Carnivores in China

Ni Hau. We have just spent a fleeting 2 weeks in China, a late addition to our World Tour, where we focused on Beijing, Xi'an and Yangshou. We had to wait until we arrived in Vietnam to post this update as with You Tube and Facebook, the Chinese Government considered our blog a security risk and blocked access. Ironic, given how much the Chinese people adore western cultural icons such as McDonalds, Gucci, Nike and the like.

A few things we have learnt about China and its people during our visit:

IT SNOWS IN BEIJING - We arrived in Beijing via a stinking hot Singapore hopelessly underdressed for the -4 degrees and snow which greeted us. The changeable Beijing spring relented a little to enable us to trek between the isolated Jinshaling and Simatai along the Great Wall of China. This part of the Wall has both restored and unrestored sections and thankfully no McDonalds in sight, unlike sections of the wall closer to Beijing. The snow returned a few days later and we had a spectacular night trip to the Olympic Green to see the Bird Cage and the Water Cube.



ANYTHING IS EDIBLE - After 2 months of vegetarianism in India and Nepal which we are sure would make Lou proud, we returned to our carnivore origins. The famous Peking Duck was first on our menu, followed up the next day at a street food market with meat on a stick. Here, Rodney also indulged in Scorpions and Kirsty enjoyed the safety of toffee Strawberries. Needless to say, we turned down many other weird things including seahorses, cockroaches, chicken feet and dog.



MANDERIN IS NOT JUST A FRUIT - China presented us with our first real language challenges as not many people speak or read English. Whether it be directing a taxi, finding our hostel or ordering food, sign language and pointing to Chinese characters in the Lonely Planet had to be relied on to break down the communication barrier. Even then, our hostels took longer to find than they should have and weird food turned up on our table.



QUEUEING IS UNHEARD OF - People simply do not line up in China and it is a case of everyone for themselves in a push to the front. For example, at the Summer Palace in Beijing Kirsty and a Canadian friend Mel lined up to use the facilities. The locals soon realised that it is unwise to push in front of a Canadian and a New Zealander busting to go - boney elbows will be used at the offender's peril.

THE CHINESE PACK LIGHT - With the promise of an awesome sunrise, we traveled from Xi'an to climb Mt Hua Shan and sleep on its eastern peak. The trek is famous for its steep gradient as it climbs over 2000 metres in less than 7 kilometres. With reports of poor facilities and cold nights we packed our gear into one of our packs. The sight of Rodney carrying our pack generated much excitement amongst the Chinese, who had mostly caught the cable car three quarters of the way up the mountain on a day trip and were therefore carrying next to nothing. We were later informed by an English speaking Chinese guy that Rodney had gained legendary status and that he was being talked about as "that strong [crazy] foreigner".



TOUR DE CHINA - We found that the awesome karst peaks, rivers and villages surrounding the town of Yangshuo were best explored by trekking and cycling. While we thoroughly enjoyed our local bicycles, unfortunately, even though the vast majority of the worlds cycle helmets are manufactured in China, none are available for use in the country itself. Towards the end of our ride, we passed a group of local women who obviously resented being overtaken, as they immediately reacted with several counter attacks. Our competitive nature took over and before long, Kirsty was in the middle of her first bike race sitting on Rodney's wheel as they chased down and attacked Team China Mobile to take victory at the pedestrian crossing on the entry into town. Not long after, Rodney decided to take advantage of the many mopeds and work on his leg speed with a little bit of motor pacing through the main street of Yangshuo.





We are currently eating our share of French bakery items in Hanoi before travelling to Halong Bay tomorrow, followed by Sapa later in the week. If you are interested in seeing all of our China photos, check out www.flickr.com/photos/rodneykirsty/sets

Hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Easter,

Love Kirsty and Rodney.

Himalayan Highs in Nepal

Namaste from Kathmandu, Nepal. We have been missing in action for the last few weeks as we have been trekking through the Annapurna region of the Himalayas. We have also had a little downtime in Kathmandu, Pokhara and the Chitwan National Park.

PHOTOS ON FLICKR

If the small selection of photos on this blog doesn't satisfy your appetite, all our India and Nepal photos are now on Flickr. Check out the slide show option on www.flickr.com/photos/rodneykirsty/sets

TREKKING IN ANNAPURNA

Over 15 days we trekked the entire Annapurna Circuit, significant amounts of the adjoining Annapurna Sanctuary and several side tracks. The challenges were many, as were the funny stories.



OUR FITNESS SERVED US WELL - We covered over 300 kms, climbed over 10,000 metres and averaged between 5 and 6 hours trekking a day.

ALTITUDE - The Annapurna Circuit involved crossing the Thorung La Pass. At 5416 metres, it is the highest commercial pass in the world so we were jumping in the deep end. To put this into perspective, Mt Cook is 3754 metres. This was the first time that either of us had been to this level of altitude. Thanks to reasonable acclimatisation, diamox and for Rodney io simulation over the years (thanks Bron) the only issues we had were shortness of breath and the need to stop occasionally to let our heart rates drop. As both of us have never smoked, we can only assume that must be what it is like for a smoker trying to run a marathon. We have plans to go even higher this year, so stay tuned!!!



FIRING AT BOTH ENDS - Nepal's lack of food hygiene is renowned for providing trekkers with gastro issues and we were to be no exception. Kirsty was struck down twice and Rodney once. Surviving a 6 hour trekking day lacking sleep, while going at both ends was quite the mental test. Nevertheless we managed to stick to our planned itinerary while also completing our 100 level papers in gastro medicine thanks to our travel doctor book and medical kit. We particularly liked the term used for the combination of drugs required - "the bomb" and enjoyed remarking to others that we had just bombed our stomachs. While not the official medical term that your local GP would use, the treatment worked.

TREKKING IN THE OFF SEASON - Completing this trek in the off season (winter) meant that we had enhanced views of the snow capped Himalayas, which we had to share with next to no one... except for random Kiwis that kept on showing up. The off season did provide extra challenges though. Snow and ice, whether it be fresh powder or slippery ice, made staying upright difficult and the days longer. Even for hardened Wellingtonians like ourselves(go the Phoenix), the winter temperatures and winds high in the Himalayas were bloody cold. Our water and chocolate bars actually froze solid the day we crossed the Pass. The freezing temperates also meant that hot or warm showers were few and far between (2 in 15 days) thanks to frozen pipes. Similarly, heating was often non - existent. The cold temperatures may have affected Rodney's state of mind, as on one occasion he had the sudden urge to reenact Rory Fallon's World Cup qualifying winning goal on a snow covered soccer pitch at 3500 metres.



FINDING NIM(O)- Due to the increased risks associated with the off season, we decided to complete the trek with a guide. Big ups to our guide Nim (pronounced Neem), who together with our porter Sujun (pronounced Susan)kept us entertained and safe during the trek. It's been at least a decade since we have heard Barbie Girl by Aqua, Celine Dion and ACDC daily, but this music is big in Nepal. Nim also successfully ensured that the garlic soup was consumed in the throws of our gastro difficulties and amused us with his high quantity twice daily intake of Daal Baat (lentils, rice and curried veggies). Nim found it amusing when we learnt to rebut his daily "Bistari Bistari" (slowly slowly) with "Chhito Chhito" (quickly quickly and when Rodney had an attempt at being the porter. Needless to say, we are slowly becoming fluent in Nepalese.



EVEREST - We have thoroughly enjoyed trekking in Nepal and would like to return in a few years to do the Everest Base Camp trek. If you are keen to be a part of the action we are currently taking enrollments.

CHITWAN NATIONAL PARK

We spent 2 days exploring the Chitwan National Park by dug out canoe, foot, old Russian Volga jeep and elephant. We were lucky enough to see several rhinos, a sloth bear, marsh mugger and gharial crocs, spotted deer and many rare birds. The elephant safari provided the best viewing as the other animals ignored the elephants and allowed us to get a very close birds eye view (within 5 metres of a wild rhino is very cool).

Without doubt, our biggest highlight in Chitwan was swimming with the elephants. It was unreal. Our circus act entertained both the locals and other tourists.





NEXT STAGE OF THE WORLD TOUR

We fly to Beijing, China via Singapore on 10 March, where we start our overland trip through China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, ending in Singapore.

We hope that all is well wherever you are reading this.

Love Kirsty and Rodney.

India: You've just got to roll with it

We have now been to Delhi, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Ranakpur, Udaipur, Pushkar, Ranthambore, Agra, Khajuraho and are currently waiting for our train to Varanasi.

We are now the experts on Indian temples, palaces, forts and national parks. We thought we would outline some of the fun and interesting things that happened during our visits, rather than an historical outline of these places, which you can always google research for yourselves anyway.



IPL CRICKET TRIAL: While in Ranakpur, Rodney and an English tourist, Nick, trialled for the Rajasthan Royals IPL cricket team. Both tourists were made captain and were required to name their all Indian squads, which consisted of various drivers and hotel staff. It will be no surprise to many of you that Rodney's bowling wasn't flash. He was unable to extract any turn from the wicket and was dispatched all over the carpark. Thankfully, a combination of Rodney's wicketkeeping and a 50 not out with the bat impressed the locals, who nicknamed him Brendon McCullum. Needless to say that Indians take all cricket very seriously and little did we know that rupees were being waged on the match. Woops. Thankfully, Rodney's team won.

INDIAN PAPARAZZI: Naively, Kirsty thought that colouring her hair darker for our trip to India may result in attracting less unwanted attention by the locals. Not so. Rodney has been continuously declining photo requests on Kirsty's behalf - particularly the requests whereby Rodney is asked to step out of the photo, so that the Indian male concerned can pretend that he is Kirsty's boyfriend / husband. The funniest request was by a wealthy teenage girl at the Taj Mahal who wanted a photo with us taken by a professional photographer.



CREATIVE INDIAN MARKETING: Indian retailers will do or come up with anything to earn the tourist rupee. The best example which we have seen has been from a linen stall at the Jaisalmer markets, see photo below. Rodney is pretty sure that sign off wouldn't be given by Shell legal for that. Not that Kirsty would disagree...



FEMALES IN INDIA: If you are a female in India, a cow is a great thing to be, as not only do you get worshipped, but you also get constant supplies of food as the locals believe that it is good luck to feed you. It's not so good been a female in India if you are busting to go to the bathroom. There are many public urinals around the place (cubicles or open space) but Kirsty is yet to work out exactly where females are meant to go when they really need to go. Kirsty is also yet to get used to being ignored when paying for something or checking in at a hotel.



A PRIME EXAMPLE OF STUPIDITY: Less than 12 hours after the American Embassy issued a terrorist warning to all Americans travelling around India, we spotted an American women walking through central Jodhpur wearing a t-shirt with a large American flag printed on it.

WORLD CUP TICKETS: We received good news earlier this week. We have been successful in the Football World Cup ticket ballot. Come mid-June, we will be watching Italy v Paraguay at the new Green Point Stadium in Capetown. Now we have to work out who to support.

On Saturday we fly to Kathmandu, Nepal where we hope to be able to load all our Indian photos onto our Flickr site. Stay tuned.

We hope you are all well, wherever you are reading this from.

Love Kirsty and Rodney.

Uncle Rodney

Kirsty and I had really hoped to see Hayley and Glen's (Rodney's sister and brother in law) baby girl before we left. Unfortunately she was a little stubborn and was 11 days late. We were stoked to read an email in Delhi that after a 21 hour labour REBECCA ANNE TAYLOR arrived at 3.27pm on 25/1/10 weighing in at 10 pounds. She apparently has arm and thigh muscles to envy so I will enroll her in the Bike NZ Track Programme once back in NZ. Congrats Hayley and Glen we look forward to seeing Rebecca.

Goodness Gracious Me Incredible India

Namaste from India. We have been here for 5 days now and it is definately living up to its crazy reputation. Here is our top 6 list of crazy things:

1: DELHI AIRPORT: Being told that all luggage is on conveyor belt but we hadnt seen ours. 10 mins later, being told that there were 2 more pieces of luggage. Thankfully they were ours...

2: PAHARGANJ'S MAIN BAZAAR: We went for our first walk here and within 10 minutes we had been offered drugs, greeted by numerous travel agent touts (one clever one with Kia Ora), and literally every auto and cycle ricksshaw driver wanted our rupees - "I take you to Red Fort? Red Fort???"

3: OLD DELHI AT NIGHT: On our first night in Delhi, we caught a cycle rickshaw to watch the sound and light show at the Red Fort. Little did we know, we were taken through the busiest and dodgiest street in Old Delhi and harrassed and spat at. We think that we would have felt safer at midnight in Otara South Auckland with a bucket of KFC. After all that, the Red Fort was closed due to security concerns for Independence Day (the bomb detection van was fair proof of this).

4: NOTHING IS FREE IN INDIA: Regardless of whether you want a service / item or not, nothing is free. Eg: constant expectation for us to tip porters to carry our bags (sometimes not even very far) even after we have told them that we are happy to carry them ourselves.

5: DRIVERS IN INDIA: Nuts, absolutely nuts!!!! Horns in constant use, the road is only a rough guide of where to drive, white lines are purely for decoration and pedestrians and cyclists are just targets. Keep moving or be hit seems to be the motto.

6: INDIAN'S KNOWLEDGE OF NEW ZEALAND: Cricket. Daniel Vettori is a good captain, Stephen Flemming is a good batsman and Chris Cairns is apparently a "lady killer". This is always followed by reference to Sachin Tendulkar being the best ever Indian Cricketer.

Anyway, we are having a great but very eye opening time and we are very stoked to have avoided Delhi Belly so far. Our highlights so far have been during our car trips from Delhi through rural Rajastan. We were welcomed into an isolated rural village and despite immense poverty we were given a special meal and treated like royalty. Kirsty even received a henna tattoo. One of the most interesting things was that the village people are lucky to see white people at all in a year.

Another highlight was being taken to a non-tourist Hindu Temle in Rajastan.

Until next time, Namaste,

Rodney and Kirsty.

Houston, we have lift off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, our infamous World Tour is here. We have set up this blog so that you, our family and friends, can follow us as we tour through 28 countries throughout Asia, Africa, Europe and South America.

By the time you read this blog, we will be in the air winging our way to Delhi, India via Singapore. Will keep you posted on the craziness.