Author: bassybeats

With a slightly later start to the day we hit up Dunya’s again and were told to rug up. Today was the first day of Tibetian snow! The plan for the day was to go into the Potala and the most scared temple.

We got some Rickshaw’s to the Potala as there are ALOT of steeps and it was snowy so would be an effort at the new altitude to do both in the morning.

On arrival it was pretty cool to see all the hills snowy. Making our way up the stairs we got better and better views. Sadly there won’t be many photos from inside the temples or Monasteries as its not allowed. read more

So Day 6 was taken up with pretty much with travelling from Nepal to Tibet over the Himalaya Mountains. We got a pretty good view of everest but the wait at the Kathmandu Airport was pretty painful.

Landing in Lhasa was interesting, a bit bumpy with all the air currents from the mountains but it was one of the quietest airports i’ve ever been too.

From the airport it was a 1 hour bus to Lhasa through the barren tundra that is Tibet.

The rest of the day which once we got into Lhasa was only a few hours was spent sorting out our hotel and then we were going to get a group dinner and look at a few close temples in the area at night when it was quiet. read more

So after arriving the night before and missing the Gecko’s / Intrepid group meeting I joined up and got right into it with a day tour around Kathmandu. We went too too places, The Monkey Temple and Boudaath Stupa.

Kathmandu was a bit of shock to the system after Shanghai. Its alot rougher and dirtier than I was expecting. But the culture is as rich as any where else i’ve been.

The Monkey Temple was pretty amazing. A few of them started scrapping it out and they seem very used to people walking around. Although we were told not to look them in the eye, just like a little mafia. read more

After the excitement of the day before I tried for a more relaxing day. Plan was to head out to Yu Garden and Old Shanghai then to Peoples Square and the Oriental Pearl Tower.

This place was a tourist hotspot and there was alot of people. Easy to play the cheap bastard card and follow tours around and listen to narrator!

Some interesting food that I dare not try.

If I never saw Jade again, it would be too soon. All these streets were lined with Jade, copper and sadly ivory carvings. Some lady tried to sell me “authentic Jade”, which upon closer inspection I could see the mould leftovers on them. (I tried to get a Jade horse Nikita but they were all fake). read more

So the last couple of days in Shanghai have been an eye opener. I managed to get alot of sightseeing in and experience the vastly different culture that is China.

Day 2 started off nice and early with hotel breakfast where I met a couple of guys from Sweden, one of whom, Daniel I would catch up for a beer and sightseeing the next day.

The hotel booked my tickets to Suzhou and waved down a taxi for me. Rush hour is insane on the metro so taxi was alot easier. I got to the Shanghai Train Station (the big main one) and managed to find my train. Ended up booking the first class cabin and being only 1 of 2 people in the whole cabin! read more

What a way to start a trip.

Get told that we are waiting for a thunder storm to past before we take off from Auckland then proceed to have a continuously bumpy flight which lead to no sleep. At least I met Miah, a touch ref that had done the trip a few times so I got to get some insight into what to do / expect.

Upon landing in Shanghai customs etc was the easiest i’ve ever had. Jumped on the Maglev train at a slow 301km/hr.

This is where it got a bit crazy for a while. Once off the maglev train, the order was gone. We hopped on the city Metro and experienced Chinese population density first hand. I got half way on the train with no room and doors shutting before getting the straps on my pack almost stuck in the doors. read more

A very long time coming it seems but it’s finally here!

The running itinerary is roughly.

Shanghai – Nepal – Geckos tour through Nepal and Tibet – Frankfurt, Germany – Hangout with Lukas – Wander between Germany and Norway till xmas – Norway with Anders for xmas – Dog Sledding in Norway (hopefully) – Frankfurt – Home.

Will keep the first post short and sweet, just needed to get it going first!

Ciao