To the commentary...

Thank you for comments, we love reading them and they are such a good laugh (tappy), really informative (good to know you are still keeping up your sterling directional senses, Sandi), and Kath's happier now that her friends are starting to be able to read the blog... now can you get the commenting right? (exclusion to Charles and family...!!) (Click the "COMMENTS" button, not the little mail icon...)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD CHIU..!!
Hey Choo Choo... who are you? By the way, they go "BOOP" and "TOOT" and "HONK" and "BEEP" nowadays, as well and "Vwoooom!" and "Rumble" and "Hum!" and "Clickity-clack..." not chugachugachoochoo
OK that's enough train noises, no more "Thomas the Tank Engine" for you today.... or beer I think....
I'm taking Andrew away now so he can take me to dinner...keep the comments coming...we are having an utterly lovely time! Kathx

Bugsislava

Its now 8pm in lazy Bratislava, Slovakia. I am sitting in a small internet bar with a beer and a computer listening to some American rap, waiting for my appetite to pick up for dinner. The old town is beautiful and we just made it to the castle hill to get a few great shots of the city. The Danube flows through sleepy Bratislava which is full of art and yearning for a part of the EU...

Slovakian's seem a little more laid back and self-involved than the Austrians. Cafes and bars spill out into the cobbled old town attracting the tourists that are here. It is a relatively tourist-free haven that is just waiting to pick up, but is sort of stuck halfway between Vienna and Budapest, with sturdy tourist destination Prague only 5 hours away and Krakow, "the new-Prague", just to the North.

Upon checking in to our lovely pension room we were delighted at the size (amused by the toilet though, squished in the corner). However, lunch and an early wake made us siesta-seeking by 3pm and so we retired to our suite, only to find after half an hour of snoozing that the bed was a nest for bed-bugs (as Kath's arms and legs will testify in the form of bites). Terrified, we complained, got our money back and checked into another private apartment, which is (so far) a beautiful room in a cosy appartment on the second floor.

We are only here a night but I think Bratislava could be a good destination for maybe a week or more if you wanted to explore the countryside. It is certainly quietly lively and trendy, not so touristy, and a good break for the pocket and credit card compared to Austria (and, I suspect, Hungary). Hope you are all well and thanks for checking the blog! Love to you all... Andrew

Vienna Updates

We found some jazz in Vienna at the Jazz festival, though we saw the free stuff and the best is yet to come in the next month. But the highlight of the night was the Wine Tavern that we had dinner at. Cheaper than the centre of town, a lively wine garden in the sun with great food was the order of the evening and it was really relaxing and a beautiful experience.

The new song for our trip now is "I left my knickers in Vienna" sung to the tune of "I left my heart in San-Francisco"... the laundry didn't return some of Kath's... we've picked some up though now... just thought you'd like to know. Thanks Izzy for the disposables. Kath has used some of them and I have just laughed at them.

Biggest Vending machine I've seen!

-Karlsplatz, Vienna

Krakow

What is that on the corner of the step??!!

Vienna

Vienna
We arrived at a horribly early hour - 6am! having had an ok night on the train (our sleep was punctuated by border crossing/passport control at 1am and again at 5am). we checked our bags into left luggage and after a railway station cafe breakfast (really not advised) we went out to see Vienna. It's a beautiful city in which every building seems to be decorated with columns and statues. It's clean, efficient (the tram is great) and as a result expensive. Still we're having a lovely time - the weather has been gloriously sunny and hot. We've been to some very interesting museums, there was a Klimt and Egon Schiele exhibition on called " The Naked Truth" so lots of pictures of boobs and willies! We've also been to an interactive Music museum which was great fun. We've also sampled the local food (good) and wine (great). Tomorrow we head for Bratislava - we considered driving but renting a car is way beyond our budget so we'll be back on the train.
Kath

Ant: I don´t know if you are receiving my SMSes... Please email me or text me. We are going to be in Bratislava from tomorrow til 30th, Budapest til July 3rd, Prague til 7th, Berlin til 10th and Paris 11th - 14th. - Andrew

Photo Tour

Ready for the photo tour?
With a few hours more until the overnight train to Vienna, I have shut myself up on the 2nd level overlooking the main square of Krakow, Poland, to send you the latest update on our escapades... Please enjoy!!

Krakow Square

The liviest yet most relaxed square I know. Yes, slightly touristy, but

big enough for everyone... Bread and dripping round the corner behind

here - thanks Nell!!

Wieliczka Salt Mines

This

is a chapel 120-something metres below sea-level in the salt mines. All

things are carved and made out of salt - even the floor, ceiling and

stairs, bar the wooden structures holding the roof up. We travelled to

136m into the earth at level 3 of the mine - it goes to level 9!

Great Food

The great food we've been eating - Krakow is a treat!


Me, Stephen (from Melbourne we met on the trans-Sib) and Kath after our as-much-as-you-can-fit-on-a-plate salad bar in Shesh-Besh restaurant, Moscow.

Wawel Castle

Beautiful Wawel Castle in the centre of Krakow. And guess what... BEAUtiful weather. A superb 26 degrees and sunny!

Moscow to Belarus

On the train again - leaving Moscow to go via Belarus to Poland. The
Polish trains are the most-spacious in Europe with 3 beds in a room,
though the layout is a bit strange - 3 beds on top of each other then a
closet and sink. Border control was very quick and all 3 countries were
done at the Belarus-Poland border at Brest / Terespol.

Moscow Pictures

Red Square and St.Basil's Cathedral, Moscow (on the sunny night we were there)

Trans-Sib Timetable

Wet wet wet

I knew it was all going to be bad when we got heralded into Moscow by Britney on the train radio. Ever since we have had soggy toes and pink, numb faces.

Please take a look at http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/27612.html and notice how the weather has been rainy the whole time we've been here but clears the day we leave.

Culture has therefore taken precedence and we have ducked into the State History Museum, the New Tretiakov Art Gallery (featuring heaps of 20th Century Russian Art) and the Roerick museum where we saw beautiful landscapy art and the Peace Banner. We are now taking a little time out before finally getting into the Kremlin and seeing the Armoury - a gallery of national Russian treasures.

Last night I had the best Borsch at Uncle Vanyas restaurant. It was quite an adventure to find it since it had moved from where Kath last remembered it.

Moscow is a beautiful city, even under grey skies. All the buildings are beautiful old relics that are very well maintained and colourful. The centre seems so small and accessible on foot yet it boasts a very busy metro system (with beautifully decorated stations akin to a stately mansion more than the tiled'bathroom MTR look).

 

Im signing off now coz this keyboard is funny!

àò+èùì'-.,_:;ç�é*^�? see what i mean_

 

Andrew

 

Comments...

Thanks for the comments so far!!

Happy father's day to all father-type people out there.

Thank you mum for keeping us up to date with Chiu-family, Hong Kong and Australia updates... we don't get much news on the trains...

Jamie: I think you've hit our itinerary right on the head, we are planning to do exactly that - see the old town, castle and salt mines...

Kath says "Will my friends and family please write some comments?!"

Currently Moscow is BIG and BEAUTIFUL, but the sky is GREY for the second time on our trip... Hoping to see lots of Russian stuff (Kremlin, Armoury, Museums, Metro stations, etc.)

-Andrew

The Trans-Siberian

Well, we did it - we crossed the largest country in the world overland by train. Compared to our previous train rides (and I do mean rides) this one went very smoothly as we had no borders cross making the whole process much quicker. That said we were on the train almost constantly for 3 days, a grand total of 78 hours, through 5 time zones and many, many cookies. Our cabin was very comfortable and this time we were sharing with other tourists, Dave and Alex who were pleasant travel companions. The attendant was surprisingly nice and we were well looked after including being thoroughly vacuumed at least 5 times! The train did stop in places and we were able to get off and admire the station/buy snacks from locals/stretch legs/breathe fresh air. however the longest of these stops were 20 minutes so it felt rather rushed. The rest of the time was spent on the train. We got rather bored on day 2 but day 3 seemed to fly by (probably because we spent most of it asleep or in the dining car drinking!) we watched the scenery change from green, hilly forrests to green flat forrests.

There was one massive moment of excitement, however, when, shortly after leaving Ekaterinburg we passed the obelisk that marks the end of Asia and the beginning of Europe. It's really a "blink and you'll miss it affair" but everyone was in the corridor peering out of the windows trying to see it! It just shows what people will consider points of interest when on a train for 3 days!

Overall the journey was great, though we're off eating bread and instant noodles for a long, long time! Now we end our cushy tour guided leg (thanks Monkey Shrine) and start our journey through Europe...

-Kath

We leave Irkutsk tonight after 2 nights at Lake Baikal and 1 night in Irkutsk city. The village we stayed at had a population of 600 and Irkutsk has 600,000. Very Russian...

View the pics here

Pictures Added!

Welcome to the picture-filled blog!! Added some pics so check out our trip so far...
This afternoon we are on the train for our longest journey - from Irkutsk to Moscow. It will take 3 nights, 4 days and a lot of endurance!

Hope you are all well!!

Tourists

We aren't the only tourists around!
We keep bumping into the same tourists everywhere that have booked similar packages to us. Paul and Jill were on the train up from Beijing and we saw them quite a bit in Ulaan Bataar and met them at the village in Siberia. They left the day we arrived. Alex and David are a day behind us as they actually herded horses in Mongolia for an extra day there. They just arrived at the village the day we left and will probably be on the same train as us on the way to Moscow. Lucy and Nathan, whom we shared a berth with from Beijing to UB, have probably only just arrived in Moscow as they went straight from UB to Moscow... CRAZY! That's 5-6 days on the train! Wish them all the best.
We are now also sharing our homestay in Irkutsk with a bunch of gap year-ers from the UK who have been on the same trains from Beijing and UB as us.... Big country, but small world!?

Siberia - Lake Baikal

On arrival into Irkutsk, we were met by a guide and put into a very Russian van and driven 150km out to a small village right on Lake Baikal. After 2 hours we arrived at our Russian homestay - a simple plot of two detached houses (one for guests and one for the host family) with vegetable gardens, chooks, dogs, cats and a "Banya" or sauna... oh yes, and a small wooden hut over a hole as the toilet.





I have been extremely happy with the whole trip so far. We have been fed so well by our host, Zoya, and our guide, Katya, has been terrific. It's been completely hassle-free and very enjoyable.

We missed a week of rain and had a beautiful sunny walk out to a fisherman's village for lunch, then experienced the swift change in weather as a rainstorm hovered and sprinkled over us on our 8km trek back home. Surprisingly warm and very fresh the rain didn't bother us much at all and made our steambath / sauna even more worth it. Next day was a huge trek around the village to the church and up to the hill and out to a dry lake where we all got sunburnt... and finally into the lake I stepped... for 5 degree waters... but I counldn't really swim because it was very slippery and very shallow. Suffice to say that I splashed Lake Baikal over me, froze and felt satisfied!

-Andrew

Train to Siberia

Arriving on board the train, Kath and I were confronted with two shocked Mongolian faces as we entered our cabin. They couldn't believe they were sharing their cabin with complete foreigners and thought there was a mistake. Two Mongolians soon became 3 Mongolians, each with enough cargo to fill a cargo ship with... Then, as we got to the border at Sukbataar, 3 became 4 and this time we had enough clothes to clothe the Mongolian army twice... Little traders they were, and as soon as we had finished our 11 hour border crossing ordeal, after the train conducter had been paid off in a thick stack of small denomination US$, the traders took their cargo and walked off the train.

The train ride was one that we have both decided never to repeat. Although it is a great experience to have our Mongolian berth-mates be interested in everything from i-pod to food, and we did catch some great shots of them walking around half-naked carrying sausages from one end of the train to the other, it wasn't the most comfortable of trips and the border crossing was agonising. Mostly agonising because I had to go to the loo in hour 3 and wasn't allowed to go until hour 10. We made it to Irkutsk early Monday morning after leaving late Friday afternoon. Confusing and slightly tired our Siberian escapades began...

-Andrew

Thanks for the comments!!

Thanks to those who posted comments...

Seems like the Chiu family is undergoing lots of different stuff all round the place...

I have lots of pictures to post up onto the blog but I'm not sure how I can do it. Maybe when we get to Moscow...

Kath and I love your comments!!

Mongolia

Train journey:
Long, lots of music, singing and guitaring, great room mates (Nathan and Lucy on their way back from Japan), great scenery, bread, ham, cheese.

Arrival:
Really surprised so far as to the quality of the package we booked.

After seeing sights we were transfered to a dreamy Ger camp located in a vast, green valley.

The round white tents are called "Gers". We stayed in this one below:

Archery, horse riding and general chilling out amongst the best natural settings you could ask for. Sun, showers, rainbows; horses, cows and random car wrecks on prestine, untouched, green hills.

Kath really enjoyed the horse-riding. We visited a traditional Ger with a real Mongoluan family - ate curded youghurt, fresh youghurt, creamy butter and Mongoluan tea.

Now:
After two days at Elstei Ger Camp we have now been transferred back into town where we have funally found an internet cafe. There are thousands of things that I've wanted to blog but I think I've forgotten them all at the moment!!

HOPE EVERYONE IS WELL because I'm having an UNREAL time!!

-Andrew

Days in Beijing

After a local breakfast of bao, seaweed and tea egg all for 11yuan on Sat, we set off towards the Summer Palace. Crawling along in Beijing's lengthy traffic we passed a whole street of music stores which we later came back to for a guitar... But first stop was the Summer Palace - the palace utself was closed but we enjoyed a great stroll along the lake amongst the swarms of people.

That night we met up wuth Caroline, a friend working in Beijing, who took us down some small Beijing lanes to pizza at a tibetan-owned cafe.

Sunday involved a lengthy adventure to the wall. We finally made it to Simatai Great Wall after negotiating public buses and prices with private drivers... This section of the wall is on the border of Hubei province and was still quite entact. Beating the weather but not the traffic back into Beijing, we treated ourselves to Beijing Duck in the capital.

More traditional breakkie on Monday that Kath didn't agree with. This time tofu and bean soupy things for 2yuan. Then the Temple of Heaven where locals do Tai Chi, play all sorts of sports and games and sing...

Beijing is huge and our legs started to feel that after a visit to the Forbidden Palace and walking around town to find Wall Street Beijing!

Then is was shopping, packing and then bed ready for our early morning trans-mongolian. Kath chucked a strop, I bought cheap Muslim food and we ended up watching HBO.

Beijing

After much back-seat typing, Katherine is on they keyboard....We arrived in Beijing after a very comfortable but very cold first train leg (we had a cabin to ourselves but air-con was on max). It's hot and sunny here in Beijing and today we are off to explore the Summer Palace and the city.  We are charged up on a local breakfast of little steamed meat buns, seaweed soup and salty egg boiled in tea (all tasting better than they sound).  We attract a fair amount of looks from the locals who are not used to seeing foreigners that often and less used to seeing a chinese guy with a western girl.  Still the stares are not creepy or offensive - just curious. off to go touristing now....

Our Trip Begins...

After 4 months of planning and psyching-up, 5 leaving parties and hours of rush-packing, we finally stepped out the door to begin our journey from Hong Kong to London overland. On our trip we will:

• Travel to Beijing by train (24hrs)
• Stay in Beijing for 4 nights
• Train to Ulan-Bataar (Mongolia) (~31hrs)
• Stay 3 nights in a Ger camp
• Train to Irkutsk to join the Trans-siberian in Russia (2 days)
• Stay near Lake Baikal for 3 nights in homestay
• Trans-Siberian train to Moscow (3 nights)
• Stop in Moscow for 3 nights
• Train to Krakow, Poland (stay there 4 nights)
• Vienna (2 nights)
• Bratislava, Slovakia (1 night)
• Budapest, Hungary (3 nights)
• Prague, Czech (3 nights)
• Berlin (3 nights)
• Paris (3 nights)
• Arrive in London around 14th July

So here we go... we are.. OFF!