Hello!
Everything is changing over here at A Miss in Swiss! I've decided not to use blogger anymore as I'm taking a more serious approach to my writing now and I wanted a more sophisticated, prettier blog that isn't owned by google!
I'm in the midst of having amissinswiss.com redirect over to the new site but for now you can read it at www.yasminmillin.com
There are many more reasons why I'm doing this and I will explain all in due course but for now please head over, update your bookmarks/favourites to www.yasminmillin.com please!! All the old posts you know and love are over there including some new ones!
I hope this doesn't inconvenience anybody and I hope to see you on the new site very soon!
Thank you, Yasmin x
Thursday, 9 July 2015
Monday, 22 June 2015
Taking the Splügen Pass to Lake Como!
This weekend it was rainy and awful in Buchs, Tim had been working in the rain all morning and had heard it was sunny in Italy so we decided to hop in the new automobile and pop over the border for a bit of Vitamin D!
I popped a little map in so you can zoom in and out and have a mini virtual tour!
Once we emerged on the Italian side, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining!
The first town you pass through is called 'Montespluga', (if you look it up on google street view you can see it from Oct 2011 and its snowy!). The lake is quite big and surrounded by mountains, it feels like it should be in Scandinavia almost!
Isn't the colour of the mountain lakes so beautiful?
All of the buildings are traditional stone built with stone roofs and are super cute!
There is only one road down and, being a Saturday it was quite busy, mostly with groups of motorbikes which kept speeding off then stopping further down for photos, acting like a rather annoying swarm of bees. The road down is very windy and some parts of the tunnels are one lane so you need to be very careful and make sure nobody is coming up before you proceed, obviously the bikers didn't do this and almost came a-cropper a number of times. It was annoying to say the least! This pass is a really great way to take the scenic route from Switzerland to Italy but if the weather is bad or if its especially busy it will be a little hard going so always be careful on these little mountain roads! If you're renting a car, take the extra insurance!!
To get to Lake Como you follow the road down until it comes to a split at Chiavenna and you want to take the SS36 towards Campo. We then went on the right hand side of Lake Como (SS340dir) The road takes you through the little traditional towns and right alongside the river!
We stopped at a super market and bought some bread, cheese and prosciutto and found a bench by the lake in Domaso to eat lunch while watching the boats!
After dining alfresco we drove through some more of the towns along Lake Como, which was amazing for people watching! I kept an eye out for George Clooney but he was probably having a nespresso somewhere!
After a while we decided to head back up to Switzerland and the rain and back home. Not a bad little afternoon drive! I don't know why but it seems that the Swiss don't pop over the borders for a day or two, at least when we talk to people about it they look at us like we're crazy! Any thoughts on this?
Thanks for reading! Yasmin x
Rather than taking the usual route over the San Bernardino Pass we decided to take the smaller Splügen which was a quicker route to Italy. Splügen is also a really cute ski resort that we'll hopefully try out this winter! This pass sits at 2,115 metres above sea level and is only open in the summer and it is pretty windy for a little while, there were some vans and larger cars struggling with the tight turns. I was on the ball in aiding Tim's navigation by yelling "HAIRPIN" when a turn was coming up... I am an excellent co-pilot!
I popped a little map in so you can zoom in and out and have a mini virtual tour!
Once we emerged on the Italian side, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining!
The first town you pass through is called 'Montespluga', (if you look it up on google street view you can see it from Oct 2011 and its snowy!). The lake is quite big and surrounded by mountains, it feels like it should be in Scandinavia almost!
Isn't the colour of the mountain lakes so beautiful?
All of the buildings are traditional stone built with stone roofs and are super cute!
There is only one road down and, being a Saturday it was quite busy, mostly with groups of motorbikes which kept speeding off then stopping further down for photos, acting like a rather annoying swarm of bees. The road down is very windy and some parts of the tunnels are one lane so you need to be very careful and make sure nobody is coming up before you proceed, obviously the bikers didn't do this and almost came a-cropper a number of times. It was annoying to say the least! This pass is a really great way to take the scenic route from Switzerland to Italy but if the weather is bad or if its especially busy it will be a little hard going so always be careful on these little mountain roads! If you're renting a car, take the extra insurance!!
To get to Lake Como you follow the road down until it comes to a split at Chiavenna and you want to take the SS36 towards Campo. We then went on the right hand side of Lake Como (SS340dir) The road takes you through the little traditional towns and right alongside the river!
We stopped at a super market and bought some bread, cheese and prosciutto and found a bench by the lake in Domaso to eat lunch while watching the boats!
After dining alfresco we drove through some more of the towns along Lake Como, which was amazing for people watching! I kept an eye out for George Clooney but he was probably having a nespresso somewhere!
After a while we decided to head back up to Switzerland and the rain and back home. Not a bad little afternoon drive! I don't know why but it seems that the Swiss don't pop over the borders for a day or two, at least when we talk to people about it they look at us like we're crazy! Any thoughts on this?
Thanks for reading! Yasmin x
Wednesday, 17 June 2015
Zoo Zürich
On Friday I turned the ripe old age of 25! And for my little birthday outing, we went to the zoo! (25 going on 5!) We chose Zurich because it had some good reviews online and also because it had camels and alpacas, which I am crazy about!
Follow the camel prints to the zoo! The footsteps begin by the tram line so you just follow them down the hill a little bit and you'll find the zoo! Tickets for adults (over 25) are 26chf each, for some reason, a very nice lady gave Tim and I her tickets at the gate and we didn't have to pay, I think she was psychic and knew it was my birthday ;)
There is an information centre to the right as you come through the gates, i would definitely recommend popping in there to pick up a map, the maps are super cute and also really useful as the zoo is pretty big so you don't want to miss out on anything!
Well hello there sleepyface! The zoo is split into regions/countries and each section not only offers a lot of information about the animals but about the countries that they come from which is really interesting, for example, the camels are in a Mongolian style village with little Gers and even a stand selling felt souvenirs! It really adds something special to the experience!
ALPACAS!!! (insert heart eye emoji!) I love those little critters!
So whilst I try to calm myself down over the excitement of alpacas, I'll give you a few tips and things I noticed whilst walking around, firstly, and its quite obvious but it was HEAVING on a Saturday! I'm talking pushchairs, families, children e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. So just like, brace yourself for being knocked into, toes being trampled by pushchairs etc! Another thing is that was crazy hot and not only did we not bring any drinks with us but the vending machines were 4.50 francs for a 50cl which was a little extortionate in my opinion..! So be prepared to bring cash! There are little kiosks and places to get hot food dotted all over the place, which brings me to my favourite part...
Thanks for reading! yasmin x
The parking situation at the zoo is a little crazy, theres a couple of spaces near the zoo with parking meters (0.50 per hour for a maximum of 6 hours) and if thats full there is other car parks around but as its a nature conservation centre they have made the public transport extremely convenient, you can use the RailAway (SBB) combined ticket to take a train and then a tram which also gives you a reduction on your entry ticket, or, from the S-Bahn city train there will soon be a cable car! (read more here)
The public transport connections are very good, there is even a feature to type in your bus stop name and it will list the connections, you can find this here.
Follow the camel prints to the zoo! The footsteps begin by the tram line so you just follow them down the hill a little bit and you'll find the zoo! Tickets for adults (over 25) are 26chf each, for some reason, a very nice lady gave Tim and I her tickets at the gate and we didn't have to pay, I think she was psychic and knew it was my birthday ;)
There is an information centre to the right as you come through the gates, i would definitely recommend popping in there to pick up a map, the maps are super cute and also really useful as the zoo is pretty big so you don't want to miss out on anything!
Well hello there sleepyface! The zoo is split into regions/countries and each section not only offers a lot of information about the animals but about the countries that they come from which is really interesting, for example, the camels are in a Mongolian style village with little Gers and even a stand selling felt souvenirs! It really adds something special to the experience!
ALPACAS!!! (insert heart eye emoji!) I love those little critters!
So whilst I try to calm myself down over the excitement of alpacas, I'll give you a few tips and things I noticed whilst walking around, firstly, and its quite obvious but it was HEAVING on a Saturday! I'm talking pushchairs, families, children e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. So just like, brace yourself for being knocked into, toes being trampled by pushchairs etc! Another thing is that was crazy hot and not only did we not bring any drinks with us but the vending machines were 4.50 francs for a 50cl which was a little extortionate in my opinion..! So be prepared to bring cash! There are little kiosks and places to get hot food dotted all over the place, which brings me to my favourite part...
The elephants were in a huge area dedicated to Thailand, all over the place there were traditional shrines and also some installations showing how the Thai people live with elephants, how the elephants destroy their homes (by accident, those big bumbling cuties!) and the watch posts they set up to protect their farms. It was all very fascinating. Apparently if you arrive at 10.15am you can watch the elephants swimming! We weren't able to get there early as Tim was working but I would love to go back and see that, elephants swim like big clumsy labradors and its adorable!
There are many kiosks around this part and especially a Thai themed one where you can buy hot Thai food, drinks and souvenirs! This photo was taken in the new elephant park which is named after the Kaeng Krachan National Park in Thailand. This is the area that has a special viewing area to watch the elephants swimming! The construction and planning of this new area is fascinating and you can read about it in more detail here.
After seeing the elephants, I was severely overheating, luckily we saw that our path led to an underground tunnel which was dark and cool, what I didnt know was that it was leading us to the Masoala Rainforest which brought whole new meanings to the words hot and humid. Desperate almost collapsing, it was fascinating to climb up to the top of the stairs and walk along looking down on the plants and wildlife. After you make your way through to the exit you find yourself in another museum/exhibition then out to the gift shop and restaurant.
I am a serious fan of a gift shop and this one did not disappoint, it literally has everything! I would highly recommend making a trip to this zoo, it was a beautiful and educational day out and is an excellent reminder of what an amazing world we have here and that we should really appreciate that. Thanks for reading! yasmin x
Friday, 5 June 2015
Paxmal Peace Monument - Walenstadtberg, Switzerland
A couple of weekends ago we were feeling a little lazy and decided to go out and and take advantage of the nice weather. Since relocating to Buchs, St Gallen; we are still exploring this area of Switzerland and finding new things to see and do.
Paxmal is the perfect afternoon out, located halfway up a mountain, the hairpin-riddled drive is not for the faint hearted!
When you reach the top there is clear signage for where to park and where to start walking, it looks just like your typical mountain hike until you get to the edge and see this view...
Pretty impressive right? More impressive was that, to the left of this photo, was a bunch of crazy people running, jumping and parasailing of this mountain and landing somewhere down by the lake!
After picking our jaws up off the gravel path we continued on our Sunday stroll, the path winds down to a very tiny and very cute hamlet..
HOW CUTE?! I swear the doors were like 4 foot high!! following the little path down I felt as though I was in some kind of children's storybook, it really is one of the most beautiful areas we have explored in this country, it has such a magical feeling it almost makes you want to dress like a nun and sing and dance with 7 children dressed in curtains.
The path leads down to some stone stairs and around a corner and bam! Paxmal is right there, It kind of hits you in the face as you expect a little more of a walk but the impact of this monument is overwhelming...
The outer walls, a mosaic of earth and natural inspired tones are representative of life on earth: being, love and procreation and spiritual life: awakening, struggling, pondering and rising. We were lucky enough to be the only ones there so we wandered around, slowly taking in the surroundings and appreciating the carefully constructed scenes.
The monument was built between 1924 and 1949 by Karl Bickel and serves as a place of meditation and peace. Karl Bickel was a Swiss Artist and Graphic Designer, there is a museum dedicated to his life and works in Walenstadt (website here)
My favourite scene, A family of deer.
The monument is located approximately 1300m above sea level and shares the same spectacular view as the parasailing site. The is also a hiking trail to climb further up the mountain where there is a viewing point and a restaurant, therefore It is a definite must visit for the summer! If you want to check it out, the address of the location is listed just above the comments box - leave me a comment if you visit it and tell me what you think!
Thank you for reading! Yasmin x
Paxmal is the perfect afternoon out, located halfway up a mountain, the hairpin-riddled drive is not for the faint hearted!
When you reach the top there is clear signage for where to park and where to start walking, it looks just like your typical mountain hike until you get to the edge and see this view...
Pretty impressive right? More impressive was that, to the left of this photo, was a bunch of crazy people running, jumping and parasailing of this mountain and landing somewhere down by the lake!
After picking our jaws up off the gravel path we continued on our Sunday stroll, the path winds down to a very tiny and very cute hamlet..
HOW CUTE?! I swear the doors were like 4 foot high!! following the little path down I felt as though I was in some kind of children's storybook, it really is one of the most beautiful areas we have explored in this country, it has such a magical feeling it almost makes you want to dress like a nun and sing and dance with 7 children dressed in curtains.
The path leads down to some stone stairs and around a corner and bam! Paxmal is right there, It kind of hits you in the face as you expect a little more of a walk but the impact of this monument is overwhelming...
The outer walls, a mosaic of earth and natural inspired tones are representative of life on earth: being, love and procreation and spiritual life: awakening, struggling, pondering and rising. We were lucky enough to be the only ones there so we wandered around, slowly taking in the surroundings and appreciating the carefully constructed scenes.
The monument was built between 1924 and 1949 by Karl Bickel and serves as a place of meditation and peace. Karl Bickel was a Swiss Artist and Graphic Designer, there is a museum dedicated to his life and works in Walenstadt (website here)
My favourite scene, A family of deer.
The monument is located approximately 1300m above sea level and shares the same spectacular view as the parasailing site. The is also a hiking trail to climb further up the mountain where there is a viewing point and a restaurant, therefore It is a definite must visit for the summer! If you want to check it out, the address of the location is listed just above the comments box - leave me a comment if you visit it and tell me what you think!
Thank you for reading! Yasmin x
Friday, 29 May 2015
Das LABOR - Munich!
Guten Tag! I've been meaning to write this post for ages but as per usual everything else gets in the way! A couple of weeks ago, Tim and I decided to take a kleine ferien to Munich, for some reason the city was absolutely rammed - we still don't know why that was but anyway, after hopping from beer garden to beer garden we were seriously starved, we were wandering around for a bit when we stumbled upon a Chinese restaurant (yeah not very German but its practically none existent in Switzerland so we seized the opportunity!) Anyway, after filling up on beef fried noodles we ventured back outside and noticed this little glowing sign simply saying 'Das Labor' and a flight of stairs leading down, to an underground, neon lit lounge bar.
Upon entering I felt that I had wandered into a Gaspar Noe installation but once your eyes adjust and you move away from the large, intimidating, leather inspection chair complete with ankle stirrups... You start to enjoy the aesthetic!
Our first round was a Gin & Tonic, amusingly served in a conical flask and glowing bright blue! All of the bartenders wear lab coats, mix the drinks in beakers and add the spirits with syringes, it is one of the best novelty bars I have ever stumbled into!
This is a page out of their shot menu, written up like lab notes in an exercise book! There were pages and pages of different concoctions!
We may or may not have indulged! Around 8-9pm it gradually got busier and a DJ started playing, a lot of the tables were reserved and it seemed like the kind of place that is frequented later on in the evening, the crowd was extremely varied - perfect for people watching!
I would definitely recommend dropping in when you're in Munich, the exterior reminded me of the kinds of bars in Japan, down a flight of stairs and no indication of what to expect, I wouldn't have ventured down if i hadn't been feeling adventurous!
Next time you're exploring a new city, explore somewhere you normally wouldn't (safe places obviously.. not alleyways or ship docks!) because it will either be an amazing story , an average story that you'll keep to yourself or so bad you will laugh about it for years!
Thank you for reading! Yasmin x
Upon entering I felt that I had wandered into a Gaspar Noe installation but once your eyes adjust and you move away from the large, intimidating, leather inspection chair complete with ankle stirrups... You start to enjoy the aesthetic!
Our first round was a Gin & Tonic, amusingly served in a conical flask and glowing bright blue! All of the bartenders wear lab coats, mix the drinks in beakers and add the spirits with syringes, it is one of the best novelty bars I have ever stumbled into!
This is a page out of their shot menu, written up like lab notes in an exercise book! There were pages and pages of different concoctions!
We may or may not have indulged! Around 8-9pm it gradually got busier and a DJ started playing, a lot of the tables were reserved and it seemed like the kind of place that is frequented later on in the evening, the crowd was extremely varied - perfect for people watching!
I would definitely recommend dropping in when you're in Munich, the exterior reminded me of the kinds of bars in Japan, down a flight of stairs and no indication of what to expect, I wouldn't have ventured down if i hadn't been feeling adventurous!
Next time you're exploring a new city, explore somewhere you normally wouldn't (safe places obviously.. not alleyways or ship docks!) because it will either be an amazing story , an average story that you'll keep to yourself or so bad you will laugh about it for years!
Thank you for reading! Yasmin x
Tuesday, 19 May 2015
Travel journal, Russia, Mongolia, China & Japan
Hi Guys! I hope you had an amazing long weekend! (Sorry if you're in a country that didn't have one!) I thought I'd kick off with a little post about travel journals as its the summer, and that means holidays!
Maintaining a journal while travelling can be one of the most rewarding and difficult things at the same time, Its so difficult to remind yourself to write up about your day when you're busy taking in new sights, sounds and experiences but reading it back weeks, months and years later brings back all the small memories that you may have forgotten and is also a great way to keep note of places, restaurants, view points and stores that you loved and want to re visit!
Over the Winter, my partner and I took a pretty long trip and I managed to keep a journal the whole time, which I am going to share some little sneak peeks with you today.
We began by taking the Trains-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Irkutsk. This took 4 days and the only time we could get off was for about 10 minutes to grab food or Vodka from the platform!
Excerpt: 3/12/2013 - We've been on the train for 3 days now, sweating, drinking vodka and looking out the window. Russia is fascinating, saw a house on fire but there was nothing we could do as we were on the train and can't speak Russian. Hope they're okay..
Although there wasn't a lot to write about when you're on a train for 4 days, it was still really cool to read back and remember what we were talking about and what games we were playing when the photos were being taken!
When the train finally arrived at Irkutsk, we travelled to Lake Baikal for a couple of days, which was incredible, for those of you that aren't familiar with Siberia, Lake Baikal is not only the deepest lake in the world but it contains roughly 20% of the worlds fresh water!
Excerpt: 5/12/2013 - This evening we experienced a Russian Sauna, we had to lie down on our stomachs while Dmitry hit us with branches, then he made us run outside, jump in the snow and roll around while he threw cold water at us, I'm not sure if this is the Russian tradition or if he was just having a laugh!
After a couple of days hiking and sightseeing around this beautiful area, we were piled back onto the train for our journey into Mongolia!
I found all the border crossing documents fascinating. Mongolia in particular which was one of the strictest borders, I had a lot of trouble with my passport at every border, as the photo was taken when I was 18 and at University, a let me tell you, the growing up process between 18 and 23 changes your looks DRASTICALLY!
Mongolia is such a beautiful and inspiring country, the people were amazing and the culture was fascinating, I can't wait until I get the opportunity to go back!
This photo was taken in a Ger camp we stayed at, and it was COLD. We went horse riding in -40 degrees and I can't quite describe the intensity of the pain in my toes!
We also spent time in UlaanBaatar which is such a cool city, also very, very cold. One night, I didn't have time to dry my hair before dinner and during the 4 minute walk from the hotel to the restaurant, my hair froze solid into icicles!
Our train to Beijing was due to leave at about 7am which meant we had to leave the hotel at 5am.. and the night before, we decided to spend our last night in Mongolia at a karaoke bar until 3am.. Its fair to say we almost missed that train!
We reached the Chinese border in the evening as it took a day to get across the Gobi desert. We spent most of that day sleeping as the antics from the night before left us a little jaded.
When the train pulls into the Chinese border, the carriage has to be lifted up and has to have its 'bogies' changed, basically because the track widths are different between Mongolia and China. We were told that sometimes they let you off while they do this and sometimes you have to stay on board, unfortunately for us, we were not allowed off and were subjected to hours of the train being violently thrown forwards and backwards, which didn't help with the hangover!
Eventually we made it into Beijing! The next day we visited the Great Wall of China, I think we all needed to stretch our legs after the train ride!
Excerpt: 18/12/2013 - We went to Beijing Zoo to see the Pandas today, we were told by a guy at the hostel to go super early when its feeding time, because that is when they are most active, they were the cutest things ever, they were play fighting and munching on Bamboo it was incredible!
Our tour sadly ended in Beijing, and our group, who started in Moscow as strangers and left each other in Beijing as firm friends all went their separate ways!
Tim and I stayed in Beijing for a little longer and then flew down to Shanghai for Christmas.
When we touched down in Tokyo, I was beside myself with excitement. I had always wanted to visit Japan and we had a full month of exploring! We had planned it so we had a couple of days in Tokyo, then we took a night bus to Kyoto for a week, then over to Osaka for a week, down to Hiroshima and Miyajima for a couple of days then back up to Tokyo for the last part. It went SO quickly!
Excerpt: 30/12/2013 - Gave my seat up to an old lady on the subway and to saw thank you, she gave me an origami frog and a swan! I love Japan!
If you're ever in Kyoto, go to Japonica, they have THE BEST yellow curry ever!!
The Fushimi Inari Shrine - Miles and miles of these bright orange Torii gates!
Excerpt: 11/01/2014 Today we took a train to Arashyna and walked through a forest of Bamboo! It was so peaceful, afterwards we headed up the mountain to the Monkey Park, they were EVERYWHERE, I almost had a heart attack. Monkeys scare me.
Osaka Aquarium - home to the cutest seals ever!
Osaka was such a cool city to visit and the shopping was really great. The hotel we stayed in had a crazy policy that if you didn't use the towels, pyjamas, toothbrushes etc you could return them to reception and get free snacks and bottles of water! this happened everyday so breakfast was sorted!
On the 20th of January, we took a train down to Hiroshima. We visited all the memorial sites and the peace monuments which was really moving. Hiroshima is such a cool, friendly and welcoming place to visit.
After a couple of days in Hiroshima, we travelled down to Miyajima to see the Deer Island and also the Torii Gate in the water!
On the 26th January, we took the Hikari train back up to Tokyo as our flight to the UK was the 31st January, We spent the last couple of days walking around Tokyo and moaning that we didn't want to leave!
Reading the journal makes me want to go back so badly! There are so many more pictures and journal entries I wanted to share with you but its so difficult to cram 2 months worth of travelling into one blog post!
I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope it inspires you to start keeping travel journals! Especially for the big trips like these, in 20 years we can look back and say, "Do you remember that time we were dog sledding in Siberia?"
Thank you for reading! Yasmin x
Maintaining a journal while travelling can be one of the most rewarding and difficult things at the same time, Its so difficult to remind yourself to write up about your day when you're busy taking in new sights, sounds and experiences but reading it back weeks, months and years later brings back all the small memories that you may have forgotten and is also a great way to keep note of places, restaurants, view points and stores that you loved and want to re visit!
Over the Winter, my partner and I took a pretty long trip and I managed to keep a journal the whole time, which I am going to share some little sneak peeks with you today.
We began by taking the Trains-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Irkutsk. This took 4 days and the only time we could get off was for about 10 minutes to grab food or Vodka from the platform!
Excerpt: 3/12/2013 - We've been on the train for 3 days now, sweating, drinking vodka and looking out the window. Russia is fascinating, saw a house on fire but there was nothing we could do as we were on the train and can't speak Russian. Hope they're okay..
Although there wasn't a lot to write about when you're on a train for 4 days, it was still really cool to read back and remember what we were talking about and what games we were playing when the photos were being taken!
When the train finally arrived at Irkutsk, we travelled to Lake Baikal for a couple of days, which was incredible, for those of you that aren't familiar with Siberia, Lake Baikal is not only the deepest lake in the world but it contains roughly 20% of the worlds fresh water!
Excerpt: 5/12/2013 - This evening we experienced a Russian Sauna, we had to lie down on our stomachs while Dmitry hit us with branches, then he made us run outside, jump in the snow and roll around while he threw cold water at us, I'm not sure if this is the Russian tradition or if he was just having a laugh!
After a couple of days hiking and sightseeing around this beautiful area, we were piled back onto the train for our journey into Mongolia!
I found all the border crossing documents fascinating. Mongolia in particular which was one of the strictest borders, I had a lot of trouble with my passport at every border, as the photo was taken when I was 18 and at University, a let me tell you, the growing up process between 18 and 23 changes your looks DRASTICALLY!
Mongolia is such a beautiful and inspiring country, the people were amazing and the culture was fascinating, I can't wait until I get the opportunity to go back!
This photo was taken in a Ger camp we stayed at, and it was COLD. We went horse riding in -40 degrees and I can't quite describe the intensity of the pain in my toes!
We also spent time in UlaanBaatar which is such a cool city, also very, very cold. One night, I didn't have time to dry my hair before dinner and during the 4 minute walk from the hotel to the restaurant, my hair froze solid into icicles!
Our train to Beijing was due to leave at about 7am which meant we had to leave the hotel at 5am.. and the night before, we decided to spend our last night in Mongolia at a karaoke bar until 3am.. Its fair to say we almost missed that train!
We reached the Chinese border in the evening as it took a day to get across the Gobi desert. We spent most of that day sleeping as the antics from the night before left us a little jaded.
When the train pulls into the Chinese border, the carriage has to be lifted up and has to have its 'bogies' changed, basically because the track widths are different between Mongolia and China. We were told that sometimes they let you off while they do this and sometimes you have to stay on board, unfortunately for us, we were not allowed off and were subjected to hours of the train being violently thrown forwards and backwards, which didn't help with the hangover!
Eventually we made it into Beijing! The next day we visited the Great Wall of China, I think we all needed to stretch our legs after the train ride!
Excerpt: 18/12/2013 - We went to Beijing Zoo to see the Pandas today, we were told by a guy at the hostel to go super early when its feeding time, because that is when they are most active, they were the cutest things ever, they were play fighting and munching on Bamboo it was incredible!
Our tour sadly ended in Beijing, and our group, who started in Moscow as strangers and left each other in Beijing as firm friends all went their separate ways!
Tim and I stayed in Beijing for a little longer and then flew down to Shanghai for Christmas.
When we touched down in Tokyo, I was beside myself with excitement. I had always wanted to visit Japan and we had a full month of exploring! We had planned it so we had a couple of days in Tokyo, then we took a night bus to Kyoto for a week, then over to Osaka for a week, down to Hiroshima and Miyajima for a couple of days then back up to Tokyo for the last part. It went SO quickly!
Excerpt: 30/12/2013 - Gave my seat up to an old lady on the subway and to saw thank you, she gave me an origami frog and a swan! I love Japan!
If you're ever in Kyoto, go to Japonica, they have THE BEST yellow curry ever!!
The Fushimi Inari Shrine - Miles and miles of these bright orange Torii gates!
Excerpt: 11/01/2014 Today we took a train to Arashyna and walked through a forest of Bamboo! It was so peaceful, afterwards we headed up the mountain to the Monkey Park, they were EVERYWHERE, I almost had a heart attack. Monkeys scare me.
Osaka Aquarium - home to the cutest seals ever!
Osaka was such a cool city to visit and the shopping was really great. The hotel we stayed in had a crazy policy that if you didn't use the towels, pyjamas, toothbrushes etc you could return them to reception and get free snacks and bottles of water! this happened everyday so breakfast was sorted!
On the 20th of January, we took a train down to Hiroshima. We visited all the memorial sites and the peace monuments which was really moving. Hiroshima is such a cool, friendly and welcoming place to visit.
After a couple of days in Hiroshima, we travelled down to Miyajima to see the Deer Island and also the Torii Gate in the water!
On the 26th January, we took the Hikari train back up to Tokyo as our flight to the UK was the 31st January, We spent the last couple of days walking around Tokyo and moaning that we didn't want to leave!
Reading the journal makes me want to go back so badly! There are so many more pictures and journal entries I wanted to share with you but its so difficult to cram 2 months worth of travelling into one blog post!
I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope it inspires you to start keeping travel journals! Especially for the big trips like these, in 20 years we can look back and say, "Do you remember that time we were dog sledding in Siberia?"
Thank you for reading! Yasmin x
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