Taking a Break

I knew I just had to get to Australia and then I would be able to unpack my bag, stretch my legs and relax for a period of time.  And that's exactly what I have spent the last two weeks doing.  Well, with a bit of excitement thrown in with my good friend's wedding and a 4 day trip to the middle of the Outback and the great Uluru!

Arriving in Perth was like coming home, which of course interests me as I was only here for 4 weeks in January, but I fell in love during that time and could easily see myself a resident.  Unfortunately for me, the Australian government does not feel the same way, nor have I found myself an Aussie boy who does either (yet)!! 

I hired myself a car, which I have driven very little while here, but it felt great to jump behind the wheel of a vehicle and self propel myself down the highway, even if I had to spend most of that ride (and a few more after) reminding myself which side of the road to drive on!  Living in London driving on the left and then having 5 weeks in Canada driving on the right before heading out on this adventure caused a number of 'oh my God' moments, swiftly recovered from without incident (so far). I was grateful to friends who lent me their Australian GPS map as I drove myself straight to another friend's house.  It was a beautiful day in Perth, crystal blue sky, not a cloud to be seen and above 20 degrees. It's just coming into spring here and had been raining and chilly, which it was quickly to become again, but happily not until after the most beautiful Aussie wedding I've ever seen!

Michelle Harris and Shane Neil became man and wife on September 10, 2011 and I was so fortunate to be one of the very select few they chose to include in their wonderful wedding weekend in Guildford at the Rose and Crown Hotel.  It was the most perfect day with everything going so smoothly, even my makeup as it ran down my face with my flood of tears during the ceremony. I couldn't help it. Michelle looked amazing, Shane was ogling her as she came down the aisle. And they are just so in love, it is something special to bare witness to and I feel very lucky to know them and be a part of their lives.

After the weekend, with the bride and groom safely off to their honeymoon in India, I set up home at my best friend from London, Alexandra and her husband Stuart's house in the far reaches of Northern Perth.  My bag literally exploded, and I have only just now got it under control.  It has been beyond brilliant to have a base and a room all to my own and a washing machine available whenever the endless loads of children's washing take a break!  I've had home made meals nightly, day trips to Perth Zoo, Hilary's Boat Harbour, Wanneroo Markets, extensive shopping malls and a lovely chance to reconnect with Alex's extended family, whom I met in January.  It is an amazing feeling to be in a place new and special, yet feel so at home. I've loved not having to run around and see the sights and get the photos and buy the postcards and souvenirs. It's given me so much more time just to be with my friend, and given by my emotional breakdown night one of my time here, I probably really needed to reconnect with a friend.

However, I did manage to pull myself away from Perth for the opportunity to visit the great Ayers Rock, or Uluru, the name the aboriginals gave it.  I flew to Alice Springs, stayed in a friendly little hostel and was collected at 605am by my Intrepid 2 day tour.  The desert was something special. The days were getting close to 30 degrees already, but the nights were going down to 1 or 2 degrees. It was freezing!!  And camping in tents actually allows you to experience the temperature change properly as the tents are far to hot to enter in the day light and then you spend the night shaking with cold and probably a little with the fear of what kind of creatures are slithering and skittering around your tent in the dark! 

It was all worth even just that first glimpse of the beauty that sits high above the desert floor, just in the middle of nowhere with seemingly no friends (until you turn around and see the Olgas or the Other Rocks, as they are affectionately known, standing some 50kms or so away!).  Uluru is simply breathtaking. The completely flat walking path around her base is over 10kms long. My ankle was beyond happy when we only walked halfway around and drove around the other half! The trouble was not falling over, and breaking my other ankle, as I stared straight up into the blue sky in complete awe. Almost even better was watching the color changing show Uluru puts on at sunset. As the sun goes down behind the Olgas, it creates many different colors on the red rock, best enjoyed while eating nibbles and drinking champagne (or OJ in my case) all provided by Intrepid!  The next morning we enjoyed watching the sun rise from behind Uluru and create the color show on the Olgas.  We hiked into the Olgas. As they are free standing and many, you're able to climb into the crevices, whereas Uluru just stands there one large, impenetrable rock. My ankle gave out and I missed the vertical climbs at the end of the hike, but enjoyed being out in the desert in the beautiful national park, always keeping my eye out for those creepy crawlies I was alright seeing in the zoo behind glass!


After another night in Alice, I was back to Perth and have had a lovely week just relaxing and spending time with the friends I have in the city.  I love that I know people all over the world I can connect with on my travels, makes it all seem a little smaller and less frightening.  Tomorrow I start again, granted this time I only have two weeks until I'll be back in Lacombe, Alberta wondering where to go next, but still I have two more weeks so bring them on!!  And once again, thanks to Perth and those of you here who make it feel so much like home. Who knows, maybe one day it will be!!

One Month On

It amazes me to look back at what I've accomplished in a month:

- Returned to London as a visitor for the first time
- Stood in Red Square
- Traveled the Trans Siberian Railway
- Visited Mongolia
- Climbed the Great Wall of China
- Stood in Tian'anmen Square
- Hung out with the Terra Cotta Warriors
- Sailed across Victoria Harbour on the Star Ferry in Hong Kong

Keeping a blog while in these countries has been impossible. Some places were too remote for the Internet, certain governments blocked access to my blogsite, and mostly I've kept myself too busy to do anything other than collapse at the end of each day!

My Trans Mongolian Express Tour with Intrepid was really good. I travel with 11 excellent people who managed to act like adults and get along for 3 weeks, and one girl was only 13!! Our Russian tour leader Bob ("Don't call me Boris" he announced to the first local guide we encountered!) did his job of getting us from St Petersburg to Beijing with loads of laughs and learning opportunities in between.

So as I was making new friends and learning to live without others in my life, I focused on the journey.

St Petersburg was beautiful. However I was very jet lagged and it rained the majority of my time there so I didn't give it the chance it deserved to impress me.

Suzdal was a little Russian town we stayed in near Moscow. We met Lena who served us breakfast and then dinner with A LOT of vodka. She had no English but a lot of energy and love. The many, many churches were nice, but Lena was the true gem of Suzdal.

Moscow wowed me, so much so I'll be going back.  We had a day and a half and made the most of the time we had. I walked a lot, took a boat trip, toured the Kremlin and St Basil's church in Red Square. I missed Lenin as he was closed while I was free. Will go back before they finally bury the poor guy!

The Trans Siberian Railway is an adventure to say the least. We were on board for 4 nights. The breaks in the journey came when the train stopped at platforms along the way for about 20mins each time, usually 3 times a day. We had cabins for 4 with no showers, 1 dirty toilet for 15 people and no air conditioning with temperatures in Siberia reaching 35 degrees!! The time went by with lots of chatting, reading, writing in journals, trying to steer clear of the carriage attendants who liked to yell at us in Russian, but mostly by drinking beer in the air conditioned dining car! I'm still not certain if I would recommend this journey even to those of you who were so jealous when I booked it! It is beyond tough.

Lake Baikal is gorgeous, and was a blessed two night break in our train journey. We stayed in a lovely guesthouse and enjoyed hot showers, food not made by adding hot water and space to explore. We had a boat trip on the lake and 2 idiots even went for a "swim" in the freezing waters! We had our second vodka night here as we taste tested all the different kinds the group had purchased! Bob was very against our drinking on the train as it's legal to drink alcohol but illegal to be drunk. Bob hates paperwork!

After our glorious break, we boarded the Trans Mongolian Railway for what we thought would be an easy journey of only two nights. It turns out this was the toughest part of the entire trip as the border crossing was epic. We were able to get off for 3 hours while the wheels were changed on the train but we were dumped in a tiny, dirty, disgusting little town to sit in the baking heat and wait. Once back on board the toilets were locked to begin the passport checking process. 2.5 hours to leave Russia as they searched the train and went through every passport. No air con, mid day heat baking us and not drinking to save us from needing the toilet made for a miserable experience. We couldn't even sleep as we had to be awake when the officials were on board and no one knew when that would be. 20 mins traveling through no mans land and then another 2.5 hours on the Mongolian side. When we were finally released from our jail like hell we fled onto the platform only to be attacked by the world's most ferocious mosquitoes, who had clearly been waiting for us! Our only escape was to jump back on the miserable train. Livvy, our 13 year old, had well over 50 bites all over her body!! The entire day was truly a horrendous experience.

We woke up the next day in Ulaanbaatar and soon the scars of the train journey faded as the amazing country took hold. I can't pinpoint what I like the most about Mongolia, but I was very happy there. UB is a fun city with lots to see and do. We weren't particularly adventurous but went to the International Intellectual Museum and met the founder who was a boy genius and was creating puzzles at 11. It was mostly just his collection of impossible puzzles and chess sets, and strange toys from around the world, but we had fun. Then we enjoyed the Sky Bar for cocktails and sights of the city. We toured a Ger community on the edge of the city and saw a cultural show with dancing and throat singing. The best part of Mongolia for me was our night at a Ger camp out in the national park. It was so beautiful and peaceful out there. And sleeping in the Ger was like camping!! Our third and final vodka night was here with Ghinngis (Mongolian) vodka, my favourite, yummy!!

The second part of our Trans Mongolian journey was approached with a lot of apprehension. No one was sure how we could go through another border crossing and survive. We rode on the train all day and waited for our late afternoon arrival at the Chinese border in almost total silence. When we got to the border the card games were brought out and we decided just to keep ourselves busy this time. A number of factors helped to make this experience almost pleasant. It was early evening so the temperature was almost cool, they changed the wheels on the train while we were still on it so we could watch and also while the Chinese had our passports so it didn't feel like so much time was wasted. We crossed into China after only 5 hours and happily slept the night away.

We arrived in Beijing in the afternoon and I was instantly taken with the city. It was complete mayhem, even on the short walk from the station to our hotel. It's a city that assaults the senses, continually. For the first 2 days I walked around smiling, enjoying how completely insane it all is. Then, it started to get to me. There are so many people, everywhere. It was beyond hot and the smog makes it almost impossible to breath. The entire place seemed to smell like toilets, mostly because people urinate everywhere, and babies don't wear nappies. They have splits in their trousers and when they go, it all just goes onto the ground where ever their parent is holding them.  Fortunately Beijing has so much to keep one busy that most of this can be forgotten.  Tian'anmen Square is huge. Chairman Mao is very waxy. The Forbidden City is beautiful. The Summer Palace is an oasis. The World Trade Center is confusing and full of extremely posh shops. The markets are lively and full of everything one could ever need or not need to purchase. There are also loads of expensive yummy restaurants, we treated ourselves to for surviving our trip!

The Great Wall of China is absolutely everything I have always dreamed it would be.  I stood there looking out over what felt like all of China in complete awe. It was beyond hot and what little climbing I actually did was exhausting, sweaty work. My ankle was happy with the portion we were lead to though. We had a cable car ride up to tower 14 and then a nice, mostly downhill walk to tower 6 with plenty of towers in between from which we could hide from the sun and enjoy the breeze. At tower 6 we discovered our way down was on a metal toboggan run.  It was so much fun, a few of us took a chair lift back up to come down again.  I had no idea the Great Wall had amusement rides!! It was a brilliant experience.

Saying goodbye to our tour group took a few days as some left right at the end of the tour, but most stayed on to explore Beijing, leaving daily. We continued to meet up during the day to explore together and at night to treat ourselves to fancy meals. One night we even had cocktails on the 80th floor of Beijing's tallest building! It was a nice way to finish our tour and see Beijing.  The day I left Beijing I flew to Xi'an on my own.

Xi'an was another busy, smog covered Chinese city. Someone at the hostel said "you see one Chinese city, you see them all." I had booked what turned out to be a miserable hostel and I was fairly fed up with the heat and humidity and so left most of Xi'an undiscovered, even though I'm sure it has a lot to offer. I did wander the markets of the Muslim quarter with a couple of people from the hostel, but mostly it was early nights for me. I was there for one thing and my one full day was spent visiting the Terra Cotta Warriors.  They were unspeakably amazing and worth everything I was putting up with to be there.  It will be amazing to go back in 20 years to see how much more they will have discovered.

After Xi'an came Hong Kong. I've been here on my own and I'm lonely. I just don't think I'm ready to be on my own yet. It's good to be aware of that I think. There will be a few more tours booked for me in the future. It's been great to have a nice, air conditioned hotel to myself for the first time in a month though!

Hong Kong is a vibrant city full of so many skyscrapers, it's easy to trip up on the sidewalks while looking up all the time! The views from the tip of the mountains and highest buildings (100th floor this time!) are stunning. I've treated myself to high tea at the colonial Peninsula Hotel and cocktails at the Intercontinental Hotel on the Harbour.  The heat and humidity have been the worst here, 91% for the past 2 days! However, I have pushed on to get the sights seen and the to do list crossed off. I've had so many recommendations from everyone and have happily done them all.  I can see why everyone is so taken with this city and I think if I had come at any other time of the year, it would be hard to get me to leave!

So here I am, one month in. I am overwhelmed looking back at everything that has been going on. I knew it'd be busy, but wow...  Here's to the next month and all that it has to bring!!