World of Wonders

A land that defies description. With its' 52 minorities, communist culture and huge variation in landscapes, it is impossible to compact it into a few stories.

After years of travelling Australia and being wholly involved in community and the farm we decided to spread our wings.

It all came about because of a Frequent Flier offer to Hong Kong. “Wow, that’s good value we thought”, and used our hoarded frequent flier points to head off to a country we knew nothing about.
Our first month in China was a baptism by fire – we used to allow half a day to buy a train ticket or to go to the bank and cash a traveller’s cheque. English was spoken, but not widely.

Then onto Vietnam and back to China… it wasn’t the most thought-out trip you can imagine… but we were only learning!

But by the time we hit China, nearly 12 months after our first visit, we were ready to venture out and challenge ourselves. .

In China it’s not hard to get off the beaten track - desite throngs of Chinese tourists - because everywhere we went our fair complexions, big noses and round eyes made us stand out from the crowd, and plunged us into unusual experiences.

We joined a Taiwanese tour group for our trip up the Yangtze and then a Chinese group for a trip out to Jiuzhaigou National Park – and it was these two groups of people who took us under their wings, and taught us so much about Chinese people.

From the beauty of Jiuzhaigou through to the Silk Road we were on the biggest travel high ever – where our cheeks ached from smiling and we couldn’t believe that this was really happening to us. Each day was a learning curve and a joy.

Arie studied a bit of Chinese and had her first ever conversation in a foreign language - about the weather with a taxi driver in Lanzhou!

The following stories come from our 2001 trip to China Awakening on the Yangtze
World's Biggest Buddha
Fairyland on Earth
Secret Tibet
Travel on the Silk Road
Exploring Exotic Xinjiang
On the road in Asia
Lost in the Kashgar Market

China 2006

As my plane soared above Cusco and the majestic wrinkled Andes, I felt sadness for my goodbyes, but joy for the special experiences that Cusco had brought me right up until the last day. Mostly I thanked fate, for being Australian. I have the opportunity to travel - both the dollars and the passport - and I can return to Cusco when I want.)

Mum and I met at Hong Kong airport, and by the time we were outside figuring out what bus to take, it was like we had never stopped traveling together. Hong Kong was a great place for us to talk non stop as it is blissfully easy to get around and filled with Western food - Maccas and Pizza Hut got a hammering!

From a Latin American New Year to Chinese New year - completely by accident we arrived in HK before the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year and were thrilled at the idea of their celebrations. Yet we had become accustomed to the latino way of partying, crazy and colourful, with lots of loud music - their processions take to the streets without escort and traffic just goes around them.

Our group emails from this period:
In search of the Long Horned Miao

Wondering about the World