Love at first sight

``Let’s move to Greece,`` Bryan declared with enthusiasm as we wandered through the narrow cobbled streets of Athens that wind up to the city’s famed Acropolis (above).

By the time we had visited the ancient ruins, shopped at the street markets, visited the stadium where the first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896 and guzzled frozen lemonades to offer some temporary relief from the hot sun overhead (average temp in Greece is currently a sunny 30C), I was starting to think his idea was not so crazy after all.

And then we arrived in Santorini, which is every bit as picture-perfect as you imagine, and I must confess that I am well and truly smitten.

From the amazing caldera views from our very own whitewashed villa overlooking the ocean, to the friendly people, the endless sunshine, the tasty €2.50 souvlaki lunches on offer, the cheap beer and vodka and the plethora of shops serving up delicious home-made ice cream, I think I could live here FOREVER!

the view from our balcony in one direction...

and the other direction

So if I don’t arrive home in 7 weeks you’ll know where to find me…

Around the world in just one day

We're supposed to be travelling the world in 8 weeks.  But in China we found a way to see all of the world's main attractions in just a few hours.  World Park is a bizarre themed park (popular for Chinese weddings) which replicates iconic scenes and buildings from around the globe -- think Eiffel Tower, London Bridge, the White House.. even the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House were there! 

We also made a few new friends along the way...

And you thought newspapers were for READING! Not in China...

A teenager enjoys an afternoon nap at Beijing Zoo

QUICK! Call the Chinese fashion police

To my dear friends Emma and Suez. Please make me a bridesmaid in your upcoming weddings, I have found the perfect dress…

HA, HA, HA, HA!!!!  China has loads of elaborate one-stop wedding shops, all with full-on frocks in the windows, like this lovely pink ensemble.

Everyday fashion in China also makes the mind boggle. Fat-gutted men (young and old) love to roll up their tank tops and flash their wobbly stomachs. Toddlers wear pants with slits up the back (their bums hanging out) so they can go to the toilet whenever they fancy, without the need to take their pants off, so butt cracks are everywhere. Meanwhile men have a weird obsession with pink polo shirts – every third person in the street is wearing one - and often their wives or girlfriends have one to match! It's not uncommon for couples, or even whole families, to wear matching get-up. At Beijing Zoo (home to several adorable pandas) we spotted a mum, dad and toddler son merrily walking hand in hand while sporting matching t-shirts. At Tiananmen Square a mother and son were proudly showing off bright green spongebob tracksuits. Loved-up teenage couples also express their adoration with matching t-shirts and big designer department stores promote it as the cool thing to do. Bryan and I embraced plenty of Chinese customs (including eating weird stuff like pigeon) but this is one trend we will NOT be embracing.

Who needs a gym when China's Great Wall is waiting to be tackled!

``Ice cold water, coke, tea, beer, snickerrrrs.’’

That’s the common catch-cry from hawkers on China’s Great Wall as breathless, sweaty and mostly cashed-up western tourists trek past them along the kilometres of steep stairs that make up this famed wonder of the world.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid hawkers on and around the wall (and on the streets of Beijing too). But we discovered Mutianyu, about 80km north of Beijing, a lesser-known section of the wall, which not only has less hawkers but far less tourists too.

Here, after a 90 minute drive through the countryside with our fabulous English-speaking taxi driver John Ping, we were confronted by the mighty sight of the wall, which snakes up and down the hills for kilometres. Forget bootcamp and bikram yoga -- climbing the wall is a far greater (and sweatier) workout. But more than four hours later we emerged triumphant, having conquered most of the wall, and then haggled for a bargain souvenir t-shirt as proof.

Meanwhile John, our driver (pictured above), spent the hours playing poker against hawkers and other taxi drivers and he headed home with a smile on his face and a wad of cash in his pocket. The 47-year-old, who was born and bred in China and has never had the chance to venture outside his homeland, was also stoked to be able to practice his English on us during the long drive. A good day all round, really.

I'm baaaaack!

What is the definition of hazardous? Being a pedestrian in Beijing! Walk signs mean very little because cars, buses, heavily overloaded trucks, pushbikes and scooters completely ignore them, while traffic wardens decked out in fluoro vests who tote weird flashing LED batons are also fairly powerless against the onslaught. Meanwhile the footpaths are cluttered with hawkers trying to sell everything imaginable and it’s not uncommon to find groups of men squatting on the street outside shops huddled over a deck of cards playing poker to pass the time or mulling over a game of Chinese chess.

But we mustered our best survival instincts, navigated our way through the chaos and made it out alive --- and had a great time in the process visting well known sites like the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Temple of Heaven as well as haggling for a bargain at the antiques market and checking out the creepy critters on offer for dinner at the night market (roasted snake, grasshopper or centipede anyone?)

However what I hadn’t anticipated was how strict China’s internet policies would be – no access at all to facebook or blogs. Which is why this blog has been strangely quiet in recent days. So now I’d better make up for lost time...

one sleep left...

Suitcases have been packed, unpacked, and packed again.  Passports, visas, hotel bookings and transfers are all confirmed. As the trip draws closer my Facebook statuses have become a string of pre-holiday jibberish, designed to vent my excitement and torment jealous family and friends.

During one such post, one of my colleagues (let's call her Alice) asked me why I was so excited.

All I could think was: ``Why wouldn't I be excited'?

An EIGHT WEEK break from the stresses of work, from having the dog wake me up at 4am to go outside and pee, from an inbox full of spam emails, and from opening the mail to find yet another telephone bill.

To top that, I get to spend time with my lovely husband, our first decent holiday together for years. We're stopping off at some pretty amazing places. AND we're escaping the arse-end of Tassie's chilly winter (I know it's the start of spring today, but hey, it doesn't feel much like it just yet...) Weather forecasts for China, Europe and the US are mostly showing 26C and sunshine, and that alone is worth getting excited about!

Oh and then there's the beaches, and the food, and shopping in some of the world's biggest department stores...need I go on?  I'll be sure to think of you Alice when I am sunning myself in Greece.  Only one sleep left until we board that plane to China...