I arrived in Brisbane on the morning of Friday 27th October following my flight from Tokyo, where I was met by Ria at the airport. For the next several weeks I'd be staying with Ria at her apartment close to Brisbane CBD in Fortitude Valley, which was a welcome relief after what had been a tiring month travelling around China, Hong Kong and Japan. Similar to my previous visit to Brisbane in September, it was the perfect opportunity to have a break from travel...

I made a return to Tokyo 7 days later on Sunday afternoon and checked straight back into the same capsule hotel. Since I enjoyed my stay so much a week ago, I decided to book myself in for another 4 nights until my departure flight. It was good to be back in familiar surroundings after an exhausting week of travel, I was even given the same bed again.. it felt like a home away from home. Rain had persisted throughout the whole week while I was away from Tokyo, r...

I left Tokyo on Monday morning to start a 7 day jaunt around Japan which began with a train journey to Kyoto. For the next week I'd be taking advantage of the most useful tool any visitor to Japan can have in their armoury. The "JR Pass" is your golden ticket to visiting all four corners of Japan within a given time period, bought prior to entering the country. I opted for the 7-day ticket.. and within those 7 days I was able to travel anywhere in Japan, as m...

Kon'nichiwa. Here we go.. let's do this Japan! Japan has been high on my list of places I've wanted to visit for a long time and now I finally get that opportunity. I had high expectations of what the next 2 weeks may have in store for me so I was massively looking forward to touching down in Tokyo. As a lover of major cities, Tokyo has also been right at the top of places I've wanted to visit so when I arrived at the Narita International Airport on Friday the...

On the morning of Tuesday the 10th October I left the dull, grey cold of Xi'an, airbound for the vibrant, colourful warmth of Hong Kong. I couldn't wait! China may be a world power but of the short time I spent there, other than a few flash, modern areas in the likes of Shanghai and Beijing, I found it to be generally dirty and run down. I was looking forward to a change of scenery, and what better place to do that than Hong Kong.. China's naughty, flamboyant, r...