Forbidden City, Beijing, China

On possibly THE COLDEST day of our lives thus far we ventured out of the safety and warmth of our newly acquired apartment to visit China's famous Forbidden City, Imperial Palace of the last Ming and Qing dynasties and quite possibly the most visited tourist attraction in the world. 

John at the entrance 'Meridian Gate' into the Forbidden City

It's hard to describe how cold the morning felt, the sky was a clear blue with hardly a cloud visible! We each donned two pairs of pants, double gloved, extra thermals but then shortly after stepping outside we mutually realised it wasn't really enough. Torn between running back inside to our cozy bed or braving the cold and utilising one of the first blue sky days we've seen yet, we hesitantly walked out our front gate. We decided going by subway would be our best route but then nearly turned back home again after crossing the road and seeing large sheets of ice that had frozen overnight. 

The Court yard in front of the Gate of Supreme Harmony

Entry into the Imperial residence is fairly straight forward- just follow the sea of Chinese tourists through the Meridian Gate over the Tongzi Moat and under the portrait of dictator Mao, past the heavily armed guards, stand in line to grab your tickets, have your bag scanned and your in. In a way we were very fortunate that the cool weather and off season meant there weren't the daily 80,000 visitors passing through. We were fairly early too so once through the strict ticket check we were surprised to see a huge open court yard.

Looking toward the Pavilion of Literary Profanity 

The court yard was surreal, with large parts having not gone through rehabilitation, it is a dangerous and ankle twisting feat to head away from the center path. Imagining the Imperial family being pushed over the rocky terrain in small wooden carriages gives you a bit of a giggle. Crossing the enormous frozen court looms the Hall of Supreme Harmony ..... And once through is the next large cold courtyard. After awkwardly taking out our map, with gloved fingers we decided that it would be best to head in a general straight line. The enormity of the city was overwhelming, surely it would not have be possible to visit all of the areas which are hidden away from the public with in the great walls. By, now we were really starting to get cold, particularly the ends of our fingers. It was a beautiful day and the sun shone glaringly bright across the red and golden roofs but the gave off no heat what's so ever.

After entering the first gate we reach the icy court yard

Stunning stone work depicting dragons

A view of the Hall of Preserving Harmony 

Many people are attracted to the Forbidden City for it's historical significance but also to catch a forlong glimpse of what it may have been like to be a Royal. To walk in the majestic Imperial gardens or to visualize ancient men with long white beards leaning precariously over soft off-white parchment, writing poems about days gone by. 

Outside the Gate of Benevolent Tranquility 

To stand under the windows of the palace and imagine the pale princesses and their consorts staring up to the bright stars on a warm evening sending prayers for a prosperous autumn harvest, the air full with the scent of jasmine. Or the stand off chatter as the feeble, well dressed lords gather in the Imperial halls to commission the new emperor who sits quietly adorned with silks of red and golden yellow, under a haze of essence. The name itself draws tourists alike, Forbidden City; what secrets do you hold so tight? Historically the name derived from the fact that without the Imperial approval no one was able to enter or leave the 180acre grounds.

A significant amount of restoration has been commissioned on the city since 1925 by the Palace Museum. Built from 1405 to 1420 with over 980 rooms by the immense assistance of over 1million workers it was the home for over 24 Emperors and their household as well as the political centre of China until 1912. When, Puyi the last Emperor abdicated.

Walking towards the Palace of Exploring Happiness

What's in the Chamber of Joyful longevity?

As we plodded our way through the network of Temples and Halls our shrinking stomachs growled unmercilessly. Having wished we had the foresight to bring along food there were little options to purchase lunch. This Starbucks cafe we had humorously heard was inside didn't exist and we were left to admire un fondly at the overpriced luke warm and processed pink sausages on a sticks rolling around on stainless steel cookers or tiny bags of flavoured and un satisfying looking puffed chips. Unpleased with our choices we marched on. Time flew by and we got progressively colder.

Outside the golden Gate of Heavenly Purity

Our thighs became numb and our noses burnt, it wasn't fun any more and we were stuck in the middle around the Palace of Heavenly Purity. Didn't feel so heavenly... grumble grumble. Past the Hall of Union and around the Palace of Earth Tranquility we walked. Past the Palace of Obeying the Heaven and the Palace of Expanding Happiness we kept walking.

The Hall of the Imperial Palace in the Imperial Garden

Finally we reached the beautiful Imperial gardens and the Hall of Imperial Peace on the uttermost Northside of the city. This special area was a private retreat for the Royal family and at each of the four corners lies a pavilion representing the four seasons.

In the North East section of the garden is the Gathering Beauty Hill which is an artificial mountain. Here annually the Emperors would climb to the aptly named Pavilion of Imperial view to watch the festivities with their families.

From here it was a brisk walk out of 'The Spiritual Valor Gate' and off to find our very late lunch! Through the cold, we had plodded for over six hours. If only we had known the ginormosity and horrendous scale of the city then perhaps we would have come back another, warmer, day! Even after six strenuous hours, with little feeling left in our extremities, we felt that there was so much more to see.

Tot siens,
John and Kara

Ps. Our hot beef noodle lunch was just fabulous.

Chongwenmen, Beijing, China

The road we first thought we lived on

* Christmas Edition *

What an amazing, gobsmacking and confusing last three weeks! Where are we now? Well we are putting away our backpacks and settling down for a year in China. The land of the rising sun. Hopefully? When this smog clears...

After a busy twelve months on the road, on the mountains, beaches and on many a bus in Asia we are reducing our travel speed in country seven! Beijing, China! But are we stopping for good? Nope! 2014 will be a very busy year for us!

Super pollution protection! 

China is very different from home, both in our preconcieved perceptions but also in the culture and attitudes. Number one- there's no Christmas! Ok, so several of the bigger shopping centres are in with the music and decorations but there is no holiday! There is no Santa and there are certaintly no elfs or reindeer! On new years eve the Chinese celebrate with giving fruit to friends... apples are the fruit of choice or just heading to a local restaurant together (it's not really a family thing).

Our Chongwenmen intersection 

Number two- It's cold. Not so cold that you can't go outside but so cold that after an hour you feel like you are slowly freezing. It starts in your nose and fingers and spreads from there! The locals only laugh about the cold... ohh its going to get much, much colder.... and maybe (its predicted) we might get some snow on Christmas day! So far, our little science experiments on the deck are freezing over and yesterday it only took 10minutes for some splashed water to turn to ice! Brrr.!!!! In addition to the cold, Beijing is extremely dry. It hasn't rained at all since we have arrived. The dryness causes the city to be an electric time bomb!!
It is common to receive up to 50 electric shocks a day from anything! Clothing, door handles, light switches etc... Kara got quite a bad one at work and now touches the light switches with her elbows.
Funny but sad :(

Yum! Potato and peanuts

Number three- the food is different from home. It's not your normal Chinese takeout (fried rice, egg fu hong, vege chow mein) its actually a bit more basic no frills style. Surprisingly its also much cheaper to eat out than cook at home. We must say though, the fresh dumplings are to die for and they can do some amazing things with noodles!

There are some food safety concerns in China with genetically engineered products and meats so we are sticking to a lot of veggies (which gets washed carefully with our fruit and veg wash).

A hazy sunset by our apartment

Beijing is probably quite different from the rest of China (or photos you see of the big cities) as a cultural relic of Chinese history the government has vertical restrictions on building height. This means there is no real definable CBD within Bejing. With most buildings under 17 stories the city has just spread far and wide!!

Generally, Beijing is very clean, however people do spit (a lot) big hunks of thick mucus.

Old women in particular are the scariest most intimidating people we have met, and in Beijing the smaller the scarier. Rule of thumb, you never want to between an old women and the subway door. Their elbows can find all your soft spots.


The subway system is fantastic- like a little meerkat you just pop up from underground, do your business and then pop back underground.

The subways are very busy during peak time- but we think it's got nothing on Tokyo's subways! The area we have an apartment (Chongwenmen) is fabulous, there are five shopping malls within 500meters of our apartment!



So on Monday we filed for our Chinese permanent residency!

Many a motorised 'thing'

All seems to be falling in order, we have an apartment (in Chongwenmen- shamefully we can't even pronounce our street address), more work teaching English than you could throw a ball at, we're beating the Chinese at doubles badminton and are mastering some very basic Chinese.

Exploring the frozen Houhai lakes, Beihai

There is a lot to explore in Beijing - and we LOVE exploring! Some of the markets offer delectables such as tarantula, scorpion and starfish. Kara was brave and tried the deep fried snake... not bad either. We have also visited the Forbidden city and lama temple. Today we are off ice-skating on the houhai lakes! (Photo below).

Walking around Shenjing district 

So we would like to take the time now and wish everybody a happy Christmas, where ever you are! We have meet some amazing people this year and caught up with many old friends, but in particular a huge thank you to those who have hosted/accommodated/spent time/kept in contact with us this year. Our travelling would not be possible with out you ~ You are greatly appreciated.

Looking West in Sanlitun 

We hope that 2013 has been exciting, challenging and has offered you plenty of new opportunities! Most importantly we hope that 2014 will be your year! The year of the strong, handsome, intelligent and energetic horse!

Christmas dinner anyone?

                            ** MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS**

Chinese street lanterns

With love and kind greetings,
John and Kara

Sweating it out in Saigon, Vietnam

Local wares for sale

Vietnamese Kara drinking Cafe Sua not the street

We arrived into Ho Chi Minh City early on Saturday morning. It was hot, humid and the air smelt delicious. Vietnam smells. It smells like spicy egg noodles, dried fish, onions and sweet coffee… Combined it's quite welcoming and enough to get your stomach rumbling! But that’s ok because Vietnam can cook. Boy can they cook good. Aside from the regular beef pho, and scrummy rice paper spring rolls there is an array of different (we will say different) consumables: pig brain soup? Crocodile fritter? BBQ rat? Deep fried snake or Snail pie anyone? It’s all on the menu, and it all (when you close your eyes and think of chicken) tastes amazing. Another local favourite is the bang mi (baguette) made with liver, chilli, pickled onions, shredded chicken and spiced cucumber- absolutely delicious in fresh crispy bread.

Just after a rain- women selling fish

Come get your bananas! 

South Vietnam is hot, sweaty hot, clothes sticking to you hot. Which is quite amazing considering that everyone is dressed in pants and long sleeved shirts. 

Everything is busy and every man, dog and house, literally, is on a motorbike. 

Aside from the compulsory siestas, we have been quite busy exploring. As we only have five days in Vietnam we decided to make home base Ho Chi Minh city and venture outwards from there. We dived straight into a bit of war history and visited the famous underground tunnels in the Cu Chi district.

Things just got akward

Inside the largest Cu Chi tunnel

Bit of a tight squeeze out

The tunnels built in the late 1960's incorporate three underground levels and cover over 250kms of land. Built by the country folk of Cu Chi who, as it seems were extremely little people and were right into Guerrilla warfare. 

Chilling out at the red dragon

On our tour we were told the people had two options; 1. die 2. secretly hide underground and fight back.... so they fought back for over 18 years. We ventured nervously into the mini-people sized tunnels and covered 100meters of ground before our legs cramped up and we couldn't see through the sweat covering our eyes....nice. We also visited a government initiative designed to help those left jobless after the war to re-educate and learn new skills.

After that we had some R&R, John was dying to try the local brews so Kara left him at the bar and went off for a $3 mani and pedi. Quite a good bargain and the beer was tasty too!

Playing with the lunch 

We took a full day to also explore one of Vietnam's lifelines- the Mekong Delta. Our river tour took us South West 3 hours from Ho Chi Minh to My Tho, the upper branch of the Mekong. 

We boat-hopped across to four small islands named after animals found in Buddhism (the dragon, phoenix, unicorn & turtle). What we really enjoyed about the river tour was seeing how local people live (and make a living). 

Sailing the Mekong Delta

Each island had its own production of either honey, coconut candies or tropical fruits. 

We stopped for lunch on the largest island and ventured off later on bikes! The tours are a bit ‘touristy’ but do give you an insight to the people and culture.

We should note, we did visit the Binh Tay markets in the city centre. The market boosts to be the largest wholesale market in Vietnam. 

After walking 30minutes to get there from our hotel, we stayed all of 10minutes. We’re not sure if they get many tourists, or few but the sellers are very ‘persistent’ if you even show the slightest interest (or not even) with anything. Generally speaking you can get all your wares there and then some… seafood seemed to be very popular!

All fruits and them some! 

Vietnamese rice rolls for breakfast! 

'Pho' for lunch! 

Large pearly gates!

Visiting the Phat Budda

One thing we noticed about Vietnam is that is seems to come alive at night. It shakes of the humidity and heat of the sun and comes alive with plenty of neon lights. Actually it’s a bit like walking into a discount chemist shop- you can be a bit overwhelmed.

Bring on the nightlife! 

We loved sitting on the roadside with a local ‘Ca Phe Sua’ translation: espresso coffee with condensed milk over ice, and watching all the people about tending to their business, eating or playing with kids.

A treat to bring home!

River boats

Cycling through a small island village 

Ready for our boat ride! 

Onwards to China....

Tot siens,

John and Kara 

Melbourne and Cairns, Australia

Back in Melbourne, Victoria

So where are we now, what took us so long to blog and what is our big news!?

Hold on to your seats folks (and kudos to you if your using a standing desk)- We're off to BEIJING, CHINA! Kara has landed a pretty nifty teaching job and John loves Chinese food (a win-win).

Just a quick background to our last several weeks and then more about China: after leaving hot and sticky Malaysia we arrived in to the very cold Melbourne, Australia. In fact at the beginning of November Melbourne suffered its longest cold snap (for the month of November) in over 20 years!! Brrr!! So after a hop, skip and jump from Japan via Kuala Lumpur we arrived back into Aus. What hit us (after the massive wait at immigration) was the smell; the hot dry wind, dead grass and soft gum trees. We were back and it seemed even the birds were happy!

Visiting the Yarra Valley Chocolate emporium - oh no!

The last few weeks we have been kept occupied helping our hosts move house, and going shopping! First was a new computer (to keep our blogs going!) and then all the winter gear we will need for our first northern hemisphere winter. We have also been devouring a lot of food! Food that we missed the most; nachos, eggs benny, lamb, fresh salmon and salads! lots of salad!

Getting ready! 

Snorkelling on great barrier reef, Port Douglas

Kara's mum also popped over to Melbourne and we spent a day exploring the Yarra valley wine, chocolate and cheese trail (another fav we missed!!) before heading off to tropical Queensland (with Kara and her sister). So while John stayed in freezing cold Melbourne catching up on movies and admin, Kara was in Cairns soaking up the sun!

Kara, Tania and Tash relaxing in the resort pool

Champagne cocktail by the pool anyone?

Cairns sits about half way along the great barrier reef and is where the rainforest meets the reef. It was amazing and we spent time reading by the pool, eating fresh tiger prawns and snorkelling. The highlight was definitely heading out onto the reef with the local marine biologist for a close up of his environmental work... yip even saw a shark! Without a heartbeat, I could definitely say its like a paradise! (Thanks for the organising Tash and Mum for the surprise present).

Exploring the beach

Exploring the resorts private beach before breakfast

Ahhh... what?

So what's the plan now? We have our Chinese visas (yip- these were just as tricky to get as you might think), the dentist and doctor's appointments are done and we think we have enough clothes to stay warm.

Second phase... the arrival! So we're off this Friday, with several days up our sleeves we have planned to stop in Saigon (Ho chi minh) for the week! We also want to take the time to say a big thank you to MEG AND MISHA who accommodated and generously hosted us during our three weeks in Melbourne! We love you guys!


Tot siens,
John and Kara