Author: bristolianbackpacker

Top 3 Reasons To Visit Vietnam

bristolianbackpacker1 Comment

I travelled for six weeks around Vietnam in August and September 2014. I am finally going to share some thoughts with you about it. Here are my quick fire reasons for Vietnam being a must place to visit. Cost I’m generally a budget traveller so finding somewhere cheap to stay and go is important for me. Although the flights may be expensive, once you arrive in Vietnam, nothing else will be. Accommodation in a hostel with breakfast can be $5 a night (£3.20), and some even cheaper. Although I never stayed at the cheapest, they were still cheap, clean and …

Continue Reading

Novels and Travelling

bristolianbackpacker1 Comment

I found an English book shop in Hanoi, Vietnam, and for reasons I can’t recall, I ended up buying ‘Until I find you’ by John Irving. The book accompanied me on my travels, I finally finished it about five weeks later in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Continue Reading

Hangzhou Holiday Adventures (Part Two)

bristolianbackpacker3 Comments

We kick-started the holiday with beer, ridiculous amounts of food, McDonalds’ ‘Modern China Burger’, mooncakes, and discovering new parts of the city (Part One can be found here). The second part of the holiday had similar experiences but also a few days to chill out. One day was spent catching up on Doctor Who and finally getting Mitch into Utopia. No matter what country you live in, you still need those chilled days.

Continue Reading

Hangzhou Holiday Adventures (Part One)

bristolianbackpacker0 Comments

Despite only starting teaching 3 weeks ago, I’ve just had 12 days of holiday.  The holiday was for two reasons. The first is the Mid-Autumn festival. This festival ties in with the full moon and people view the celebration as a time to spend with family. The full moon symbolises peace and wholeness, and so it also involves eating a lot of mooncakes (not as nice as they sound). Still, I got give a box of them from the school which was very kind. The second festival a few days later is National Day: celebrating that the People’s Republic of China was founded on …

Continue Reading

The Highs of Travelling in Low Season

bristolianbackpacker0 Comments

In January this year, Mitch and I packed our bags and flew to Albania. Why would we do that? Low season: it’s cold, places aren’t open, cities lack atmosphere, and hostels are practically empty. All these things are true. We had days where it was bitterly cold we couldn’t stay outside long, days we were rained in, restaurants closed, places where buses didn’t go to at this time of year, so many hotel/hostel owners saying, “Come back in July! You can see this, this and this.” I would love to go back to all the places in the summer. You know …

Continue Reading

Exploring Hangzhou’s West Lake

bristolianbackpacker0 Comments

Firstly – all credit to Mitch for these photos. He takes my iPhone and snaps away, sometimes for a long time and I impatiently look at my watch. I then look at said photos later and they are stunning, so, credit to him. One of the main tourist attractions in our new hometown of Hangzhou is the West Lake. A gorgeous natural lake which was made a UNESCO site in 2011. Being so beautiful means on the weekend it’s buzzing with tourists (national and international), plus locals coming to enjoy the scenery, market and restaurants.

Continue Reading