Guangdong: Mar 21 - 23

gaoming - zhaoqing - de qing

Chinese Concrete

Forget pandas, Ming architecture and Confucian riddles. That's a painting. To begin with, China sprawled like a country-sized construction site.

Earth-movers and semi-trailers rumbled past pounding jackhammers, tracking dirt and scattering gravel. Elderly Han streetsweepers with milky eyes and faces like carved wood worked their oversized straw brooms towards the road shoulder. There sit mounds of crushed rock, broken concrete, cement and rebar.

Hong Kong: Mar 8 - 20

Hong Kong(plane)

The Glam, the Grime and the Waiting

It turns out people fly to Hong Kong just to shop. Apparently that's a thing.

It was hard not to feel a little out of place as the unlicensed taxi made its way past the looming steel and glass facades of Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.

Koh Tao: Feb 27 - Mar 5

KOH TAO (FERRY)

Koh Tao: Take Two

I first visited Koh Tao in early 2009. Back then, it was part of a short Southeast Asian jaunt that started the itch for something bigger.

Nearly three years later, here I was again.

Koh Phangan: Feb 18 - 26

Koh Phangan(flight/ferry)

Full Moon, Partly

Koh Phangan began the bike-free, one-bag-only holiday within our larger trip.

What we thought would be little more than a stepping stone on the way to Koh Tao ended up sucking us in for over a week with its own special gravity.

Selangor: Feb 12 - 17

Kuala Lumpur

Capital City Cool-Down

Wealthy, clean and impersonal, Kuala Lumpur followed India like a just-in-time decompression chamber.

On our first full day in Malaysia we caught up on missed sleep and television downloads, not leaving the guesthouse until mid-afternoon.

Maharashtra: Feb 9 - 11

Mumbai (by sleeper-train)

The Limits of Adjustment

After nearly six weeks it can be tempting to think that India has lost the power to shock you.

After all, there is much you can grow used to.

There are the reactions along the way from people who are curious, cheerful and polite; while we might have been too worn to always offer them the response they deserved we still knew we were fortunate to be able to expect such genuine friendliness.

Goa: Feb 3 - 8

Palolem Beach - Calangute – Panaji - Madgao

The Vehicle-Spotter's Guide to India

By the time we left Goa we had cycled 2,000-odd kilometres, caught two trains, a few buses and enough rickshaws to build a real car. Here's what we learnt about the happy chaos of Indian transport in the process. 

Trains 

India Rail knows it keeps India running and will delay your service until you notice too. Each day almost as many people as live in Australia travel on trains that are cheap, more crowded than any bazaar and -- if the cautionary illustrations are to be believed -- rife with prancing villians who enjoy nothing more than injecting your unguarded food with drugs.

Karnataka: Jan 30 - Feb 2

Mangalore – Udupi - Gokarna (by train)

Indian Doppelganger

Here’s a fun game if you visit the subcontinent: Indian Doppelgänger.

It’s easy to play and easily adapted. The key aim is to spot someone who closely resembles someone else. Beyond that, the rules are yours. You can search for all doppelgangers or only those of certain categories: friends, family and acquaintances or celebrities; the living or the dead. A points system encourages group games but it’s still a good solitary pursuit.