What an incredible six weeks it's been. For the record, I started this blog post after week two of our travels, but then was never able to get around to posting it (despite feeling like it was "finished"), repeatedly forcing myself to add on further recordings of our adventures because I want you guys to feel the satisfaction of being caught up with us. Well, now that has backfired on me, turning what started as a blog post into an epic tome. I apologize, and to help you get through it, I've added headings so that you can pick what you want to read or skip over.
![]() |
Tonnes of interesting flowers for sale at the Flower and Bird Market in Kunming. |
KUNMING
Our train from Shaoxing brought us safely and in good spirits to Kunming where we explored the famed bird and flower market, admiring the different, more multicultural vibes apparent in the various foods, clothing and trinkets for sale. Walking down a central shopping Boulevard downtown we were surprised to find a class of bling masseuse students in white coats standing next to chairs offering to massages to the passersby. It was nice to see the camaraderie and laughter among the students, but at the same time a reminder of how the disabled have very few opportunities here, compared to Canada. That's because, last time I checked, the blind are not even allowed to enrol in any post-secondary programs in China, except massage therapy. So, no matter how passionate they may be about a certain field, they'll never be able to obtain the certification to support themselves, unless they choose massage therapy. It's a tragic, almost Orwellian reality that exposes one of the darker sides to life as a Chinese citizen, in turn highlighting how, no matter your gifts or preferences, your choices are so limited when it comes to choosing a path in life. The freedom we have as Canadians is something I'll never take for granted again, I think.
![]() |
Dali Gate |
View of Cang Shan from the main highway going through Dali |
![]() |
Gate to a hotel in Dali |
DALI
From Kunming we took a train to dali, where we spent a few days wandering, and met some
The permaculture project we helped out at in Dali. Basically all we did was help put those beams up on the second floor. Nice, huh? |
The view from Cloud Pass, halfway up Cang Shan |
TIGER LEAPING GORGE
Halfway Hostel |
Inside the dining area of the hostel |

But, after three nights in Dali we had to move on in order to make it to the focal point of our trip to Yunnan: Tiger Leaping Gorge. I don't even know how to best describe how marvellous this hike was beyond the basic details, and the strange feeling of being so small, yet so accomplished at the same time. The incredible journey took us two days, starting from Lijiang, where we caught an early morning bus from our hostel to a mountain village at the mouth of the gorge called Qiaotou, where we got passes and then dropped off our heavy backpacks for overnight storage. At about 11am, we began the great trek. It took us 6 hours, but we had a continually amazing view that only got better the closer we got to the middle, which we just beat the sun to reach and find our accommodation for that evening, chez Halfway Lodge, which was the most stunning hostel we've ever stayed at. We really felt like winners the entire time we spent there, because for one, the views from anywhere in the hostel were absolutely gorgeous. Secondly, the food they made was delicious, and wonderfully different from the standard Chinese we've gotten used to (and a bit tired of). My favourite was their version of Apple Pie, which was shaped more like a Stromboli or Calzone and fried golden. When you bit into it, the apple was very finely diced, and still a little bit crispy and tasted so light and fresh. It was like biting into an apple–flavoured pillow; so good I could have eaten 5. And thirdly, the dining hall, including the windows, was covered with sharpie graffiti and memorabilia from other individuals and groups who had passed through the place on their journey through the gorge. Having shared our feeling of great accomplishment in the experience, they left little marks of themselves behind - in varying ways from signatures to jerseys and medals - to commemorate the occasion, and it all added to the joyous feeling of having made it to this gorgeous lodge on the side of one of the most magnificent geological formations in the world. Then, after a good shower and night's rest, we carried on the next morning to make it down to the bottom, where the mighty Yangtze roared over massive boulders, shoving its incredible force up against the two mountains it intersects - Haba on our side, and the treacherous Jade Dragon on the other. From there, we made the challenging climb back up to Tina's guesthouse, where we were able to catch a bus back to Qiaotou where we collected our bags, then headed back to Lijiang before making our return to Kunming the next day.
![]() |
Lovely Lijiang |
We spent a wonderful three days in Kunming, chilling on the sunny rooftop patio of our
![]() |
January is the beginning of patio season in Kunming! |
LETS STAY AWAKE SO THAT WE DONT MISS A MINUTE OF OUR LAST 36 STINKY HOURS IN CHINA
It wasn't hard to find cause it was located at a big bridge one block away from the noodle spot. We waited at the gate with a handful of other people as we watched the two sides prepare for opening. The Chinese side was much easier to see and entertaining because they played their national anthem loud and proud, and incorporated some very zealous soldiers who marched in a rectangular path and shouted some stuff in unison before raising their red flag of communism. Then we saw the Vietnamese raise their own red flag of communism too, but with less fanfare. The best part came next as a flood of Vietnamese farm workers in their conical hats sprinted from Vietnam into China as fast as their short legs would carry them. Mostly women, many were pushing carts or carrying big bundles of produce, which I assume they were racing to sell at the morning market in Hekou. Cameron and I cheered them on. Some of them smiled and giggled but many wore their game face, focused on getting inside to the border office first to get their stamp and then trot off to go set up at the market. When the mad dash ended we waited for our gate to open, but it didn't. Then we saw a few plainclothes people come from the Chinese immigration building and start leisurely walking over to Vietnam, giving us the hint that we weren't in the right place. We took a little walk and found an escalator with a sign pointing up to the departures floor and found our exit path. There was no line until we got to the immigration desk, where the nice border official took some time to admire our curious, colourful passports and practice his English with us. In the end he gave us a big smile as he handed back our passports and said "Welcome back to China....again!" Thanks, China :) Next, we went down an escalator that dropped us near the bridge where we took one last look at China, said 'Tzi jian!', and then leaped over the borderline at the middle of the bridge into Vietnam.
![]() |
Hello, Kitty! |
'NAM!
After passing through Vietnamese customs, we set about securing the essentials: coffee and wifi. Luckily, these things are often available together, and Vietnam did not disappoint in this first occasion of servicing our needs. In fact, it exceeded our expectations because the coffee was phenomenally strong, giving our poor sleep-deprived brains a much needed jolt of energy, and the wifi was entirely free of censorship. Hallelujah! Just in time too, because the Chinese government recently upped their game and have succeeded in blocking several popular VPN providers. Instantly, life seemed so much brighter, and we made our way to the train station with light and excited hearts. We were so deliriously happy that we didn't even bat an eye when we were told that there were no more soft seats of beds left available on he 10-hour train we needed to catch to Hanoi at 10:00am, we just blithely said ok and headed straight for the tracks with our hard seat tickets in hand. We also didn't bother to put on our smart, serious tourist hats when it was communicated to us as we were boarding the train that we could indeed secure ourselves some beds for this trip, if we only forked over a quick 600,000 dong (the equivalent of $34cnd) to one of the obliging car attendants. After handing over the money, I meagrely tried to get them to write something on our tickets to prove that we'd paid extra to switch seats but was politely refused and then ignored, so I shrugged and flopped down onto the hard bench covered in a bamboo mat they called my "bed" and proceeded to fall asleep as quickly as possible, lest we got booted from our berth at the first stop. We ended up spending the full 10 hours in that same berth, thankfully, and arrived in Hanoi mildly rested at around8:00pm. We were also lucky enough to as for advice outside the train station from a very friendly and pregnant Vietnamese lady who spoke perfect English and told us where to go to find a cheap hostel nearby the centre of the Old quarter, and exactly how much we should pay a taxi to take us there. She even wrote it all down for us so that we wouldn't get tricked by a taxi driver feigning to have misheard our original offer after bringing us halfway to our destination. What a sweetheart.
We heard the church bells calling from our hotel room, and listened! We took in a Sunday mass here, en francais, at the gorgeous Cathedral St. Joseph in the Old Quarter of Hanoi |
It was like a hot shower after a week of camping in the bush. After two weeks of traveling from hostel to hostel in China, we treated ourselves to a private hotel room for $12 a night, complete with a balcony, almost soft bed and a western toilet. We weren't bothered that there wasn't any hot water left by the time we woke up in the morning because it was 22C outside and we were going to spend the whole day wandering outside, moving from street food stand to delicious street food stand. We basically spent four days eating and pampering ourselves with massages there. One morning I wandered around a bit and got a coffee scrub pedicure for myself while Cameron went and indulged in some playstation4 time at a gaming cafe around the corner from our hotel. Another day we took in a show at the famous Hoang Long water puppet theatre. That was cool, although the last number was cut short due to a power outage, which is supposedly common there, though we only experienced it the one time. My favourite day though was definitely the day we did our food tour. We happened to sign up with a recent start up company so the three and a half hour
Hanoi Food Tour = Best Idea Ever. Snails and roasted pigeon on the right, Vietnamese pizza, stew, and pork filled rice pancake thingy on the left. |
What a cutie! |
OVERSTOKED
For the next stop on our Vietnamese adventure, we opted to scoop ourselves a couple of
There is such thing as too much of a good thing |
'WELL,YOU GET THE FRIENDLY AWARD'
I spent the next few days recovering, exercising moderation as best I could, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely, doing lots of wandering around town and the beach, as well as
Wandering through a local market in Nha Trang. STAYING IN THE SHADE. |
A BRIEF ENCOUNTER WITH THE CITY WITH TWO NAMES
After three days in Nha trang, we caught a (very bumpy) night train to the metropolis of Ho Chi Minh city (or Saigon, as most people still call it) in the southernmost portion of
![]() |
Colonial Oppression Art in Saigon |
WELCOME TO THAILAND: HOW ABOUT A UFC EVENT AND SOME DUTCH BINGO?
We caught our flight with little rushing, and made it to Bangkok at about 11:30pm on Saturday January 31st, where we caught a taxi with two American girls to a decent hostel and slipped into their last available room for the night. In the morning, Cameron woke us up early to watch a must-see UFC event he thought was going to be on at 8:00 Thai time. Once we were all packed up and almost ready to check out, he realized it actually wasn't on til 10am. *facepalm* I wasn't impressed but was happy to lay down for another hour or so and catch up on some of the sleep I'd missed from two nights before on the roller-coaster train ride. After a bit of wandering from bar to bar on the famed Khao San road, looking for a place that was showing the match, we eventually found a place and settled in to watch it alongside a nice couple from Dublin. The fights turned out to be pretty entertaining and we both really enjoyed hanging out with the Irish couple. When that was over, we walked around a bit more down Khao San road before stopping at another bar for some refreshment. Lo and
Dan (l) and Edward (r) and us in downtown Bangkok |
Gigantic lizards lurk in Lumphini Park, Bangkok |
Wat Pho, Bangkok |
SCUBA DIVING DREAMS COME TRUE
Koh Tao was where the magic of Thailand really hit us. Situated in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand, southeast of the mainland, Koh Tao is famous for being a backpackers haven and a Mecca of scuba diving in Southeast Asia. With more than 50 dive shops on the small island, there's plenty of competition between shops to provide various levels of certification for cheap backpackers wanting to dive, such as ourselves. We both already had our Open Water, but came to Koh Tao looking to get our Advanced diving certification, enabling us to dive deeper (up to 40 meters/130 feet) and in different environments such as at night and around shipwrecks. We obtained our certification in 2 days through New Way Dive centre, following one day in which I had to do a "refresher" course to brush up on my scuba skills which I hadn't used in the four years since my open water course. My favourite of the five dives we did as part of our course was definitely the night dive, which I had been looking forward to for the past year pretty much (since we decided scuba diving in Thailand was going to be a goal of ours post China). It was absolutely magical. It's definitely an experience I will never forget and plan to do again and again as long as I can dive because the ocean at night is oh so mysterious and completely different from the daytime environment. It literally gave me goosebumps (and not because the water was cold - it was only a couple degrees
Getting geared up for our Night Dive |
R N' R IN KOH PHA NGAN (pronounced: ko pay nyaann)Once we officially became certified advanced divers, we decided it would be best to take a break from it for a few days. Not because we wanted to, but because Cameron had sustained a couple injuries (involving
![]() |
Taking a spill on a motorbike is like a rite of passage throughout the Thai islands, but most people survive; Cameron did! (I was not co-piloting at the time of the incident) |
Home Sweet Hut <3 in Koh Pha Ngnan |
Sunset on Koh Pha Ngnan |
DIVING IN THE ADAMAN SEA
Koh Pha Ngnan was a wonderful and difficult to leave but after three nights we had to leave in order to make it to Khao Lak, on Thailand's west coast, where we wanted to get some more diving in before heading back to Bangkok. The diving was fantastic but more expensive than on Koh Tao, so we only did one trip, out to the Boonsung shipwreck, about a half hour off the white sand beach. This time, Thai royalty were not around so there were only a couple other boats out where we were, and we saw and amazing array of fish there, in much more concentrated numbers than in Koh Tao, and the visibility was also clearer so we could see more from a distance (not that it mattered because there were SO many fish - literally 150 with in 3 meters at any given moment). It made for a great days diving.
We love wreck diving! |
SOME TURBULENCE
But Khao Lak also gave us some rough times. First, we had trouble finding a room at a reasonably priced accommodation, and then when we did get a room at a hostel after the tenth try, Cameron was attacked by an army of mosquitos and bed bugs in the night. He woke up at three o'clock am unable to sleep because he was so itchy. He counted 78 bites all over his body, mostly on his back and legs. In desperation, he tried sleeping on a mattress of clothes on the tile floor. So, the next day we were on the hunt again for some accommodation that wouldn't severely break our budget. Luckily, we found some, and then did ourselves the great favour of doing that wreck dive. When we returned from the dive though, it was time to start planning our return to Bangkok, so that we could arrive in a timely manner to submit our visa applications to get to India on March 1. I partially blame our misfortune on technology, partially on myself. I booked us a flight from Phuket to Bangkok using an app called Kayak which scours the Internet for cheap flights and then when you find one you like you click on it and it takes you to an external booking site. So, I clicked on a flight for 6:40pm on the 17th, but ended up being brought to a site where the flight time said 6:00. I assumed this still meant PM so I went ahead with the purchase, fearing that if I backed out we'd lose the cheap fare (it's happened to me before where I hesitated to book and then went back a few hours later and the prices had doubled). To my chagrin, when I read the confirmation email, it read depart Phuket at 6:00 AM. This meant we would not be able to stay in Khao Lak another night as we'd hoped, we now had to hustle up to catch a bus out to Phuket that evening so that we could be at the Phuket airport for our 4am check in time. Nice one. Of course I discovered this barely 10 minutes after Cameron left to go wander around town to find something to eat, leaving me to only hope that he'd get back in time for us to catch a bus to Phuket that evening, because I couldn't reach him on his cell phone unless he had wandered somewhere with wifi. In a nutshell, Cameron came back, we rushed to pack up, returned our motorbike, and successfully flagged down a bus to Phuket. The 2 hours later, the bus dropped us off on the highway 3km from the airport, and after walking for a bit we hitched a ride in a nice minibus to the airport. It appeared our luck ran out after that though because there was no cheap accommodation to be found nearby, forcing us to stay at a roadside bar until it closed. We had some supper and then took turns napping on the couch there, but got kicked out at 3am, so we trudged like zombies up the highway to the airport. We were too early to check in so we did like a few other backpackers we saw and found a corner to lay down on the floor for another hour. When the checkin counter finally opened, we got in line and waited some more, fantasizing about passing out on the plane.
"Do you have a booking number? I can't find your name on the list." Said the checkin clerk.
I was ready for this and showed her the number on my phone.
"Hmm. You're not on this flight. You're booked for March 17th."
Lack of sleep hadn't improved my earlier retardation, so I said "What, no, today is the 17th."
I showed her the calendar on my phone to prove I wasn't crazy.
"Today is February 17th, miss. Your flight is booked for March 17th."
My jaw drops. Cameron's does too, and the look we shared is pure agony. This can't be happening. This is what we get for busting our butts and staying up all night in a noisy bar and sleeping on the floor of the airport? Curses and facepalms ensue. We do the walk of shame over to the customer service desk, and the agent informs us that all their flights to Phuket leaving that day are fully booked, but she'll put us on the standby list just in case they have a couple of noshows. Great. In my mind, there's a 90% chance we're not going to get on this flight and because we don't want to potentially waste the day waiting to seize a spot on one of the flights that never opens up for us, we'll have to just take the 12 hour bus ride to Bangkok and hope that we can still get our visa applications submitted in time. But then there's the problem that Cameron begins to really not feel well. And by not feeling well I mean he's throwing up blood in the bathroom while we wait for our standby verdict. So, even though he's still walking and his color hasn't changed too dramatically, 12 hours confined on a bus is starting to sound more like torture than an inconvenience. But a miracle happens and we find out that there are indeed a couple of no shows on this flight, and if we just pay an extra $200 we can get on this flight. This is more than what I paid for our original (March dated) tickets, and they won't let me us the credit that I have with the airline from a previous ticketing error, but it appears now that we have no choice. So we get on the plane and make it to Bangkok without incident. Cameron manages to keep his blood and stomach juices inside him for the flight, but feels challenged when we board a bumpy, standing room only shuttle bus from the airport heading downtown. I'm nervously trying but failing to avoid imagining the bloody carnage if he spews while standing on this bus packed with unsuspecting passengers. We successfully disembark the bus and make it to our hostel, but it's 9am and our beds haven't been vacated yet. And we've realized that we left Cameron's almost brand new running shoes on the bus, which is long gone now. All he's got now are the oh-so-sexy crocs on his feet (which are the only shoes he's been able to wear since the Koh Tao diving fins massacred his heels) Once again my bad because I carried them, in a bag, onto the bus, but didn't pick them up when we got off.
THINGS DONT FEEL FINE
Then there's still the objective that we came to Bangkok for: getting those Indian visa applications submitted. This turns out to be a real pain in the ass. Sorry Mom, but in the moment I feel this was a highly accurate description. We had to fill in an application online, get the hostel to print it and make copies of several pages in our passports, fill in another form by hand ONLY IN BLACK INK, attach a specific size of passport photo, and then make a 50 minute journey to the Indian visa office. When we got there, there was still an hour and a half before they closed, but there were over a hundred sullen people packed in that waiting room when we arrived. We waited in line to have our paperwork checked before we could even get a number to join the real submission queue, only to find out that a. The hostel's printer was a failure and though the information was was all accurate, and mostly legible, the barcode was smudged so they wouldn't be able to enter it into their system. And b. We still needed to provide a copy of our flights in to and out of india, as well as a record of a least two weeks of accommodation bookings while in India. We had a flight in booked, but of course no flight out because we don't know how long we're going to stay there for. GREAT. Back to the hostel we go, where we face another problem: my credit card is maxed out and won't work. Even though I paid my bill online 3 days prior, the payment still doesn't appear to have applied to my MasterCard account. EVEN BETTER. Luckily, Cameron's angelic parents gave him a credit card he can use in emergencies, so we were able to use that. Now to find a reasonably priced, refundable flight out of india, and accommodation, and a decent printer to get new printouts from, which isn't as easy as it sounds, especially when we're both so tired and stressed and he's still potentially seriously ill. It feels like the second last day of finals, where all you want to do is sleep but there's still one more day of exams to study for and the hardest one is last.
MERCY
We manage to get our shit together, and wake up early the next morning to be at the visa office when it opens at 8:30am. We arrive at 8:31, and there's already 30 people in line, waiting for the visa office doors to open. When they finally do, we shuffle inside to queue up again, only to see a groups of about 30 orange-robed monks already seated in all of the waiting room seats, waiting to be processed ahead of all the other people in front of us. Good grief. Eventually, we make it past the pre-check station, and get our number (the office has barely been open for a half an hour and we're # 114) and wait. And wait. And then we get called and Hoorah! They take our finger prints, our money, and our passports, and finally the job is done. Now we chill in Bangkok for 10 days until our flight to India on March 1st. Time to relax, and plan out the next leg of our adventure, which will include celebrating the Holi Festival in Mathura in the first week of March, and then to Rishikesh (the yoga capital of the world) to stay in an ashram for at least two weeks. Then, who knows!
Good job for reading this whole post, if you did manage it. I promise to make the next one shorter. Thanks for reading!
Xoxoxo
Peace & Love from Bangkok,
Julie