South Korea is country number 14 in our round-the-world trip, but our visit here is only short as it was a useful way of getting to Beijing and the start of our train journey to Europe. We're currently relaxing in the former Korean capital of Gyeongju with its myriad of burial mounds and excavated treasures. The second part of our Japanese tour was excellent. The Japanese Alps were beautiful, especially as we got great weather on the day we hiked amidst them in ...

We finally said goodbye to Manila and Bobbi & Dean last Sunday. Andy's time volunteering at World Vision International went well and he was almost used to his sweaty commute by the end. Imelda Marcos' Coconut Palace turned out to be very tasteful and ingenious, albeit very much a 'white elephant'. On our last weekend we saw a contemporary performance of the Manila ballet which was stunning and we got stuck in one of the many long traffic jams. In true Philipp...

Thanks to CIS Tours in Hong Kong, we finally have Russian visas valid for the whole of October. So after some months of uncertainty (though we had a plan B) we now know we are going to head back to Europe via the trans-siberian railway. We spent 5 days in Hong Kong last week in order to get the visa and really enjoyed exploring the cityscape. Hong Kong was devastated during the war years and the population shrank to just 10% of its current size. Immigration since...

We're now in Thailand having spent a week in Laos. Our journey into Laos from Vietnam went well. Andy almost got ravaged by dogs at the border post, but our 'bribes' to the border guards were returned, unlike those of the locals. The Plain of Jars at Phonsavan was fascinating - 2,000 year-old jars equivalent to Stonehenge in that it is not known what their use was. There are over 50 jar sites, with anything from 5-250 jars of which we saw the three largest. We c...

Our week travelling through the Central Highlands of Vietnam has been great. The higher altitude has meant somewhat cooler weather than elsewhere which felt so good. We started in Dalat where we hired bicycles and toured the town's sights, including the 'Crazy House', a Gaudi-inspired place designed by a local architect. We also hired a car with a couple of Ozzies and drove through the surrounding hills visiting a waterfall, silk workshop and temple. Following a...