Day 51 - 55: Ayr - Rockhampton - Brisbane - Byron Bay - Port Macquarie - SYDNEY

So after 25,000+ kilometres we've made it! London's Tower Bridge to Sydney's Harbour Bridge raising over £4,000 (so far) for Doctors of the World. The end of the second (yes there's still one more part to come!) stage of this set of three challenges.

55 days of travel with 24 buses, 15 trains, eight boats, one plane hop, a horse, many motos, two car rides and 23 nights on transport have seen us cross 20 countries, three continents and 14 changes of time zone - a truly epic and unforgettable journey full of countless stories of people, places, brushes with histories we can only imagine and inspirations only travelling in my opinion can provide.

Our final leg saw us renting a car and driving south down Australia's stunningly beautiful east coast, covering 2,500km across our five days spending hours driving 300km through nighttime starlit Central Queensland wilderness in search of a motel, dropping onto the long sands of Rainbow Beach, enjoying the live music of Brisbane, catching a few waves and whale spotting at Byron Bay, and exploring the lighthouses and coastal towns of the New South Wales coast before a surprise highlight; visiting our home from hometowns of Gloucester and Stroud (populations of 2,500 and 550 respectively) on our approach to Sydney and our at last final destination Sydney Harbour Bridge.



Walking up the steps to the bridge in the cool afternoon (two mistakes we made planning this trip - 1. Australia is a big place and 2. it's cold at this time of year) brought a sense of elation hard to describe as the trials and tribulations of the past two months seemed to flash through our minds as a continuous stream of experiences rather than the drag and drop feeling of boarding a plane and emerging from a near/far away airport. As the kilometres have passed we've watched peoples, languages, cuisines and cultures at times gradually, and at times abruptly, change from the familiarity of Western Europe through the snack size Baltic states, across the vast, cold, bleak vodka and potato fuelled expanses of the monumentally expansive Russian continent down through the wilds of Mongolia into the building site called China and down to the glistening paddy fields and traumatic histories of Vietnam and Cambodia before the traveller friendly Malay peninsula and air conditioned shopping malled comfort of Singapore, starkly contrasted by the frustrations of Indonesian travel, made worth while by the beauty of its islands' beaches and volcanic landscapes, the artificially new UN East Timor and the comfortably western wilderness and fast food of Australia.

Reading this blog and hearing how we have stuck to schedule, and survived with few major setbacks, may give the impression this journey half way around the world is a simple endeavour, but having spent over 500 hours sat/lying/squashed on all kinds of transport dealing with all kinds of challenges from lack of schedules to fully booked trains, touts' scams, consular bureaucracy, unintelligible (for us) languages, unfamiliar foods, and the simple requirements of keeping ourselves rested, fed, watered and healthy, I can tell you this trip is not one to be taken on lightly, but at the same time also that trips like this are possible. A little organisation (preferably more than our six weeks minimalist approach), common sense, cash card, SMALL rucksacks (some people seem to carry their entire worldly possessions) and travel friendly passports accompanied with eager minds, equally open to trusting people as to detecting when a scam may be afoot, all go a long way to making this journey not only possible, but a true adventure of a lifetime.

We've been exceedingly lucky to have been supported by so many people back home, friends we dropped in on along the way, others who joined us for short sections of the trip, the many strangers we met en route who showed us friendship and help often just when we really needed it, and you. It's been our first "blogged" trip so we hope you've found our words interesting either as a short break away from work, a read over a morning coffee or even an inspiration to pick up an atlas or click onto Google and find out more about some of the places, historic events and peoples we've mentioned through these entries. Even in the worst internet connected places it's been a pleasure to write these entries, made worth it by the feedback we've received already and the money we've raised on the back of this challenge for Doctors of the World. If you have enjoyed this blog and are of a charitable mind, please consider a donation to Doctors of the World. Take a look at their website below to see the work they do, and if you decide to support our charity, a donation is only a few clicks away!

www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/

Donating only takes a minute clicking on the "Donate" link on the right hand side of this page or here. Every penny donated goes straight to the charity.

For the super keen of you, who'd like to be made aware of our next trip (yes, there may well be another challenge at some point in the future), please drop me an email at robpilkington@gmail.com. Please include any comments you have on this blog, any requests for the next trip's one and I'll make sure you get invited as the planning gets started - wonderful though Google is, we can't automatically see the email addresses of all the subscribers to this blog!

Thanks again to all of you for following this challenge - keep checking back over the next week to hear how Will gets on riding his bike from London to Paris. Crazy idea. Can't wait to see how much he hurts!

Ayr - Sydney: 35 hours driving / 2,500 km
TOTAL LONDON TO SYDNEY: 25,050 km

FUND RAISING TOTAL: £3,900 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!

2 Bridges Photos Day 47 - 51: Dili - Darwin - Tennant Creek - Townsville

Photos of our Dili - Darwin - Tennant Creek - Townsville leg. Click on the photo to view the full album!

If you like our pictures, please consider a donation to our charity Doctors of the World - to donate click here

Day 47 - 50: East Timor - Darwin - Tennant Creek - Townsville

So the short of it is that we have had to fly. Just 500km, a mere hop in the scheme of this 25,000km trip. We always knew that the chances of finding a boat from East Timor to Australia were slim given our timescales, and the tiny glimmer of hope we had of bribing/sweet talking (would have been interesting to see which would have worked best with a container ship captain) our way on board Perkin's Thor Pacific sailing on the 29th July were dashed by the combination of Indonesian ferry schedules and East Timorese bureaucracy, and to await the next sailing would have seen Will not cycling to Paris (crazy, even in my book) and me asking for another week, month or who knows how much longer leave.

Over the past three weeks we've followed every lead for a boat to Oz, from yacht racing to Australian Defence Force vessels to container ships, from Indonesia, East Timor, the closest land to Australia apart from the arduous one month to reach Torres Straits islands at the southern tip of Papua from where we could conceivably have got onto a people smuggling boat - probably not a plan either of our mums would have been particularly keen on!

The truth is that to make the Indonesia/East Timor to Darwin crossing, you need time. Lots of time. The hostel owner (from Lancashire) we met in Dili waited a year. And that's waiting in Dili which is probably not the most attractive place to spend such a prolonged holiday! Sailing from Singapore would have been possible, but would have bypassed Indonesia and made the trip all a bit too easy and enjoyable!

Surrounded by UN workers and well paid contractors our Airnorth plane hopped the 500km in 60 minutes, and really made us question why we'd not listened to all the advice we'd received along the trip that flying really made a lot more sense than spending 14 hours on a train, or up to 24 on a bus covering the same distance and without the complimentary scone and fake orange juice.

In Darwin, once past the immigration (who also thought we were mildly crazy), we felt completely disorientated. The whole balance of our previous seven weeks suddenly changed and we became the poor backpackers struggling to comprehend the sky high Aussie prices - high anyway, and in comparison to Indonesia a completely different world. Ordering noodles at random from a menu was replaced by carefully checking menu prices and finally deciding that Subway was the most economical way of stuffing ourselves full of the now foreign to me at least Western food ($18 for Fish and Chips - the equivalent of a whole day's subsistence for us along most of our journey!).

The social side seemed equally bizarre, surrounded by similar looking people to us, we no longer stood out as the "tourist to be touted" and became "regular backpackers from the UK probably looking for a job". The special treatment ended, but with it also our constant wariness that we were being set up to be ripped off.

A quiet night (largely because beer is so expensive) was spent back in dorm mode. Not sure how people live for months in these working visa ghetto like places. I think it would drive me insane, however, horses for courses, they all thought we were mad not to have come to Oz straight from London in an aeroplane. Touche.

Day 48 saw the beginning of our three day Greyhound experience, heading south along (reading this you have NO idea how grateful this made us) straight, flat, smooth and empty road through the Northern Territory with our only regret being missing the 1st July Fireworks, the only day of the year fireworks are permitted apparently. Weird, but then again it does seem Australia has a lot of rules about stuff like this.

Reaching the ex-gold mining town of Tennant Creek at 2am on Saturday morning (you need a good map to find this place) we could see why strict rules exist, as we were dropped by the bus into the middle of a mass local aboriginal street fight. Scariest moment of the trip so far without any shadow of doubt as we rapidly reassessed our plan of sticking the rest of the night out in the bus station, and heeded local Aussie advice and beelined for a caravan park, and crashed in the unlocked TV room before making an early exit in the morning. Tramp-esque, but when needs must.

With a whole day in front of us and the best suggestions from locals of what to do being "nothing", "sleep", "go to the bar" (eating would have been up there but extended opening hours here seems to mean five days a week plus three hours on Saturday), we were helped out by local Sue who drove us to see the local highlights of the lookout point, and the local dam. We survived the 4km bush walk back with none of the snakes showcased at some of the highway pubs, the famous Larrimah in particular, seen much to my relief. The rest of the day was spent trying to learn the virtues of Aussie Rules football, drinking a few schooners, and finding out just the way to make the pool balls come out of the table, while retaining our dollar coin.

As we ate our $20 pizza (another Aussie priced "bargain"), we watched the beginning of Saturday night unfold, with more evidence of the massive social divides between white and aboriginal populations in these remote towns, with everyone seeming to get along in a state of uncomfortable mutual tolerance. It's hard to explain this without being here, a dynamic far beyond many of the high horse European liberal opinions but yet still one that seems a long way from a long term solution where your background makes no difference to how you make the most of the undoubted opportunities Australia offers (having seen the atrocious recent histories of Vietnam and Cambodia, and lacking infrastructure of Indonesia makes me a harsher judge of whether peoples' complaints really hold water).

Night bus (no chickens) through to Mount Isa, one of Australia's mining capitals, followed by another 12 hour ride east through to Townsville were uneventful. We hit a roo, but seems this is normal. Just have to hope it doesn't take your headlight out apparently. Food stayed limited to steak sandwiches, and our sickly Coles' cereal bars as we were treated to Gordon the driver's recollections of his true busman's holiday to the UK.

As we hit Townsville, Australia had changed. No more road trains or desert but a chique looking urban centre with a pleasant sea front and beach (from what we could see in the dark!), and a sleek looking Mitsibushi Galant looking ready to take us on the final section of our journey. Road trip to Sydney!

Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... IN OZ NOW!

Dili - Darwin: 1 hour flight hour / 500 km
Darwin - Tennant Creek: 14 bus hours / 1,000 km
Tennant Creek - Mount Isa: 10 bus hours / 650 km
Mount Isa - Townsville: 11 bus hours / 900 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 22,065 km

FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,780 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!

2 Bridges Photos Day 44 - 47: Ende - Dili (Timor Leste)

A ferry!! And lots more photos of West Timor and Timor Leste if you click on it!

If you like our pictures, please consider a donation to our charity Doctors of the World - to donate click here

Day 44 - 46: Ende - Dili (Timor Leste)

Indonesia is redeemed! Well nearly. Day 44 saw us up at 5am determined that we wouldn't let any ferry that might run that day leave before we could work out which port it would leave from. A rather surreal 20 minute moto ride alongside the black sand beaches of Flores got us to a port with definitely no ferry but a large group of Indonesians apparently as confused as us, yet seemingly perfectly content that at some point a boat would turn up.

And turn up it did! Albeit a rust bucket (see our photos for this leg), rocking in the swell as horses and goats slid off amongst the packet carrying passengers, bracing itself for the military landing craft style rush of the awaiting throng of passengers.

Rather ambivalent to the length of journey given the range of estimates we'd been given, we were happy enough just to be onboard and sailing southeast towards West Timor, and the regional centre of East Nusa Tenggara of Kupang, still just about on time to make our scheduled arrival date in Australia.

The next day was to be one full of surprises - and generally of the good kind. After 19 hours of cramped sleep using some of our trip learnt contortion positions, and hopefully our last pot noodle of the journey, we arrived EARLY in Kupang and 3.30am moto-ed by starlight to one of the least salubrious accommodations we've enjoyed. Waking up next day we found ourselves right on the seafront with views along the beach, and a bustling town most notable for by its country and western / hiphop pumping pimped bemo minibuses.

After the ferry delays in Indonesia, to have had any chance of catching a cargo ship down from Dili to Darwin we needed East Timor to have kept to their word and processed our visa applications in the promised 10 days, however even trawling spam boxes proved fruitless in our search for a reply meaning, in the consensus opinion of Kupang, a three day delay waiting for the letter and stamp that would let us into the world's "newest nation". Sweet talking was required, and dressed as smartly as we would (OK, so not that smart, but at least the flipflops came off) we assaulted the Timor Leste consulate with our full arsenal of pleasantries, smiles, linguistic abilities and subservience and respect for people doing an obviously extremely important job.

It worked, and six hours later (a record we are told) we had the letter, and were headed via a few frames of pool in the sunset where Will made a controversial comeback (a deliberate miss involved) to win the night 7-6 to Kupang's lively, fish packed night market for a juice, a beer at Edwin's L'Avalon bar to thank him for all his help during the day, and bed ready for (another) 4.30am start.

Day 46 was pretty much written off as a bus/border crossing day and we weren't far wrong as the West Timor road suddenly became a dirt track as we passed Atambua, the last West Timor town, and headed for the frontier. Stamped and inspected by a whole host of military, police and immigration authorities along with the standard money changing touts, we passed muster and were allowed into Timor Este, our 19th country of the trip, and miraculously still on schedule to make Australia as planned by 1st July, albeit now with no hope of making it onto the cargo boat that was our only (faint) hope of really making this epic journey without any flying.

As we drove noorth east towards Dili, the landscape became more and more arid, and further and further from the jungle type vegetation and favourable agricultural conditions of Flores and even West Timor, and settlements appeared poorer compared to their western neighbours. Stunning coastlines prevailed as we moved towards the UN compound/town that acts as Timor Leste's capital since their bloody independence from Indonesia and subsequent UN governance over the last two decades.

Smarting from the cost of accommodation, the price of food didn't really help as it became increasingly apparent that the abundance of UN and NGO staff, combined with Timor Leste's need to import almost everything (a pint of milk comes from Australia and is USD $5) makes for a bad budget backpacker location. Still, I didn't mind as the slope of the pool table played to my advantage and the score levelled at 9-9.

Bed was not particularly appealing, but given how much we had paid, we made the most of it, our last real "travelling" night of the trip.

Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... IN OZ NOW!

Ende - Kupang: 19 ferry hours / 250 km
Kupang - Dili: 12 bus hours / 250 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 19,015 km

FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,780 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!

2 Bridges Photos Day 39 - 43: Gili Trawangan - Ende

At last! A Ferry Schedule! You may laugh, but right now all we want is a ferry! Click on the photo for more (interesting) pictures!

If you like our pictures, please consider a donation to our charity Doctors of the World - to donate click here

Day 39 - 43: Gili Trawangan (Lombok) - Ende (Flores)

Maybe our joint subconscious in demanding a break in Gili knew something we may have suspected, but always hoped, wouldn't be the case: that travelling through the world's largest cul-de-sac of the volcanic Nusa Tenggara islands would be the most frustrating, time consuming and complex part of the journey as we moved well beyond the standard backpacker trail of Bali and western Lombok and onto islands so remote that even Google thinks they are empty (see our Google Map).

Leaving behind the comfortingly almost symbiotic relationship between tourists and locals on the Gili islands full in the knowledge that rapid progress was needed, we sacrificed the amazingly tempting tourist snorkelling boat via Komodo (of dragon fame) for the local alternative: a 16 hour bus through Lombok and Sumbawa islands to meet the 12 hour ferry on to Lubuanbajo at the western extreme of Flores.

The lack of comfort sleeping amongst sacks of rice, heads resting on the subwoofer speaker as water leaked from the onboard toilet past our feet, has become pretty much the norm, but the major problem we were finding ourselves coming up against was the plethora of inaccurate travel information through which we had wade to try and divine what transport might actually happen. To say this disinformation is malicious is certainly true in some cases (our need to save time saw us done out of $10 each on this leg), but in most seems to stem from a refusal by locals to ask anyone who might actually know, relying instead on family and friends' opinions as unquestionable and beyond doubt, certainly by jumped up bule like us.

Mildly soothed by the stunning scenery of Komodo island from our ferry, and then the mountainous story book style tropical landscapes of Flores as we enjoyed the luxury of a hired car, the key question in our minds became how to turn early Lombok assurances that a ferry operates every Tues, Thurs and Sat between Ende in Flores and Kupang in West Timor, into a ticket and a big white boat that would actually take us across to the next island on our journey.

Doubts over even what port the ferry would run from, before even worrying about days and times, seemed only to multiply in Lubuanbajo to the extent our agreement with the owner of the car we hired to cross Flores was that we paid him once we were on the Kupang bound gangplank - a very shrewd move as three hours cruising the appropriately named Ende on our arrival culminated with no ferry on the day we'd been promised, and none likely until at least two days after. Not ideal. Will & Rob not happy. Can ANY other place in the world have such poor and apparently randomly generated information with such feeble resemblance to reality?

As I write this we still don't know if they'll ever be a ferry, but at http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifleast the delay here in Ende allowed us to shoot out north to the majestic and breath taking Kelimutu volcanic lakes (towards the end of our photos for this leg). Sitting on the rim blinded by mist there are few words to describe the beauty and almost unworldlike appearance of these crater lakes as the cloud rises slowly revealing their cameleon like colours, changing through blue, green, red and black as their mineral cocktail evolves over time. A further 10 US cents spent saw us enjoying the spa like hot volcanic spring water bubbling up in the middle of the surrounding paddy fields. Did it stop us worrying about the ferry? Well no, but I tell you, for any readers thinking about taking a ferry from Ende, this is the place to come and wait!

Indonesia is certainly proving the most challenging country of the trip so far, its outstanding natural beauty just about making up for the frustrations of travelling here. Let's just hope the ferry does run tomorrow! Come on Indonesia, redeem yourself!

Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... "not far" to go now!

Mataram - Lubuanbajo: 32 hours & 14 ferry hours / 450 km
Lubuanbajo - Ende: 12 car hours / 400 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 18,515 km

FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,620 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!

2 Bridges Photos Day 34 - 38: Jakarta - Gili Trawangan

Click on the photo for more pictures!



If you like our pictures, please consider a donation to our charity Doctors of the World - to donate click here

Day 34 - 38: Jakarta - Gili Trawangan (Lombok)

Jakarta, in addition to being one of the hardest to love places I have ever been to (and I say this after much soul searching and five attempts to enjoy the city), is obviously a subscriber to the assertion that best laid plans shouldn't always reap rewards as Day 34 turned into one of the most frustrating of the trip so far.

Lulled into a false sense of security by our decision the night before to have a travel agency arrange our bus tickets (it always seems impossible to me to work out where in Jakarta each company's buses leave from), our semi-bright eyed and bushy tailed moods were in for an early disappointment as the agency's claimed bus departure time slipped from 9am to 11am to 1pm to a definite 3pm. The bad start continued as the agency decided to bajaj (like a prehistoric tuktuk - see photos) us through Jakarta's tangible to the eyes, nose and taste bud pollution to the bus station, the same bus station we had been dumped at the night before.

"Executive" buses from our company Lorena came and went, yet none apparently were ours. As time ticked by, the metal benches became less and less comfortable and our frustration at losing time, a frustration compounded by the fact we were still suffering bus hangovers from the previous leg, grew and was only partially soothed by cold drinks and Ayam Goreng for Will and fresh mangoes for me.

Our frustration and persistence eventually paid dividends as Lorena got fed up with us and shunted us onto another operator's service with us finally wheels rolling at 6pm. A very frustrating and sweaty day, which has done little to improve Jakarta's standings in our league table of places we'd like to come back to.

Rant over. Shell shocked by the day so far and with our bodies seemingly numbed from the discomfort of the bus journey from Jambi, we settled in for the reported 18 hour ride through to Denpasar, the capital of tourist central Bali. We must be becoming used to these journeys as the hours passed reasonably rapidly, the (surprisingly good in my book) food stops came regularly, the scenery was at times pleasant (note to go back to the central Java volcanoes sometime) and even the traffic jams seemed to be limited to only the main cities, and some place near Surabaya where an over zealous gas exploration company hit a mud volcano.

Our popularity with young school girls on trucks and buses as our coach slalomed the 500km or so through East Java seemed to extend to the first of the two ferries on the journey, the hop from Java to Bali where an entire school trip including the teacher got their cameras out. That apart the ferry journey to Bali was uneventful other than finalising our pay off to the bus drivers to let us stay on all the way through to Mataram in Lombok. An agreement that seemed to make us new friends for life.

More bus, and a five hour ferry across the Lombok and Jakarta + 41 hours we arrived in Mataram fully ready for, and only one step away from, our mini break in the Gili islands. Taxi (yes we were getting pretty tired of buses) to the beach and a quick boat hop saw us leaping with joy onto to pristine sand of Gili Trawangan, a true gem of the tropical island world and a sign of where the real beauty of Indonesia lies.

2 days off. Just what the Doctor ordered.

Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... "not far" to go now!

Jakarta - Mataram: 41 bus hours including 2 ferries / 1,200 km
Mataram - Gili Trawangan: 1 taxi hour & 30 launch minutes / 35 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 17,665 km

FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,570 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!

2 Bridges Photos Day 30 - 33: Singapore - Sumatra - Jakarta

Click on the photo for more pictures!



If you like our pictures, please consider a donation to our charity Doctors of the World - to donate click here

Day 30 - 33: Singapore - Sumatra - Jakarta

With complete expectation that the real travelling part of the trip was just about to get started, we made the most of our day of Singaporean comfort, AC and excellent food before enjoying Marina Bay's light show in the relative cool of the evening in this Asian haven of organisation.

Our expectation was not far wrong as Day 31 saw us gradually moving down in the travel hierarchy from Singapore's commuter shuttle hydrofoil to Batam, to a nine hour Indonesian boat across the millpond like sea to the Sumatran mainland (many thanks to our new friend Aris who turfed some locals out to get us the best seats), negotiating a whole town who wants to get involved search of our baggage - well done Will for such imagination in bringing them onside - and finishing with a three hour cramped minibus ride in the dark along one of the worst roads we've travelled so far this trip, punctuated by the obligatory meal stop in one of the less impressive restaurants and toilets we've had the pleasure of visiting.

The accompanying change through the day from Singapore's skyscrapers, pristine MRT, non-negotiated taxis and shopping malls, to the island houses built on stilts within sight of the Singapore coastline, to the rural, mountainous paddy field landscapes of southern Sumatra told its own story, as we found ourselves ending the day firmly in real world Indonesia, cruising Jambi at 11pm in the almost hopeless quest to find a spare hotel room in this regional at best city - nice to know so much is going on here but really, could it not have been another night?!?

Day 32 was to prove even more of a travel test as again our preferred option to Jakarta was fully booked, leaving us on a second rate luxury bus for the supposed 22 hour ride down through Sumatra, over the short ferry crossing to Java ($1 saw a well deserved upgrade to "executive class", and Rob take an unassailable 1-0 lead in our best of 1 chess match - Will blames the deafening cover band), and into Jakarta. 30 hours, at least 5 meal stops, one fairly major pit stop (involving hammers, wrenches, and removal of part of the bus engine) and little sleep later we finally crawled into east Jakarta, for an ojek (the motorbike ride of your life through Jakarta's reknowned clouds of pollution and traffic jams) and busway ride into town to find our trains to Bali fully booked, a disappointment only softened by the excitment of the "18" hour bus alternative, a meal of Padang and a mini night time excursion of Jakarta's Thursday nightlife...

More next time, off for the next leg through to Denpasar, Bali - wish us luck!

Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... "not far" to go now!

Singapore - Batam: 1 boat hour / 20 km
Batam - Sumatra Coast: 9 boat hours / 200 km
Sumatra Coast - Jambi: 3 bus hours / 130 km
Jambi - Jakarta: 30 bus hours / 1,050 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 16,430 km

FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,420 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!

2 Bridges Photos Day 26 - 30: Bangkok - Cameron Highlands - KL - Singapore

Click on the photo for more pictures!

Day 19 - 23: Nanning - Hanoi - Hue - Saigon

Leaving China's nation of building sites behind, and with an uneventful border crossing, Day 20 saw us making an early morning arrival into Vietnam's capital, Hanoi and onto the sweaty, tout filled western backpackers east Asia trail.

We decided to play the touts at their own game and Vietnam saw us making the most of free internet, cheap motorbikes and food, knowing that sooner or later we'd get ripped off and karma would fall back into balance.

Hanoi is a bustling, busy city with action packed streets full of shops, markets and restaurants and overrun by scooters like no other city I have ever visted. Will's previous experience made him tour guide and in our 12 daylight hours we paid the obligatory visit to Ho Chi Min's mausoleum (although heat dictated that shorts/no entry won over trousers and getting to see Vietnam's much celebrated winner of independence), Lake Hoam Kiem's Jade Mountain Temple and lunch which we hope wasn't dog.

Lulled into a false sense of comfort by the backpacker environment we opted for the "luxury" overnight sleeper bus to Hue, probably the worst bus journey of the trip so far as we hit the roof or metal head rail every time our driver rode a speed bump or pothole. On the diary side, we did pass the supposed Demilitarised Zone, but about as noticeable as it was successful 55 years ago.

Day 21 from the outset showed us Vietnam's calmer side with us adopting local transport and moto-ing around Hue and its surroundings, visiting the city's impressive yet sadly, war damaged, citadel, passing the picture postcard paddy fields with their still predominantly manual agriculture, and finally the beach for a full hour of rip-off tempered relaxation by the South China Sea.

Our slight over confidence following the success of our logistics so far bit us for Day 22, with only hard seats available for the 22 hour train to Saigon (OK, now it's officially Ho Chi Min City, but I'm going to stick with Saigon). Hard it turns out means wooden (see photos to see just how uncomfortable..), and even only 3 hours sleep the night before didn't help us find a comfortable sleeping position, with Will ending up adopting the local position of lying on the train floor under the seats, and me draped over the mini-tables.

Luckily the train ride is probably one of the most beautiful I've ever taken, along the unspoilt, pristine Vietnamese coast before cutting through the paddy field and up to Saigon - just about sane, and kind of still able to walk, Day 23 had us walking into Saigon in a rather more peaceful way than the arrival of North Vietnamese forces just over 36 years ago.

Despite the beauty of Vietnam 2011, the delicious food and generally friendly people, it is impossible to visit this country and not be shocked by the impact and history of the various 20th century wars, in particular of course the French then US led western actions through the 50's, 60's and 70's. It's hard to remain objective and neutral when actually faced by photographs, stories and evidence of the evil's of war in a time where it is difficult to understand the geo-political realities and rights and wrongs from before either of us were born, but visiting places such as Saigon's War Museum really hit me with a hammer as to the disastrous long term consequences of separation and tactics including Agent Orange, chemical defoliation and torture.

Pushing that weight off our shoulders long enough to buy bus tickets, Day 23 lunchtime saw us on board a bus headed west for Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Nanning - Hanoi: 12 train hours / 396 km
Hanoi - Hue: 15 bus hours / 700 km
Hue - Saigon: 22 HARD seat train hours / 1,038 km
TOTAL TO DATE:12,300 km

FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,200 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming!

Day 5 - 7: Tallinn - St Petersburg - Moscow

Somewhat complacent in our organisation up to this points, this leg was to prove a rude reminder of the need to allow for unforeseen delays and cater for the whims of state security within our whistle stop itinerary.

Bumped back onto our original route by the cancellation of our ferry to Helsinki, the bus ride to St Petersburg was to soon become a scene reminiscent of James Bond as we entered the gated, barbed wired and camera covered no man's land (well bridge) under the shadow of Narva's rather fitting castle. Our initial waiting for Russian immigration to summon us forward seemed part of the performance only enhanced by the sight of 50 Russian border guards sprinting to attention on the sound of the post's siren, although disappointingly it appeared to be in honour of a visiting official rather than a major land incursion by western spies.

That should have been it, and we would have been happy, but with passports stamped and only a sniffer dog between us and our waiting coach, Russian customs took issue with Will's first aid kit leading to a pretty tense 45 minute delay as we waited for the outcome of the seemingly serious deliberations about what should be done with us. Hard to convey the feeling of the situation, but tense, scary, sweaty palms all come into it. Will must have been scared - he didn't even seem to notice how they'd even arranged for the senior guard deciding his fate to be played by a tall and eye catching blonde who I'm sure is more accustomed to dealing with 007.

Waking up the next day Russia seemed a different a much more friendly country as we appreciated our first 8+ hour sleep for a week and our last shower for the next seven days. A whole 24 hours in the same place saw us visit the fascinating and in my opinion European historic centre of St Petersburg, including a walk around the Hermitage with possibly the most impressive set of Roman busts, European art and gold leaf interior design of any house I've ever been too, probably more than Versailles and the British Museum put together.

Fed, showered, rested and cultured up, we set off for our first Russian train of the journey, the sleeper to Moscow. A rather luxurious journey compared to Will's stories of Indian trains was added to by Andrey our cabin companion who seemed to think it a rather foolish yet interesting idea to try and reach Sydnet without using aeroplanes. In his words, "I think you have a problem"! Great company and thanks Andrey for the tips on how to make the most of Russia.

12 hours in Moscow was enough for Natalia (thanks a lot for the tour!) to show us round the main sites including most notably the Kremlin with its impressive 12th - 16th century churches, the atmospheric Red Square and Gum, surely one of the world's most exclusive shopping centres and the best indication I have seen of how life has performed a complete 180 for some of Russia's most elite since the times of the USSR.

Fascinating city, but time for our next train, a mere 5 days this one so time for us to provision up on vodka (and beer for a mixer) and make ready for the journey.

Thanks for all the Doctor of the World donations that keep coming in - all really appreciated!

Tallinn - St Petersburg: 360 km / 8 bus hours (€26 zlotys)
St Petersburg - Moscow: 700 km / 10 train hours (£100)

TOTAL TO DATE: 3,550 km

FUND RAISING TOTAL: £2,000 including Gift Aid - keep those donations coming!

Day 1 - 2: London - Berlin - Warsaw

So after not much preparation and a lot of talking midday saw us set off from London's Tower Bridge with a mere 24,000 (at our most conservative estimate) kilometres to cover in our 56 day trip to reach Sydney. Meeting on time, even if Will had a massive hangover, put us in good stead and with the obligatory photos taken we made for our glamorous first major departure point, Victoria Coach Station. Despite TfL not running the district line, and the replacement Routemaster being too full, our quick (for a Sunday) thinking got us to Victoria and on board our first Eurolines coach just in time.

A quick "Das ist verbotten" speech from the rather German coach crew later and we were on our way racing past the sights of south London and onto the Chunnel for a rather un ferry like crossing to the flat, flat and grey skied lands of northern France. Although we were enjoying the company of our fellow, and rather eccentic, passengers, detours into the centres of Lille, Brussels, Hannover and another German sounding place was enough for us and we were glad to reach the outskirts of Berlin after only 19 and a half hours on the road. A journey that could have been significantly shorter if we'd gone for a coach with more drivers than tachometers.

3 hours in Berlin was enough for a reinvigorating breakfast (and beer - a German custom apparently) courtesy of Rory, then a whistle stop tour of the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate and Jewish Memorial before ambling over to the rather impressive Hautbahnhof to take a mere 5 hour train ride east to Warsaw passing through the rolling plains of eastern Germany and Poland reaching the Polish capital. Thanks to Andrzej for an awesome evening of steak, beer, beer, then a night time tour of the surprisingly attractive Warsaw Old Town including the apparently olibligatory litre Tyski before a road racing trip to a well earned bed for five hours kip and a 6am start tomorrow!

London - Berlin: 1,000 km / 19 hour bus (£42)

Berlin - Warsaw: 530 km / 6 hour train (€48)

TOTAL TO DATE: 1,530 km