From Tianaman square to the bright lights of Singapore, the last 4 months in Asia has quite literally flown, driven and sailed by! We have now moved from Singapore to Sydney and the first half of our journey has come to an end. Four months traveling across one of the most diverse of continents that has heralded such an amazing mix of scenery, architecture, culture and wildlife. We have trekked through jungles, relaxed on glorious beaches, swam in crystal clear waters and gazed in bewilderment at magnificent mountains, lakes, wildlife or buildings. Mixed with a discovery of fascinating cultures & religions it has been a truly amazing Asian adventure with daily moments we shall certainly never ever forget.

Sights

We have been fortunate enough to see so many amazing places on this trip and in doing so accomplish many lifelong ambitions. It is difficult to rank them in order but here is an attempt at our top 5 of Asia:

1) Finding & observing Orang-utans and other animals in the wild on the Kinabatangan river in Borneo
1) Gazing in awe at the north face of Mt Everest from the Tibetan base camp
3) Treking the steep steps of both restored and unrestored sections of the Great Wall of China
4) Cycling around the vast Kymer ruins of Angkor Wat
5) Snorkeling in the crystal clear waters or enjoying the beaches & nightlife of Koh Phi Phi in Thailand

There are many other sights that deserve a mention that didn't quite make the top 5 including:

-Relaxing in a riverside restaurant, cycling through the local villages or watching the sunset on the Mekong on the islands of Don Det and Don Khon in southern Laos
- Gazing in bewildered silence at the unearthed Terra-cotta Warriors in Xi'an, China
- Staring up at the perfectly symmetrical Petronus towers in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
- Viewing the spectacular mountain peaks, lakes and plateaus at altitude on the roof of the world in Tibet
- Climbing the steps of the almost mythical former abode of the Dalai Lama- Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet
- Driving from Delhi to Agra in India witnessing the worst of India on the roadside to the best in the form of the spectacular marble Taj Mahal

Here are our top 5 cities of Asia (in no particular order)

-Beijing
-Lhasa
-Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
-Kuala Lumpur
-Singapore

Some Other Great Moments

Along with the jaw dropping scenery and wildlife we have had some other interesting unplanned moments that are equally memorable. Here are my top 5:

1) Watching & avoiding my mate Ian slide down a muddy jungle slope 2 footed whilst 'hashing' in Brunei
2) Hearing a Cambodian man on the local bus, chewing & crunching his way through a deep fried tarantula on the local bus in Cambodia
3) As last on the bus at the Laos/Cambodia border, having to cram onto an already full bus- sat on the bus steps or laid in the isle for 4 hrs!
4) Chinese new years eve drinking with locals on a street hawker stall in Chinatown Singapore
5) Playing pool for money with locals until the early hours in Ko Phi Phi after 6 large Changs and 2 buckets. Despite not seeing the balls well, I somehow managed to win more than I lost!

Travel

We have visited 10 countries and 8 capital cities on our travels which have taken many forms. Standards have varied from luxury lazy boy style coaches in Malaysia and Sleeper buses in Vietnam, to sitting on the door steps or lying in the isle on local buses in Cambodia!

We have taken 11 flights, all with the budget airline Air Asia or better known by ex pats as Air Delaysia. They do have a great tactic of listing a flight as 30 mins longer than it is in order to ensure they land on time with the inevitable delay.

Some Travel Stats from Beijing to Singapore:

Air- 20 hours (11 flights) 3,554miles
Road- 5 Days 19 hrs- 6,200miles
Train- 1 day 18 hours- 2,333miles
Sea- 13 hrs

Total- 8 days 22 hrs- 12,087 miles

The total trip including the flight from London to Beijing now totals 21,000 miles

We have accrued 34 passport stamps and 6 visas which cover 13 of the 25 pages on a brand new passport! We have also used 13 different airports, some spectacular and others like the Kathmandu domestic terminal!

In terms of distance we have virtually travelled around the world already yet we still haven't reached Australia. I think we will need to plant a small forest in order to offset out carbon footprint when we get home!

In order to maximize our budget we have chosen to travel around as cheaply as possible, using mainly buses or trains. An average 200 mile tourist bus journey costs in the region of £3-£4. It is even cheaper if you fancy mixing it with the chickens and field rest stops on the local buses!

The best part of 9 days of the last 4 months we have simply been sat on a bus, plane, train or ferry. This has obviously been very tiring and challenging at times but equally enjoyable as we have been able to see so much more than we would have on a plane!

Food & Drink

There is certainly no shortage of food in Asia and although not all of it was immediately to our liking we soon became accustomed to the cuisine.

Anywhere you go in Asia the food is fairly similar and normally consists of rice or noodles served with beef, chicken or fish and vegetables. After initially searching for a more western diet we soon took a regular liking to a stir fry or bowl of noodles. Aided by the fact that it costs virtually nothing, despite eating out pretty much every night we have both amazingly managed to lose weight since we left home!

Our Top 5 Asian Foods:

1) BBQ salmon in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysian Borneo
2) Takakos cooking, especially the Tempura- Brunei
3) Beef or Veg noodle soup- Vietnam
4) Momo (dumplings)- Tibet & Nepal
5) Spring Rolls- Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos

Our five least favourite foods we have sampled would have to be:

1) Jellied Potatoes in Beijing
2) Ham & Cheese Crepes (sweet pancake with chili just doesn't work) in Malaysia
3) Yak Cheese Dumplings in Tibet
4) Fresh spring rolls on Don Det, Laos
5) Sweet bread across the whole of Asia

There are also many foods & drink from home we have missed:

- A good sandwich/baguette
- Cereal and semi skimmed (and skimmed) milk
- A fresh salad (salad is washed in tap water in Asia so best avoided)
- Red & White Wine- although available is in the most part very expensive and therefore avoided
- A session beer like Carling/Carlsberg that is less than 5%. Unattainable!

Entertainment

As much as we would like to be out drinking every night we have to be very disciplined and accept the trip is not a 2 week holiday. We therefore have a lot of downtime in the evenings. TV is pretty much limited to HBO and Star Movies that show a range of old and modern western films and many sports channels. I certainly can't complain about the football available live on a Saturday afternoon which normally involves 4-5 of the 3pm kickoffs on different channels.

In hindsight we may have considered bringing a small laptop with us, virtually all other travelers seem to carry one. To be fair, the last time I went back packing there were no mobile phones or Internet! Most of my spare time is spent keeping up to date with sports via free wifi that exists in pretty much every hostel or bar, or writing/uploading pics onto this blog! I have now written 30 blogs with an average of 1500 words per blog. A quick bit of maths suggests I have tapped out a mere 45,000 words in the last 4 months. That is equivalent to 4 University dissertations!!! Hmmm

I also wonder if this may be some form of Apple record since all of it (yes every word) has been tapped into my iPhone. This doesn't even include texts or emails!!

Accommodation

We have stayed in 35 different rooms during our time in Asia ranging from the most basic cheap room in Nepal at £3.50 a night to a rather lavish one off £60 hotel in Melaka, Malaysia. In general the average room cost has been around £10 per night! Ironically we saved the worst room until last with a bunk bed room resembling a prison cell minus a toilet in Singapore.

It has been a great help to be fortunate enough to have friends and family conveniently dotted around Asia and are grateful for their fantastic hospitality. We have spent just over a week in total with all of them over multiple visits. We very much appreciate their kindness, hospitality, tour guiding, washing machines and baggage storage facilities. A huge thank you to Pj in Bangkok, Mark & Gina in Kuala Lumpur and Ian & Takako in Brunei.

Weather

Whilst everyone at home has been snowed in or freezing, we have experienced slightly different weather. Only 3 days have been total write offs due to rain, otherwise barring the odd evening downpour it has been mainly a mixture of sun, cloud and humidity. Since leaving China the temperature hasn't dropped below 25 degrees in the daytime or 22 in the evening. I have already worn through 3 pairs of flip flops!

We'll Just Keep Moving On...

It has been a truly amazing Asian adventure and we have been able to see everything we wanted to, and it certainly hasn't disappointed. We regularly take stock of where we are and what is coming next and it is difficult to comprehend what we have already achieved in 4 magical months. With roughly 20 gig of memory cards full with photographs it is going to be virtually impossible to create a highlight album for Asia...let alone the next 4 months of South America that awaits...