can only kneeboard

Wakeboarding

Outdoor music bash, Perigian Beach

Perigian Originals

A good sunday in the sun

Didgeridoo Lesson

Main Beach

Stevo

Feeding time

Woo-hoo

agro - what a beauty

Crocs rule!

The artificial beach on the South Bank. London take note.

No squatting please, we are in Australia now.

The Gabba

Beach!

The World's Biggest Banana

Kangaroo!!

The SGC

Harbour Bridge sunset

Waterboom!

Very serious meditation session

Scouting for girls

The top of the world

Solo Carnival

Multicoloured chicks. They dip them in paint. Not really.

Borobudor Temple

not a lot of rupiah

China Town

No smelly fruit on our transport thank you!

'Tiger Safari' at the zoo. All the tigers were made of cardboard. Scary.

One of the most heart wrenching moments of my trip - not only did he figure out how to take my camera out of my bag, out of its case, turn it on and take photos - after a few days he also started putting the strap round my wrist before he started playing!

Just doing some hoeing.

Traffic in the capital

Serendipity Beach

BBQ on the beach. Bliss.

Serendipity

Otres Beach. Amazing. The sea was like bath water!

The only way to travel!

Cheeky bit of luminous paint!

Mama's!

My kids drawing on the wall!

Me and my kids vandalising the classroom. Mr Swing wasn't impressed!

Me, Joe and our Wednesday afternoon class

Little house on the prarie

The farm

My Wednesday afternoon class

Lunch time at the farm

The baby at the farm. I would have taken him but his mum was looking.

A busy morning class. Usually I only had the girl in the mornings.

Independence Monument

Music time at the farm

Ma-hoo-sive rain storm at Angkor Wat

Making roads at the orphanage

Sunset at Angkor

Duck Duck Goose

Cows in the playground!

Wat Phnom

My first elephant of the trip!

Monkey!

Killing Fields Stupa

Zip Line!!

Great Wall

Me and a big wall

Easy peasy climbing. Not.

A crumbling watch tower

A not so crumbling watch tower

Anything that could be scewared got sceward!

Qianmen Gate

Entrance to Forbidden City

No trumpets or cars on fire

Raaargh

Forbidden City

Get in line

Raah raah raah raah

Prince Gong's digs

A bit of visual China

Painting the walls of Flowers Youth Hostel, Guilin

Sunny Longshen

Blue Sky in Longshen!

Moon and 7 stars in the sun

Ladies with long hair

Abe and his new wife

The paths we had to trek down

I'm a traveller, me

2 fish eating a sombrero

Jesus pose

I'm a farmer, I work in the fields all day

The climbing team!

Reaching the top!

Abe takes a rest

Looking great!

Kitchen staff at the boarding school preparing a lunch of shredded tree.

Beer as big as my head!

The Yangshuo gang!

Li River

The bridge I jumped off

A gentle punt down the river

Me about to jump!

Me just after I jumped!

Baba and our minibus! Many miles in this transport of delight!

Learning calligraphy

Majiang (one of the hundred million games we played)

Moon Hill

Huangyao Village

Making tea in Huangyao

Gambei!

Boarding house at the school we stayed in

The school we taught at during our 2nd week in Fengyan

Our Fengyan ping pong people!

Last day in Fengyan :(

The friendly locals

Making dumplings in the kitchen in Fengyan

Shanghai Airport