It’s now less than two months before we fly out and reality is starting to set in! Renting out the house, the amount of stuff we need to pack up 😱 and only six more weeks of work 🎉 I am on a HUUUGE clear out and my local Buy Nothing group* is getting flooded.… Read More It’s getting real!
We have approval from our schools & workplaces for a shortened gap three-quarters of a year and have been in planning mode!! We fly out April 6 to Japan (4 weeks), then head to Java (3-4 weeks) and then into Europe & the UK (4 months) then back east to South East Asia and hoping… Read More Back on the wagon!
This is the highlight of the festivals but the catch is that it is best seen at night which means it’s even colder. And there’s even this lovely clock as you enter that shows the temperature… So we knew we weren’t going to do any of the rides or shows here – the lines are… Read More Harbin Ice Festival
One of the joys of exploring a new country is going into the supermarkets and corner stores and just exploring the items, some familiar, some not so. While the kids were keen to buy the Onion Shampoo as a joke present for M, we managed to get away with just buying the wine soap. We… Read More Random Indian things
A small scale ice sculpture display can be found in Harbin’s central Zhaolin Park, and it was free (but they may charge some years apparently – guess we just got lucky!). Night time is best of course because they light up the sculptures but it is obviously colder too. We wandered around for just less… Read More Zhaolin Park ice sculptures
Our first venture in Harbin was to Sun Island to see the snow sculptures. This is definitely a day time thing with balmy maximum temperatures of -17C. (We thought we’d start by easing ourselves in with the cold… not sure how well that worked.) But luckily there were lots of tiny shops waiting to take… Read More Sun Island Snow Sculptures
In our brief Bangkok stay we were in the Japanese area of the city. Which wasn’t something I even knew existed but here we were! One of the best (or worst) shops was Don Don Donki – a Japanese discount store where you can buy just about anything from lollies, to homewares and beauty items.… Read More Japan in Bangkok
We had two nights in Bangkok (not just one like the song says) between India & China. It was a welcome relief in many ways – no longer being stared at for being white, plus you know all the food is amazing and the beer is cold. We were lucky enough to have a friend… Read More Two nights in Bangkok
The city palace is one of the main tourist attractions in Udaipur so we got a tour of some of it. (Just the King’s palace – we skipped the Queen’s palace as the kids were getting bored) It’s a massive place and took over 400 years to build, starting in 1553. Now it’s mostly a… Read More Udaipur City Palace
While Chennai isn’t a popular tourist destination, it does have a lot of foreign foods, with some French influence and even some decent sour dough!! Directly across from our accommodation was a French florist and cafe which made its own ice cream. M had taken I there one night to try their ice cream and… Read More Chennai ice cream 🍨 (oh the shame!)
Country Hoppers 