We landed at Heathrow to be greeted by the friendly, smiling faces of the Harris family.After two long flights of nine hours, we were relieved to finally land on British soil and to be escorted to a warm home with a home cooked meal and a decent bed. Reality kicked in the next morning when James and I said our goodbyes as I headed north to be reunited with my family.It was strange to wave goodbye to one another, after spending the past 23 months in each other'...

Flying in to China was an experience we'd love to repeat.We stood back in amazement and observed the full-on scuffle of the Chinese, pushing and shoving to get as close as possible to the conveyer belt to reclaim their over-sized plastic suitcases.Despite being four people deep, petite women in diamante heels pushed out their teeny elbows and heaved their way to the front.We were highly amused and bemused by the tottering, pottering, nattering, chattering crazy n...

Initially we weren't sure of what to expect from Tibet.Having read a number of books on the 'Cultural Revolution' (aka the invasion by the Chinese), we knew that there would be a huge influence from China, but we weren't prepared for the dramatic contrasts at play. Day one of the eight day tour was rather frantic, rushing through the border between Nepal and Tibet before it closed (there is a 2 1/4 hour time difference between the countries), lugging bags up...

Crossing the border from India into Nepal was like a breath of fresh air and we both breathed a sigh of relief once we stepped onto Nepali soil. The differences smacked us in the face, friendly smiles, cleaner streets and happier people, immediately we liked Nepal. From the border we travelled 10 hours in an uncomfortable rickety bus to the capital Kathmandu. For a few days we milled around the city, taking in the sights of the temples, stupas and ancient ...

The journey through Kashmir from Leh to Jammu via Srinagar was supposed to be pretty straight forward, that was until the Indian police decided to shoot dead 3 civilians during a demonstration at Srinagar while we were en route. We arrived in Srinagar to find ourselves caught in a curfew, the roads eerily quiet, only stray dogs and the tetchy military wandering the streets. After some discussion we were assured that it was safe to leave for Jammu late at nigh...