Disney

It might not have been the most cultural of attractions but that didn't matter to me today as I travelled to Disneyland Hong Kong with an excited grin on my face.

I am not ashamed to say that I absolutely love Disney parks and am lucky enough to have now visited three different ones. The atmosphere inside is always so upbeat and I have to admit that I even got a little bit starstruck as Nads and I had our photo taken with Mickey himself.

Did You Know?: The Disney parks in California, Florida, Paris and Tokyo are all bigger than the one in Hong Kong, making Disneyland Hong Kong one of the least known and officially the smallest Disney park in the world!

Name That Brand

After Thailand and Cambodia, China is the third country on the trip that doesn't use the same alphabet as the English language. Mandarin (China's most widely spoken language) has it's own set of characters to make words and I thought I would attach a few pictures of some snacks you can buy in China. Can you work out which famous brand is which?

Once you have worked it out, have a think. Is it just the name that's important for customers to recognise or are certain colours and the way words are written just as important?

One Week Left!

A week today I will be back in the UK! I can't believe how quickly the past five months and twelve countries have whizzed by. With just Hong Kong left as a new place to visit, Shanghai seems to be preparing me for getting back home as today I walked past a 'Marks & Spencer' and a 'Tesco'!

True Love Test

Found in Yuan Gardens, this huge piece of rock is a traditional way of testing true love.

The man is supposed to place his hand into the circular hole on the right and the lady is meant to put hers into the hole lower down and to the left. If the man and the woman are able to reach each other through the narrow space then it is said to be true love!

Being on our honeymoon, Nads and I thought we would try it out. We didn't hold out much hope as a few other couples before us just couldn't reach but, with a bit of manoeuvring, Nads and I could just about reach each others fingers. Phew! 

Shanghai Serenity

Nestled in amongst the busy streets of Shanghai is this place, Yuan Gardens or 'Gardens of Peace', and it is every bit the traditional Chinese gardens that you could picture in your head. There are rockeries that stand tall next to the serene water features filled with koi, turtles and ducks and then there are the beautifully constructed old-style buildings that are dotted throughout.

The gardens were first created nearly half a millennium ago and they cost so much money they nearly made the emperor at the time bankrupt! Since then they have changed owners many, many times and they have also been damaged in many wars, including World War II. Currently though they are owned by the Chinese government who take great care of the place to ensure that it remains a peaceful retreat for all those wishing to escape the hustle and bustle of one of China's biggest cities.

Did You Know?: When they created the rockeries they didn't have any fancy glues or cements so the heavy rocks were stuck together and held in place by a mixture that included crushed sticky rice!

Unusual Music

You know when you sing along to a song, it's in a foreign language and you realise you have no idea what you're actually saying (Gangnam Style anyone?)? Well, I think this happens a fair bit in China.

I have been here nearly two weeks now and in that time I have heard two different versions of 'Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer', Mariah Carey's 'All I Want For Christmas' and 'Jingle Bells'!?! It has caused Nads and I to giggle and just check we haven't stayed 7 months too long without realising!

Army Of Warriors

In my opinion, The Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an should be included on any historical 'Wonders of the World' list. After highlighting them as the one thing I wanted to make sure I saw in China, I finally got to visit them today and, as a history nerd, I loved it.

What is really interesting is that their discovery in the 1970's was a total accident. A local farmer was out digging a hole for a new well and fell through into a huge chamber. Inside this chamber he found the first few of the thousands of warriors you can see in the photo and since that day excavations are still going. The photo shows 'Pit One' (The farmer fell through at the front of this area) and they have so far uncovered 2,000 soldiers and expect to find another 4,000+! Then there are Pits 2 and 3 where they are finding many more, it is one almight army. Amazingly, no record of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (The first Emperor of China) coming up with the idea, it being created or it being hidden has ever been found in Chinese records!

The warriors were created to look after the Emperor in the afterlife and, if you think about it, they have done just that. By becoming one of the most famous places in the whole world they have ensured that they, the Emperor's tomb and all of it's contents will be protected by historians, archaeologists and governments for many many years.

Did You Know?: Every single warrior has it's own individual face, they have never found two the same. Even each terracotta horse in the army is different!

Faster Than A Speeding Bullet?

This is easily the fastest (And probably the coolest looking) train I have ever been on; the high speed bullet train from Beijing to Xi'an.

At it's fastest it was speeding along through the smoggy Chinese landscape at 304kmph! To put that in perspective, the Eurostar only just pushes past 250kmph and this train can even get close to 400kmph on the right tracks!

High Flying

Tonight I went to watch the young acrobats of the Chinese National Acrobatic Troupe. It was absolutely incredible (Except for maybe the slightly creepy clown they used to try and make a story out of the performances)! 

In the photo you can see some of the young men performing their daring skills on vertical ropes. Here, some of them have hung themselves upside down with their feet while others spin around quickly while hanging on to ropes attached to their upside down friends!

There was also a beautiful performance with Chinese fans that ended with around 10 girls all on one bicycle at the same time as they cycled around the stage and another saw a group of girls doing amazing tricks with diablos. This included throwing it in the air, doing loads of somersaults across the stage and catching it again and then doing a dance routine in perfect unison...while all still throwing diablos about. I think I could get a diablo, practise every day for 2 years and not even be close to what I saw!

The Forbidden City

This is me, outside The Forbidden City in Beijing. Built just over 600 years ago it was home to two dynasties of Chinese emperors; The Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. It is a huge city within a city and has a rather large wall and 52m wide moat running around the outside to protect it.

Nads and I were just two of thousands upon thousands who visit the site every day making it one of Beijing's top attractions. It only cost us about £4 to get in but back when it was home of the emperors entry was free, the only hitch was that if you weren't invited you were killed!

Did You Know?: Throughout the site there are 309 large pots that used to hold lots of water. They were there to be used in case a fire broke out but ironically, during the cold winters, fires were lit under them to stop the ice freezing!

Kate Moss, Lily Cole, David Beckham...Wallace And Gromit?!

As you wander through one of Beijing's newest shopping malls (Which has the world's largest Adidas store spread over four floors!) you would expect to see some of the planet's most famous faces advertising new lines of clothing. There were two 'models' I didn't expect to lay my eyes on though; Wallace and Gromit!

Here you can see Wallace sporting a rather snazzy cap and Union Jack jumper and Gromit has a dashing scarf wrapped around his neck as they model the latest line for the clothing store Chocoolate.

Seeing this large advert brought mixed feelings...one being total surprise at seeing some fictional British animated characters as actual fashion models and also huge disappointment at realising that Chocoolate wasn't a sweet shop.

The Great Wall

Here I am at The Great Wall of China, the last of the 4 Seven New Wonders Of The World that I am visiting on this trip. The first thing to note is that The Great Wall isn't actually one really long wall, instead it is many quite long walls used to link up natural defences like impassable mountainsides.

I visited the Mutianyu part which is over 3,000 metres long and has 26 watchtowers (You can spot some of them in the photo). It was a truly impressive sight and there were lots of steps as the wall rose and fell with the hillside. They were those tiny types of steps that feel like you are doing lots of small footsteps in quick succession, so quite tiring!

Despite all the effort that went into building it though, it actually became pretty useless once invaders to China decided to come from the sea and even more useless once planes were invented. Funnily enough, if it wasn't for tourism it might not even exist like it does today and even now there are stretches that have totally collapsed and piles that are still illegally plundered for building materials!

Did You Know?: The Wall being visible from space is a myth and not true. It might be long but it's simply not wide enough!

To Tan Or Not To Tan? That Is The Question.

Walk in to nearly any European or North American pharmacy and you will find rows of products to help you fake tan and when the sun comes out loads of people head outside to get a real one.

Here in Asia it's the exact opposite. In each of the 6 different Asian countries I have visited I have spotted rows of 'whitening' products like this facemask in the photo. They have things in them to make skin lighter and in Vietnam I also learnt that women on mopeds will try and cover as much of their skin as possible to actually avoid tanning.

Isn't it funny that millions of white Western people are constantly trying to make their skin darker while millions of people in Asia, with naturally darker skin, are trying to make theirs lighter! 

The Summer Palace

Today I travelled to the outskirts of Beijing to visit The Summer Palace. Ever since an Emperor made Beijing the country's capital nearly a whole millennium ago this site has been important but most of what can be found there today was built in the 18th century.

The site includes an absolutely huge lake that was entirely man-made. Nads and I hired a pedalo and spent nearly an hour on the water and we only got round the tiniest part. It was a pretty grand place and full of lots of impressive Chinese style buildings and artwork. It was also pretty knackering walking over the hill you can see both on the way in and the way out! Good training for The Great Wall.

Did You Know?: In the late 19th century, Empress Dowager Cixi stole funds from the Chinese Navy to do up the palace as a holiday home to spend the rest of her life in!

The Birds Nest

Here I am in front of the 2008 Olympic Stadium in Beijing. It is called 'The Birds Nest' because of the way the metal looks like lots of twigs formed together to make a nest.

As a sports geek it was a very exciting place to visit and I had great fun wandering around it and seeing where the Olympic flame was left burning during the games. I even went inside and I got to wander around the seats and see the track where Usain Bolt made his name 5 years ago.

As well as the stadium, the famous 'Water Cube', which held all the aquatic events of the 2008 Games, is still standing and looking spectacular nearby.

Review of Vietnam

If I had to choose one word to describe the country I'd probably go for 'mopeds'. There are quite literally millions of them!

There is so much more though, the country itself is beautiful. From the towering rock islands in Ha Long Bay to the bustling city streets of Ho Chi Minh City there is so much to see. I personally think that Hoi An is one of the most beautiful places in the world because of the hundreds of colourful lanterns hanging from old buildings and bridges that light up the streets, it was exactly like a painting of a 'traditional Asian' scene.

I will also remember the horns of cars/buses/mopeds being blown for what seemed like every second of every day in the cities. It was quite intense.

Overall, Vietnam is an amazing country and definitely somewhere everybody should visit if they get a chance.

Next up; China. The last country of the trip.

In The Photo: Here is a small part of a mosaic in Hanoi, the capital city. It is part of the longest ceramic mosaic in the world at over 2 miles from start to finish! Made to celebate the city's 1000th birthday in 2010, our taxi was driving past it for ages!

One Direction Watch {Vietnam}

There's about as many signs of One Direction in Vietnam as there are McDonalds in the country...absolutely none!

Islands In The Bay

I have spent the last couple of days in one of the most beautiful places on earth; Ha Long Bay! It is in the north of Vietnam and is made up of nearly 2,000 different limestone islands that lurch up high out of the water.

It is said that, centuries ago, an ancient dragon came to help the local Vietnamese people when they were being invaded. It crashed into a giant rock and sent boulders the size of islands scattering across the bay. This meant that the invaders couldn't find their way to land and the local people remained safe. That is the traditional story of how the bay was created and sailing amongst the islands was like travelling into a beautiful, pop-up book of the story.

Did You Know?: Ha Long Bay has featured as a location in two James Bond films and was the finish line in the Top Gear Vietnam special.

Jellies

Look at this jellyfish! As I was kayaking around some of the islands on Halong Bay I saw one every few minutes and they were huge. They could deliver quite a sting if you got mixed up in their tentacles but that hasn't stopped people catching them and selling them to China where they are a popular in salads.

Last Dong Day

Today's my last day in Vietnam before flying to China tomorrow morning. That means I will be starting to spend Chinese Yuan instead of Vietnamese Dong, something which should be a lot easier to work out because it's roughly Y10 to £1 instead of a whopping 32,400 Dong to £1 (roughly). I am a lot better at dividing by 10 than I am at dividing by 32,400!

In The Photo: While it's only possible to get 5, 10, 20 and 50 notes at home, here in Vietnam you can carry round a few half a million notes like this! You can even go to a cash machine and withdraw a few million Dong!

Puppet Show

Last night I got to see a Vietnamese water puppet show. The shows originally started centuries ago in the rice paddies of the Mekong Delta and the puppeteers use the water as a stage while they stand behind a bamboo screen.

What I saw last night was exactly the same except it was in a theatre in Hanoi instead of a rice paddy! It was incredibly clever how they used the water and the puppets were very well made. What you can see in the photo is dragon puppet moving around with a bird puppet, it is part of the traditional story of how the people of Vietnam were created. I got to watch a few other Vietnamese stories told on stage too and it was a really interesting evening.

It's Not Like The Garage Down The Road

The latest garages in the world have fancy clean handles, a smattering of special offer advertisments for things like wind-up torches and you can even put your card straight into the pump to pay now. In Vietnam you can fill up at one of these.

Believe it or not this type of petrol pump has been quite a commom sight in both Vietnam and Cambodia and equally common are old, large glass Pepsi or Fanta bottles filled with fuel to take away! I'm not sure it's the safest way to store highly flammable liquids but it seems to do the job in South East Asia.

Tumbling Down

I hope everyone back home enjoyed their Monday off. I ended up having quite an eventful afternoon when the ceiling of our hostel room fell in!!!

I was sat on the chair you can see in the photo, just checking my emails and catching up on football news when I suddenly heard something fall over above me. I thought it sounded a bit odd because it sounded like it was really close (Not like when something falls over upstairs in your house and you know there's a fair bit of concrete or rafters between you and the floor above).

After that, I heard a few more things topple over in quick succession just before a pretty ominous cracking sound. I looked up and saw some of the wood decorating the ceiling come apart and things starting to fall through. It must have all happened in just a split second because I leapt from my seat and flung myself onto the bed to get out of the way.

I looked back and saw that where I was sat was covered in shattered glass (Including a now obliterated fish tank and mirror), ceramic tiles, wood and lots of dust. Small shards of glass even covered the far reaches of the room. This certainly woke Nads up from her nap and luckily I only had a very small cut on my arm.

[Apologies for the photo being a bit blurry. There was a lot of dust in the air and it was taken very quickly as the hotel staff had just started to clear up and after we had to move some of the debris to actually get out the room]

The Temple Next Door

This picturesque temple is right next door to where we are staying in Hoi An, in fact it can be seen right outside our bedroom window!

It's an old building dedicated to something called Confucianism (Conn-fyu-shunn-ism). Confucianism isn't technically a religion but it is a set of beliefs that people choose to follow.

It was started around 2500 years ago in China by a man called Confucious. At this time things weren't good in the country and he became a teacher who created a set of rules that people must follow. They included things like respecting your elders, treating other people how you would like to be treated yourself and knowing that if you have made a mistake you must try your hardest to correct it. It was very strict but also incredibly popular and many people still follow these rules today.

Did You Know?: One thing people used to say about Confucious was that if his mat wasn't straight he wouldn't sit on it. This might sound really fussy but it's actually the core of his beliefs that things must be done properly so that they are correct. Think of your writing, if you don't start a sentence with a capital letter and finish it with the correct punctuation is just isn't right and doesn't make proper sense.

War Tunnels

Today I found myself crawling through the Cu Chi Tunnels not far from Ho Chi Minh City. These famous tunnels were used by large numbers of Vietnamese fighters during the country's war against the USA . They run for many kilometres, different tunnels going in different directions but all connected.

You can see how small and cramped these tunnels were for me but they used to be even narrower because they have been widened for tourists! Imagine having to live inside these for days on end, sharing your space with poisonous centipedes and scorpions as well as a whole village worth of people.

Did You Know?: The only time people left these tunnels, even though it got so hot inside, was after dark when there were no US soldiers around. However, if bombing was happening it could be days before anyone went to the surface!

Rush Hour

Cambodia may have had some of the craziest driving of the trip so far but Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam certainly has the busiest roads.

The amount of mopeds in this city is incredible. I have heard a tour guide say that there are around 4,500,000 of them, there are only around 6,500,000 people! They are everywhere!

A Famous Post Office

There can't be too many post offices in the world that are tourist attractions but this one in Ho Chi Minh City certainly is.

Saigon Central Post Office was built when this part of Vietnam was under the control of the French and it was designed by a man called Gustave Eiffel...the same man who designed a certain famous tower in Paris that shares his name!

Because of the fame of his Eiffel Tower creation this post office in the middle of the city now has many, many visitors a day that don't even want to post anything, including me!

Fast Food Update

It has to be said, KFC are one of the best fast food chains out there in the way that their menu changes around the world. Easily one of the easiest places to pop into for some food and not break my fast food rule of not having something on the menu in the UK.

What you can see here, nearest to the camera, is a 'Flava Roast' burger meal, it came with an Asian-style soup as a side! It was a bit like a warm version of the flavoured chicken sandwich fillers you can pick up at the supermarket. The other meal was 'Chicken Strips With Rice'. Out here in Asia it's very common to see rice served with fast food meals. The pudding was a 'Cream Ball' desert, this is basically that whippy style ice cream with some chocolate flavoured cereal at the bottom and a bit of chocolate sauce.

It may not have been award-winning cuisine but it certainly cured my midday hunger. Plus the drinks are served in glasses!