Uzbekistan to Vietnam - good for the soul, but not for the liver...!

so another 8 weeks later and I am now just getting round to writing my next blog! but you know what they say, time flies when you're having fun and who could blame me for not wanting to sit down and write a blog when we have been to so many fantastic places so far. But here I am and I'm making a concerted effort to sit and write up as best I can what has happened in the last 8 weeks since my last blog. Here goes nothing....

I think the last time I posted my blog I was sat on the terrace in sunny Bukhara recovering from some very nasty mozzie bites which meant antiobiotics and no booze (i may have cheated a little...) but thankfully the antibiotics did the trick and I was back to full health in no time at all. From Bukhara we travelled to Samarkand and then through to Tashkent. During our time in these last 2 cities in Uzbekistan we celebrated a birthday in style in a restaurant full of locals who were not shy and literally dragged us up to dance, even when some of us were halfway through eating dinner...! We also took the opportunity to visit the waterpark in Tashkent and had a great time, especially as we hadn't been in a swimming pool since the start of the trip. There were many sore tan lines the following day but it was definitely worth it.

After a great time and nice hotels all through Uzbekistan, it was back to true overlanding style and back to bushcamps. We crossed the border in to Kazakhstan (yes I know, who would ever have thought I would end up there?!) we spent a couple of days driving through Kazakhstan to the border to Kyrgystan. We didn't spend an awful lot of time in kazakhstan so it's difficult to give an opinion on it, but we still had a couple very interesting bushcamps and the locals were very friendly so what more could you ask for.

We crossed the border into Kyrgystan which was surprisingly easy and headed to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgystan. Had a great night out in Bishkek which involved a very unexpected visit to a gay bar which turned out to be fantastic and large amounts of alcohol consumed by many, which of course resulted in the obligatory hangover the following day.. After a few days in Bishkek we left the city for much more peaceful surroundings. We had many beautiful bushcamps by lakes and rivers. Whilst we were here, many people took the opportunity to go hiking to truly appreciate the stunning scenery around us. One of the bushcamps was the
setting for the Odyssey Overland 2011 Christmas day! There was a Christmas dinner and secret santa and
to set the scene a fully decorated Christmas tree! and yeh I know it was the middle of June but why not! We then headed for slightly colder climates up in the mountains to spend another couple days bushcamping. Here is where we witnessed the much famed Goat Polo. This is a local tradition where they bring a live goat, take off it's head and legs (which I chose not to watch) then 2 teams of 2 men on horseback have to pick the carcass off the ground from horseback and drop it on to a blanket whilst the other team try to stop him. And if you're thinking this sounds incredibly gruesome and random, well I'm not going to lie, it is! But the locals are so friendly and it was definitely an experience I will never get to repeat. This is also where we held our 'bad taste' party which meant that everybody had to find the worst possible outfit and come to the party wearing it. There were indeed some truly terrible outfits but we all had great fun and ended the night around the camp fire with few drinks. After spending 10 days in beautiful Kyrgystan, it was time to head off to the much dreaded
border in to China.

The border into China proved not to be as bad as we thought it would be. AFter hearing horror stories about people spending weeks trying to get through the Chinese border, getting through in less than a day was a huge relief. The first stop in China was Kashgar where we explored the local night market and our first taste of real Chinese food. After seeing plenty of Goat's heads and various other organs cooking, I was relieved to find that we were having noodle soup and some amazing dumplings and it is so cheap! The next few days consisted of a lot of driving, stopping only one night at several places to try and break up the driving. During these long drives I have discovered that you should never judge a restaurant or cafe by its cover. When stopping for lunch breaks on a driving day, I have sat in the dingiest, grottiest looking noodle bars convincing myself that this is where I get my first really bad case of food poisoning, but discovering that the food is actually some of the best food I have ever tasted and to top it off, its costs less than 70p, everyone's a winner!
We spent a couple nights in Dunhuang which is where we went to see the Magao caves. Now I was a little dubious about going to the caves as we had seen a few by this point and I was sure they were going to look exactly the same as the previous caves I had been to but I was definitely proved wrong! These caves are incredible, they date back to the 11th century and are filled with incredible statues of Buddhas and art work. From here we went to a bushcamp where we were due to camp by a section of the Great Wall. We arrived and set up camp as normal. A few people headed up to walk along the wall and we were then paid a visit by the local police. They were very unimpressed that we were camping here and were told to pack up camp (which is no easy feat in the dark, even if we have been doing it for the last 3 months!) and were escorted to the nearest hotel. From here we briefly stopped at a couple other towns on the way to our main destination, Xi'an. We arrived in Xi'an and had the ultimate dinner, Macdonalds! You cant blame us after a few weeks of noodle soup! Xi'an is where the infamous Terracotta Warriors are kept. People flock from all over the world to see these statues and I can easily see why. The statues were made to depict the armies of the First Emperor of China so they could guard his empire in his afterlife. They are amazing to see and the detail is incredible.

From Xi'an there was the option to go to Beijing for a few days so a some of us decided to take the opportunity and go. There were 5 of us in total who decided to break away from the group for a few days, it was really strange to be travelling without the rest of the group and to actually take some responsibility for ourselves! So Ben, Aoife, Clare, Mel and I left the group in Xi'an and got the overnight sleeper train to Beijing. Now as much as I love Calypso, travelling on a sleeper train is most definitely one of the nicest ways to travel. None of us knew what to expect from a Chinese train but lets just say we were pleasantly surprised! We had our own cabin with clean, comfy bunk beds, hot water and nice toilets! So we kicked back, enjoyed a couple of nice bottles of wine and slept very well and woke up refreshed the next morning in Beijing. We did have a bit of a shock as Beijing is so crazily busy and not to mention one of the most humid and hot places we have been to in China far. Although Beijing is such a huge city, there are still surprisingly few Westerners and we were still definitely the star attractions as everybody wants their photos taken with us. And I know you're all thinking why on earth would they want their photo taken with you lot..well I'm still not entirely sure myself! So after only a couple of very funny hiccups at the other end We quickly got stuck in to site seeing as we only had a few days and there is so much to see, so we had to work out the main things we wanted to do. We quickly worked out the Beijing tube system which puts the London Underground to shame! Its quick, easy, and cheap. So on the first day we visited the Forbidden city which pretty much wiped us out as it is a huge place to get around and the heat got to us pretty quickly so we headed back to the hotel for a well deserved shower and dinner. We agreed that we all wanted to visit the Ming Tombs and the most famous part of the Great Wall at Badaling so we got up the next day at 5.30AM and got on a coach tour that included both of these sites. But it was a coach tour with a difference, we were the only Westerners on the coach, the entire tour was Chinese so we sat at the back and tried to work out what on earth was going on as nobody spoke any English! But it was a great experience and we made it to both sites and back the hotel again without any major problems. In the evening we went in search of the Irish bar which proved to not be the best idea as we got caught in a huge rainstorm and turned up looking like drowned rats. SO after a few drinks we decided to head back after a very busy day, thinking 'how hard can it be to get a taxi in Beijing?'. The answer is.. VERY!! By this time we were walking the streets in knee deep water trying to get a taxi back to the hotel, after many arguments with taxi drivers and patience wearing very thin we eventually made it back. The following day we had a bit more of a relaxed day with a walk through Tiananmen square and a leisurely afternoon catching up on some retail therapy (well from the girl's point of view, I don't think Ben would agree..!). In the afternoon we agreed that we should spend our last night in Beijing at an acrobatics show which proved to be a great choice and was very entertaining. The next morning was spent packing ready for our flight back to meet the group in Chengdu. All in all, a few very tiring days, but it was definitely worth it and we all had a great time.

The next day the 'Beijing 5' went to see the pandas as the rest of the group had already seen them whilst we were in Beijing. My camel obsession quickly turned in to a panda obsession, they are very very cute! In the
last week in China we visited Leshan, Lijiang, Dali, Kunming and finally Jinghong. Here is where we said a very sad goodbye to our Chinese Guide, George. He had been with us for our month long stay in China. We all became very attached to George and he became like a family member to us all as he was a fantastic guide and was always going out of his way to make sure everything was right for us, even if it did mean going in to the kitchen in restaurants and telling the chef exactly what we wanted! we miss you George!

After spending a fantastic month in CHina, it was now time to cross the border in to Laos. Our first stop in Laos was Luang Namtha. The first thing that struck me about Laos is just how chilled out it is in comparison with China. There is very little traffic and everybody is just so friendly and my opinion has still not changed, Laos is quite possibly my favourite country so far, even though there are so many backpackers, it is a great place to travel.

In Luang Namtha we had 3 days to chill out so a few of us decided to go on a day long bicycle ride which was a 30km ride to a waterfall and I thought 'how bad can it be...?' well lets just say I couldn't sit down on a hard chair for a good few days following the bike ride! But the waterfall was beautiful and jumping in the water after cycling in the midday heat and  humidity was well worth it. The next few days was spent in a small village called Nong Khiaw to break up the drive en route to Luang Prabang so a couple days was spent here eating, drinking and relaxing. The next destination was Luang Prabang and it was thought that it would make a nice change if we got a boat from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang and meet the truck and the crew when we arrived so we had a great boat journey down the river stopping off at some great caves for lunch along the way. We spent a great few days in Luang Prabang looking around the numerous temples which are beautifully
decorated, visiting the fantastic laid back night market stocking up on souvenirs and celebrating Susan and Zoe's engagement.

Our next stop on the way to Vientiane was Vang Viene which is where a few of us were going tubing. Now, I dont know if you have ever heard of tubing, but it is a backpacker's rite of passage and is an absolute must do! Its basically a bar crawl down the Mekong river on a rubber ring and you have to try and stop at each bar as you float down the river. There are water slides, mud pits and cocktails, great fun! There were a few scrapes and bruises, but nobody got too badly hurt (apart from Zoe's toe, hope it gets better soon!). The last few days were then spent in Vientiane where we mainly spent recovering from a hectic few days in Laos and trying to wash the mud out of our clothes from tubing!

The next country we were headed was Vietnam. We got on a night bus from Vientiane across the Vietnamese border, but if your thinking we would have a similar experience on a sleeper bus as we did on the sleeper train then think again! The beds were not comfortable and when the driver stopped for 3 hours in the middle of the night and turned the engine off well that meant 35 people on a bus in a very hot, humid country with no air con, not good! So with many of us having very little sleep we got to the border and spent a few hours waiting to go through, not one of my best days as you can imagine! But onwards and upwards after a short overnight stop in Vinh we made it to Hanoi. It is very different in Vietnam compared to Laos with hundreds of scooters everywhere meaning having to take your life into your hands if you need to cross the road. We spent
the first 2 nights in a great hostel in Hanoi which had a brilliant atmosphere and then went on an overnight boat trip to the beautiful Halong Bay. We spent our day in Halong Bay swimming and kayaking and chilling out on deck in the evening. We then returned to Hanoi for one more night. It was then time to move on to Hue. We were getting another overnight bus to Hue,and just when you didn't think it could get much worse, it did! So it was decided after another night of even less sleep than the last night bus that we would be travelling through the day from now on, phew! So after a day of catching up on some much needed sleep we went out for drinks so celebrate Clare's birthday.

So this is where I currently am now, in Hue after spending a great day walking around the town and a great dinner on a boat trip down the Perfume River.

Hopefully I will be able to update you on the rest of our time in Vietnam sooner rather than later, but don't hold me to that! Pics to follow....