Well can't sleep - always happens when I am off somewhere.
Driving down to Sydney this morning to the Chinese Consulate to try and sort my visa. Got a flight into Shanghai on Thursday for short three weeks backpacking.
Itinerary is vague. Turn up in Shanghai and spend 2 weeks wandering the countryside then spending a week in Beijing with family working there. Will take side trips to the Wall from there I suspect.
I have a small pack - weather is warm so don't need much. Basically a few changes of clothes, a towel, my toothbrush and MP3 player (for long train trips). I will be staying in backpackers, hostels, cafes etc and will budget about $10-20 per night on accm. I achieved $US5 per night in Vietnam and that was split with another fella I travelled with for twin rooms.
Thats how I like to travel. Meet the locals, get up early for a walk and street breakfast while a new city or town wakes around me. then explore and finish the day with a beer and a chat in a local cafe or a backpackers haunt.
Ideally I would love to go for 2 months and head across China to Russia or elsewhere but with a young family and a busy missus I am surprised to be allowed this much freedom - still it has been a slog putting her through uni these last 4.5 years - hard to believe she will be finished in under 6 months. Then the real hard work begins I suspect as she starts interning in a busy hospital.
I will see how I go for time and inclination, I may post the odd few jottings on my trip here for you folks trapped with your mortgage payments and dodgy tenants ...
Cheers,
Driving down to Sydney this morning to the Chinese Consulate to try and sort my visa. Got a flight into Shanghai on Thursday for short three weeks backpacking.
Itinerary is vague. Turn up in Shanghai and spend 2 weeks wandering the countryside then spending a week in Beijing with family working there. Will take side trips to the Wall from there I suspect.
I have a small pack - weather is warm so don't need much. Basically a few changes of clothes, a towel, my toothbrush and MP3 player (for long train trips). I will be staying in backpackers, hostels, cafes etc and will budget about $10-20 per night on accm. I achieved $US5 per night in Vietnam and that was split with another fella I travelled with for twin rooms.
Thats how I like to travel. Meet the locals, get up early for a walk and street breakfast while a new city or town wakes around me. then explore and finish the day with a beer and a chat in a local cafe or a backpackers haunt.
Ideally I would love to go for 2 months and head across China to Russia or elsewhere but with a young family and a busy missus I am surprised to be allowed this much freedom - still it has been a slog putting her through uni these last 4.5 years - hard to believe she will be finished in under 6 months. Then the real hard work begins I suspect as she starts interning in a busy hospital.
I will see how I go for time and inclination, I may post the odd few jottings on my trip here for you folks trapped with your mortgage payments and dodgy tenants ...
Cheers,