holly and ben go adventuring.

Category: East Asia

  • Back in Beijing

    11th – 17th September 2026

    It had been about eight years since l packed up my things and moved back to the UK after a stint of several years living in China, the majority of which were in Beijing. l have (mostly) very fond memories of Beijing but was a little apprehensive about whether it would still hold the same appeal and if Holly would like it. I’d tried to put together a plan for the week that showcased some of the things l thought made Beijing special, as well as hitting some of the tourist spots. Things were looking good when we arrived to glorious sunshine without the humidity that had been torturing us further south. We headed to Mr. Shi’s, a Chinese restaurant catering more or less exclusively to the international crowd. Very inauthentic but delicious cheese, tomato and basil dumplings were consumed and we strolled through the hutongs, Beijings old (although “renovated” since I was last in Beijing as part of the “Great Brickening”) alleyways, back to our somewhat decrepit but peaceful ibis hotel.

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  • Island life

    2nd – 10th September 2026

    We got the impression it was slightly unusual to spend three nights on Gulangyu Island, but for us it felt pretty perfect. Free from cars and scooters it was immediately peaceful, and we felt a strange comfort from the pouring rain which showed no signs of stopping for the remainder of our time there. On account of our unusually long stay we were upgraded to a room with a bath and plenty of space for the daily yoga routine that we were attempting to instigate to try to get our bodies in some way prepared for our soon approaching return to the bikes.

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  • Home from home

    25th August – 1st September 2026

    There was something immediately familiar about Hong Kong, something greater than the sum of its parts: the traffic was quiet and orderly, following rules we knew and understood, there was an extortionately priced M&S on almost every corner and for the first time since entering China we were not stared and pointed at for being foreign. I was more than a little excited when we had introduced it to our itinerary to reset our 30 days visa free in China, for in addition to this familiarity it has three things I love in quite dramatic proportions: buildings, hills and sea.

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  • Time out

    15th – 25th August 2026

    A big part of this year is having some time out from life to pause and reset. But somehow we (or perhaps more accurately, I) have reverted to applying the same go go go approach we take to life back home to the trip. We have been mentally travelling at 100mph regardless of whatever much slower pace we’ve actually been travelling at on the ground. In different countries, a common piece of wisdom which has been relayed to us in slightly different guises has been that of taking it slow, and it has become more and more apparent that it is time for us to attempt to take this advice onboard.

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  • The tourist trail

    8th – 14th August 2026

    As we got off the train we were greeted by cool, grey and damp weather. After weeks of either hot dry sun or unbearable humidity it was wonderfully miserable, and we immediately remarked that it was just like home, despite knowing that home was at that point circa 30 degrees and had seen barely any rainfall for two months. Our destination, Shangri-La, was originally called Zhongdian, but was renamed in 2001 as a marketing ploy. This should have given us a very clear indication of what was to come.

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