Matsu Island

Ive been getting quite deep into routes this week.

Ive had a re think about the China route,


Firstly because Ive figured out that its probably a lot cheaper and easier to fly in to Hong Kong,
And secondly, with the news about the floods in Southern China at the moment, it would be very unwise to be in southern china next summer (rainy season)


So, Ive decided to start in Hong Kong, and do some of the south, before heading to the northern provences for the summer months.
(Ill put a map up on here when I get round to doing one)


Also, been looking at getting to Taiwan...
and (kinda excitedly) discovered (thanks to that reliable man in seat61) that the best way to get there from china is to get a ferry from Fuzhou to Matsu (a tiny island off the coast of china) then to Taiwan.
It looks very cool!!!
see....

Matsu Island...

It doesnt look like there is much there, and even googling doesnt bring up much...

(these pics are from google maps)
But I just like the idea of going somewhere totally out of the way and where not many people go!

Woburn

Woburn was lovely,
very chilled weekend in a lovely hotel.

Where we were staying felt really in the middle of the country side, surrounded by fields,
and the little village was in wasnt much more than a post office and a pub (We suspected that they deliberately keep it that way for tourists)

Woburn safari park was a lot of fun, we were all like kids spotting the animals, and it really was pretty good and really massive
Mum got freaked out a bit by the lions (they started kinda fighting when we were stopped nearby, and they came really close to the car)
She told us the story (again) about the time when she went to Longleat and a lion jumped up and put her paws on her car window (which sounds v cool actually)

Anyway, the walk around thing afterwards was very kiddy and not that interesting but there were some cool parrots that flew around in a demo, and some very cute red river hogs (I want one!)

On the way back we stopped at a village (cant remember the name-doh!) that had a beautiful old town, with seriously old buildings (like 1600's)

Im glad JW got to see some really rural England.

Happy Friday

Its payday Friday!

Is there any better day on the month??
(well, maybe payday Saturday)

I went to Itchy feet today, which is their official last day of being open.
It was a little disappointing, because the stuff wasn't as 'bargain-bin' as id hoped.
and i didnt see any of the stuff I was spying on their website

There was lots of jackets and backpacks on sale, but for only around 10% off and Ive not really decided what I need yet anyway.
I ended up only buying map of Indonesia that was 25% off.
It looked a little like this...




It got me a excited about travelling,
and excited about buying all those bits, like walking boots and stuff :)

Anyway,
I'm so glad it's the weekend, we are going to Woburn (!) so although its not as exotic as the places I normally chat about on here, Ill write how it was when i get back...
We come back Monday, so I have the day off...yay!

Itchy feet

Just walked past Itchy Feet in Wardour St, and its covered in closing down sale signs...

Im really sad it's going, because it's cool to have a travel shop so close...

But also pretty excited about dipping in there and rumaging for some bargins

The last day is Friday the 31st...Payday!

So I'll just sneak a look in when I get paid before it closes...

Here are a few items I've got my eye on...

streetview continued...

ok, this is getting addictive...