I'm here!

yes! finally! or maybe too soon but here I am down in sunny seaside Napier, home of the lovely Anna and AJ and my new home for a bit

AJ met me at the airport and we drove through the ridiculously beautiful landscape (photo is lake taupo, the volcano is 'mount doom' apparently) before arriving in the dark to a warm fire and homemade pizzas, mmm

just been enjoying unpacking and getting to know the neighbourhood and eating my first kiwi, see mugshot

my talent for gate-crashing national events continues and this weekend is topped off by Labour Monday, a national holiday and marker for the start of the summer season. so just enjoying the holidays and will crack on with life here as everyone goes back to work on Tues

am starting to digest the journey too, such a lot to think about, many happy memories and some regrets too but I had a brilliant time and was lovely to know that I could keep up with you all

will keep this up to date as life goes on here but for now just going to enjoy being in one place for a while

so here's to the journey, now I just need to think about getting back...

lots of love, 

Polly xxx

manly bay, grr

sydney today, landed 7am this morning and lost another 3 hours so nearly on kiwi time

the amusingly but not factually named Manly Bay is a 30 min ferry hop across the beautiful Sydney harbour, good views of the opera house and big old bridge from all directions

night-flight fatigue was catching up and an early heat wave led me and the masses to this beautiful spot for some posing in the waves (them) and some snoozing in the shade (me)

also had my first dip in the Pacific, woop, lovely to wallow again

sydney is gorgeous in an LA-beautiful-people-way, lots of interesting buildings too, bit san fran too I'd say, very nice and would happily pop back

last day here tomorrow, maybe a museum, def something to eat and celebrity-spotting at a branch of Bills and generally preparing for the last journey on Fri morning

sure it's gone quick but feels like I can't remember not being on the road, will be funny to stop

lots of love, 

Polxx

ozzie rules

ooh australia's nice! bright and fresh and full of spring. I have been given extra special treatment and been chauffered around Perth and surrounding, been up the big park in town and over to see my first and last glimpse of the Indian Ocean, I had a paddle, it felt right to be back near the salty stuff

then more importantly an amazing cake, they know their caffs over here

as warned, David got the camera so pictures of me for once

lovely to stop in a real home for a bit, back to hostels in Sydney before the final hop on Fri

Polxx

perth

australia already! flew into Perth last night and met by the lovely David and Helen Ryder who are putting me up for a couple of days, providing washing facilities, showing me around a bit and generally being lovely

David is also insisting we take a photo of me somewhere significant as the blog is lacking mugshots, apologies in adavnce then for me grimacing in front of the Indian Ocean or something.

Blissfully quiet and cool after Asia, more of this to come I guess.

Flight to Sydney Tues night, had to rule out the train on this one for costs/time, next time...

Polly xxx

identity crisis

so just an hour and a bit on a plane (boo, first one) and it's singapore already

v confused, it's hotter than ever (the nearest bit of land the whole trip to equator) and so steamy the trees are growing ferns half way up. the streets are spotlessly clean and suddenly everyone is using the crossings again

all seems very clinical after Vietnam, I miss the grime. so I look for the dirtiest, most dingy looking locals caff for some food and get fried rice and sweet and sour fish, super-confusing, I miss the one-dish nations, maybe communism to thank for that

international again although I'm still stared at, not sure what language to speak, english obviously. so it feels like I've gone West again before I got to grips with East. but mainly I've gone South, that explains the hot bit

but that doesn't mean I'm not loving it! check out the picture of  my groovy pod-like hostel and the main street in Little India, I've managed once again to crash a significant festival and tonight is the eve of Deepvali, the one with all the lights. 

oh, and have touched base with local contact,  captain haddock william horne who is taking me out on bender tomorrow night, wish me luck

PollyGone and Got on a Plane and Went Too Quicky and Got Really Confused xxx

Hotel Continental, saigon

made it, another monster 2-day on train snaking down the whole coast to steamy southern belle, Saigon (HoChiMinh City to the pc)

a bit of luxury for one night at the Continental, last of Saigon's old hotels to escape proper modernisation - it's luxe but old school and lots of amusing 70s-kitsch

loving the slippers as you can see

PollyGone And Had Her First Bath in a Long Time xxx

florist Vietnam-style

Hanoi now, it's all about the style here. elegant and crazy place, quadrophoenia-meets-naples-in-asia-on-acid

so many mopeds, I love the space-invader game every time you cross the road

the first time the journey went from going east to going south and it don't half show - hotter, brighter, louder, altogether more spicy thanks

noodle soups for breakfast, iced coffee with condensed milk (thank the frenchies for that) and the local tipple, bia ha noi - mocrobrewed fresh, yeasty beer, on evry corner, mmm...

think we're caught up now so maybe a last one before two-day train to Saigon tomorrow, yes, I'll try not to miss it...

PollyGone To Look Around Hanoi and Loved It xxx

The day we missed the train

Had to happen sooner or later, and it did. Big time.  Booked on the 16.04 from Beijing to Hanoi that, as every Chinese train does without exception, left bang on time as we sat gridlocked in the Beijing traffic.

Why? Don’t know, just happens sometimes, you forget to always be worried, start being a tourist instead of a traveller and suddenly one’s gone without you, doh.

That’s the thing, you know you’re going to do it at some point you just never know when and what it will mean.

So what did it cost? A bit in money, lost the value of the original ticket, grr. But not much in time, managed to get on a local train to Nanning (last big town in South China), pick up another one to Pingxiang, last spot before the border, taxi to the border and then the pace of the journey slowed to a walk as you literally walk under the Friendship Arch into Vietnam (via some customs and jolly form-filling). The picture here is the border post, pretty nice as they go I guess.

Then (look away now parents) comedy moments in wild-west nowhere towns in northern Vietnam before finally getting to Long San and the little bus to Hanoi, getting dropped in the teeming old town only 8 hours later than original planned arrival at the station.

So it wasn't too bad as fugg-ups go, wasn't the first and sure won't be the last.

PollyGone And Missed the Train, Silly Her xxx

beijing bicycle

a little bit from my first evening, took a turn with the bike and accindetally ended up pedalling across tianamen square, that's the shiny bit

the wobbly bit at the end is when I moved the camera, not when I fell off. which I didn't.

Beijing bit, 5th-8th October xxx

beijing bycy

restaurant cars

russia, the red one and Mongolia, the blue one

had the worst cup of coffee in my life in the first and the most amazing views of the gobi dessert as I ate in the second on the last-but-one day before beijing

trans-siberian bit xxx

tick after tock

siberia, one minute, from the train, could have been anytime in the first 3 days, after that we got hills again, woop

russian train, 29th sept - 2nd oct

rail ways

after the essay on moscow, am going to spare you all and just put up some photos for the big train across russia bit

so here's the first, all domestic bliss and coal fires, it gets loaded on at each station and is used to fire the heating

the samovar is the hot water dispenser at the end of each carriage, unlimited tea and I of course expanded my culinary repertoire with samovar-porridge and even fondue, kept me busy at least

trans-siberian, russian bit xx

journey: 29th sept - 5th oct

23 hours in Moscow

So today’s (Monday 28th September) plan was: head to Yaroslavsky station (where train leaves tonight), drop bag, go to travel agent to collect ticket, bit of Moscow sightseeing/shopping in the afternoon and then onto the Trans-Mongolian Express at 9pm, easy.

What really happened:

Eventually find Yaroslavsky after getting off metro one stop too early, easily corrected but then wonder around in the rain for an hour trying to decipher street names, eventually recognise a landmark and so head into scary stinky underpass to cross the road and start from there. Emerging from the gloom, trip over the last step of the subway, drop bag in puddle and look up to see the station name writ large and high on original building I had been circling. Back over, drop bag, luckily learning the Russian for ‘pick up today’ as I’m queuing.

Well-deserved strong black coffee and scary hot bun which, bonus, is filled with apricot jam, not ‘meat’. You never know.

Back onto beautiful metro and start following instructions from agents to find ticket pick-up. Another hour in rain, squinting at street signs - weirdly after a while you get a sense of what the letters mean. Often asked for directions from the locals, must be my Moscovite-scowl. Find travel agent deep within labyrinth of a business centre. Spell out name for ticket collection. My ticket is there but I had been booked onto the train last Thursday, fault with my agent. Don’t worry, come back at 6 they say. It’s 2pm, train leaves at 9pm. Oh well, at least I know how to find them now.

Very well-deserved and amusing lunch at strange self-service restaurant, popular with business types. Decked out like a jungle and the staff have to wear straw hats. All sorts of goodies, borscht,  salted radish and cucumber salad with dill, buckwheat for a break from the usual carbs and a curious juice with actual bits of gooseberry in the bottom.

Head off to see the sights with the growing inkling that it may well not be my last afternoon in Moscow. Time limits so just the biggies – Kremlin, aka fortress, like Whitehall on stilts in fairground colours. Lovely boxy cathedrals in the middle, one filled with tv crew and eminent Russian historian who alternates between memorising script and checking receding hairline. Just have time for Red Square dash, big, not red, in Russian that means ‘beautiful’.

Back to agents but a bit early so head for hot chocolate and pick up local English-language paper, headline for today: A City Official, A Gay Club and The Russian Blind Society – Only a Scandal Moscow Could Create.

They have the ticket, so it’s bye-bye Bolshoi and bonjour Beijing. Relieved I suppose.

Only 6pm so time for proper shopping at GUM, the monster shopping centre off Red Square, like that really big one in Milan. Very grand, ornate, buy some tea with a funny name. Think about heading over to Yaroslavsky for food shopping and a beer before China train.

Last-minute wobble: have not registered Russian visa (something official from old Soviet days) had not thought necessary as only spending a day in Moscow but realise the train won’t leave Russia for another five, you can have up to three days before a big non-registered fine. Back onto Metro in blind panic, think about going to bribe a top hotel (it’s all to do with accommodation or something). First one I try very unhelpful. Too late to go to any agents, all closed for the day. Curse myself for stupidity, and not reading things properly, and not taking scary ex-soviet countries more seriously. I did, I remind myself, mistake a printing error for the Cyrillic alphabet on my Mongolian visa application form, just ask anyone who was unlucky enough to be with me in London that night. How on earth was I going to get to New Zealand when I couldn’t even get out of Russia?

Beeline for my only place of accommodation – the lovely Yellow Blue Bus Hostel. Thank my stars the owner is there and explains in English that it’s only if you stay in one CITY for more than three days that you need to register (hangover from the days of closed cities where they didn’t let you stop because for fear of stealing their secrets).

Reassured but still a bit wobbly, final ride on beautiful metro – it’s like Bath but upside-down and underground – pondering consequences of last-minute ticket, might be squeezed onto a scary carriage? Argh. Might be squeezed into First? Mmm.

Just time for quick food shop, all behind a counter so lots of assertive pointing, this seems a doddle after previous challenges of the day. Over to the station, pick up bag.

Extremely well-deserved cold beer from station bar and onto the *4 Trans-Mongolian Express to Peking. Carriage 6, compartment 6, 4 beds but only 1 roommate. Anna, Scottish (Orkadian actually), lovely, normal. On her way to Australia overland. No, really.