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Things to Bring On the Trans Siberian Train with You

The most epic train journey of them all, and one which every traveler has on their bucket list, the Trans Siberian conjures images on Soviet train carriages, drinking Vodka with people in your cabin, vast landscapes and huge distance – [...]

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The Trans Mongolian Train Beijing to Ulaan Baatar: My experience

For anyone who’s interested in taking the train from Beijing to Ulaan Baatar, I thought it’d be cool for you guys to see what it’s actually like, so here’s a quick recount on my time on the train.   Being [...]

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Top 5 Things to See in Xian

Xian is probably my favourite city in China, it’s got great character, plenty of things to see, banging nightlife and it’s pretty close to Beijing. Naturally it’s on the map internationally thanks to the Terracotta Warriors but in truth it [...]

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4 Awesome Modern Buildings to See in Beijing

With everyone (rightly) obsessing with the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven and the Great Wall in Beijing, China’s Capital has been putting up some pretty funky modern buildings when nobody’s been watching! I’ve spent almost 2 months [...]

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What Visas You Need to Get in Advance to Take the Trans Siberian Railway

I’m almost in Beijing already, from there I’m gonna jump on the train to Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia, and my trans Siberian train adventure will have finally started. It took quite a lot of work, and a fair [...]

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What’s the difference between a hard sleeper and a soft sleeper on Chinese trains?

With my 21 hour train journey from Yichang in Hunan Province to Beijing finally over (all 1500km of it) I thought I’d cast a little light on how the class system of the Chinese trains work. Basically there are 4 [...]

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Seeing The Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an, China

Xian is only 12 hours by train from Beijing and with the famous UNESCO Terracotta army being found there, just jump on a night sleeper train and you’ll be there in the morning. Xi’an is a really cool city, one [...]

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How much does it cost to travel in China?

This is my 5th time in China and once again I’m loving every second. Hopefully you guys are seeing another side to this massive country, different to the one the western media try to propagate (big factories, communist government, stifled [...]

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3 Temples Not To Miss in Beijing

Beijing is too big to try and see everything unless you have a month or so (like me!), so I thought I’d list some of the stuff you really can’t miss. Along with the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Great [...]

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Buying Stuff at the Silk Market in Beijing, the home of counterfeit goods?!

Oh my God, this place is either heaven or hell depending on your point of view. Whatever you’ve heard about China making knock-off clothes, electronics, even food (heard a rumour about fake eggs!) – here is your proof – all [...]

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Visiting the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China

If you’re staying in a hostel in Beijing, chances are it’ll be around the city centre, hopefully walking distance from these two iconic areas in Beijing. I’m typing this from my hostel, 400m from Tiananmen, sitting in the 6th floor [...]

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Seeing the Great Wall of China in Beijing

One of the most visited sights in the world, and the icon of China. The Great Wall is absolutely unmissable if you’re in China. You have to have your wits about you when you’re organizing your trip to the Great [...]

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Eating Penis and Balls at Donghuamen Night Market in Beijing, China

If the thought of munching down on some lambs penis for dinner gets you going, then I’ve got a trest for you! Donghuamen night market is the pimp daddy of all weird street food, with starfish, spiders, bees, dog, ostrich [...]

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How to Buy Your Trans Siberian Train Tickets in Beijing, China

I’m about to embark on my epic journey through Mongolia, Russia and Kazakhstan on the transsiberian railway. Trying to keep it cheap, I wanted to buy the tickets destination by destination as opposed to buying the whole thing in one [...]

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Visiting the 3 Gorge Dam – Yichang, China. Most Disappointing Sight Ever?

I’ve always been blown away by huge sights, whether they’re natural like Victoria falls or man-made like the Pyramids, there’s just something special when you see something for the first time and are left awe-struck. I expected that with the [...]

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Motivational Monday: Living with Passion

An Irish travel buddy, Gerard Darragh, of mine was sitting on a bus beside me this week in China and we were talking about life. He recollected a story about how the Romans were the first people to use obituaries [...]

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Zhangjiajie National Park – The Inspiration behind Avatar’s floating Mountains

Feet throbbing, calves burning and hamstrings tighter than ever before but very, very satisfied with a great day backpacking. Today, and yesterday for that matter, I walked about 10km around Zhangjiajie National Park in Hunan Province, China. It’s my 3rd [...]

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Yangshou, China – the most beautiful place I’ve ever been?

I’m currently sitting in an awesome hostel, at the foot of a 200 foot karst mountain, on the shore Li Jang river awestruck by the scenery in front of me. Yangshou is a small town next to Guilin in Guang [...]

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Holding a panda in Chengdu

After telling you guys about how awesome Chengdu is, and the great trips you can take from here to Leshan with the biggest Buddha in the world and Jiuzhaigou and its UNESCO National park, it’s time to shed a little [...]

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Backpacking in Jiuzhaigou National Park, China

10 hours north of Chengdu is Jiuzhaigou and it’s amazing UNESCO National Park. After my horrible bus journey yesterday, I finally made it to my dodgy youth hostel ($6 per person) and hit the sack for the night. My lonely [...]

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The Biggest Buddha in the World – Leshan, China

I took a day trip from Chengdu, China and  headed off to Leshan to check out both the biggest Buddha in the World (another UNESCO world heritage site) and the longest reclining Buddha in the world. Ignorantly, I had never [...]

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6 Things to do in Chengdu, China including Pandas and Ear cleaning!

My first stop on my China to Ireland by land trip is Chengdu (where I’m currently writing this from). I flew in from Bangkok a couple of days ago and it’s been a great start to my trip. China doesn’t [...]

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The Joy of my 8 Hour Bus in China

Oh the joys of backpacking are all coming rushing back to me now. So I left Chengdu to head to Juizhaigou to check out its UNESCO national park. A simple 8 hour bus journey they said, no worries. Hmmm….   [...]

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The 7 Man Made Wonders of the World

All this 7 wonders stuff gets complicated when you start hearing about the seven wonders of the ancient world, the seven wonders of the modern world, the underwater world so I thought I’d confuse things further with a post about [...]

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Teaching at English Camps in Asia – FAQs

I have spoken about English camps in Asia briefly before but I wanted to go into a big more detail considering the fact that I’ve just finished a 3 week camp in South Korea in January. I just had one of the [...]

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5 Things to do in Harbin, China

I came to Harbin to see the Ice and Snow Festival and it was ridiculously outstanding but if you’re not here from January through March, it’s still definitely worth a trip. There’s a handful of other great things to see [...]

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The Best 5 Bungee Jumps in the World

aWhat’s life without a bit of near-death experiences, right? With that, I thought I’d roll out the best 5 bungees in the world including 2 I’ve had first time experiences with. If you’ve never bungeed before then it’s gotta be [...]

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The Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin, China – amazing!

I’m currently in Harbin, North Eastern China – near the Russian, Mongolian and Japanese borders. It’s almost -30 degrees Celsius and the Ice and Snow Festival here is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.  I love a [...]

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Getting A Chinese Visa in Bangkok

With my Tibet to Ireland by land trip just around the corner, I had to apply for my Chinese visa while I was in Bangkok, and to be honest it was surprisingly easy! Read up on how to do it, [...]

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Best 5 nightclubs in Beijing

Backpacking in China is real traveling – difficult language, huge culture shock, crazy foods and general mass confusion so when it all gets a little much for you, find a place to kick back, grab a long-island and forget all [...]

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Day trip to Macau

Macau, ‘Vegas of the East’, lies very close to Hong Kong, and so most tourists nip on a ferry for day at this place and then make their way back to the city. A day will give you enough time [...]

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What is there to see and do in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong’s tourism industry is booming and it’s easy to see why. As I mentioned in my previous Hong Kong article, you need 3 or 4 days to truly appreciate everything that Hong Kong has to offer – when you’re [...]

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A Backpackers Guide to Hong Kong

A former dependant of the UK and now under Chinese rule, the proud Honk Kong inhabitants consider themselves Hong Kongese, and you’d be a brave person to insist that wasn’t the case! Hong Kong is a place like no other, [...]

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Malaria – What Drug You Should Take to Prevent It!

I think it’s fair to say that nobody wants to die on their travels around the world. Death avoidance 101 begins with preventing malaria.  Having spent the best part of a year in Africa during 2010 and a good few [...]

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Teaching on English Camps

Moving to a new country to teach English is a daunting process on many accounts – culture shock, new industry to work in, the logistics involved in setting yourself up in a new country – all of these things are [...]

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16 FAQ about Teaching English Overseas

I have been teaching English around Asia for a while now and am currently studying part-time in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to get my Masters in the field so I’ve had a bash at thinking about all the questions I had when [...]

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Cheap Travel: Backpacking through China, Kunming & Xi’an

Kunming and Xi’an were our last 2 proper destinations in this trip and they are tip-top places to go, really both cracking places to visit – dirt cheap, so much culture your head could explode and everyday is an experience [...]

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Cheap Travel: Backpacking in China – Yunan Province

Bloody hell it felt good finally landing in China, we were in a port-town called Guan Li which certainly wasn’t ideal as we thought we could get a life on the cargo boat all the way to Jinghong – apparently [...]

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Traveling Cheap – the boat from Thailand to China contd…

It was the evening of our 2nd day on the cargo boat, day 1 had certainly been an experience and as day 2 wore on we realised China was nowhere to be seen. We did, however, seem to be coming [...]

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Cheap travel – boat from Thailand to China (taking a cargo boat, up the Mekong river, from Thailand to China)…

Now I was settled in Chiang Mai, Christmas came around and I had some time off from teaching so my two housemates (Max and Swede) decided to do a little hardcore backpacking… my first real adventure… I wanted to go [...]

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