Ohhhh...

Right, I'll admit it. I actually miss writing in this blog every week, I miss having exciting updates that people care enough to read, I miss having the free time to sit and write... SO! Now that I actually have an interesting update I thought I'd pop it on my blog, because why the hell not.

So.... drum roll....

Today I got my first proper graduate job!! It has not been easy, there has been temp job after temp job, work experience, rejections, nerve wrecking interviews... but finally it seems to have all paid off as I have my first job on the marketing ladder at a well-known youth marking company! It's a little bit of a change from publishing but a change I'm happy about, although I loved working for Endeavour Press (and will continue to stay involved with the business as much as possible), it was always the marketing/publicity that interested me more. Also, in my new job I get a chance to be a part of the editorial side of things as much as I want too, which is great because it really opens up my future options! So to say I'm happy is an understatement!

This means I now have the task of finding a place to live in London by next Monday... no biggie. I know this blog is called Rachel in China (worst name ever) but maybe I can now tell the occasional story about Rachel in London... a work in progress but there might be an interesting concept there somewhere.

I also realize I have yet to blog about the 17 days I spent in India at the end of my travels and can only blame this on my job hunting and interview prepping, hopefully I'll get a chance to write about it some day soon as there is so much to say. Watch this space!

Home sweet home...

Unfortunately the inconvenience of coming home and settling back into 'real' life means this blog has been left on a complete cliffhanger for the last month! There is so much to write about India (hopefully I haven't forgotten too many important details already) but I am going to postpone that post for just a litttttle longer to do a quick reminisce about the amazing places I have been and seen in the last 8 months of my life, as well as some moments that I will not be forgetting in a hurry. Warning: photo overload.

So! The trip of a lifetime... from London - Beijing - Guangzhou - Dongguan - Shenzhen - Zhuhai - Zhongshan - Chengdu - Zhangjiajie - Xian - Shanghai - Hong Kong - Macau - Bangkok - Koh Samui - Koh Phangnan - Koh Tao - Koh Phi Phi - Phuket - Hanoi - Sapa - Chiang Mai - Chiang Rai - Pai - Dehli - Agra - Jaipur - Pushkar - Udaipur - Mumbai - London! 30 incredible cities and 4 amazing countries. The top question I've been asked since coming home is 'which country was your favourite?' My answer is of course, China. Living in such a different country to my homeland was an incredible experience and I saw and experienced things that you just don't get to on a holiday. I have Chinese friends that I hope to keep in contact with forever and I have had the opportunity to be a part of 200+ Chinese student's childhood. However, each country has been so completely different and unique, if I had spent the same amount of time in each location I think it would be very difficult to choose a favourite.

So while I'm in a reminiscing mood, here's a few of my personal highlights!

I've walked on the Great Wall of China...

Experienced Chinese New Year in the capital of China...

 Crazy street fireworks

Been to see the incredible Taj Mahal in Agra

Stayed with a local tribal family in the beautiful Northern Vietnam town of Sapa

Cuddled a big furry tiger in Chiang Mai, Thailand

 

Spent the day riding and looking after beautiful elephants

Walked over a glass bottom walkway 47,000 ft high in the Chinese mountains

Sat at the 250th floor of the Oriental Pearl Tower at The Bund, Shanghai

Seen the skyscrapers of Hong Kong from the highest peak in the city

Been for a dip on the beach from the film 'The Beach' on Koh Phi Phi

Danced until the sun came up with 10,000 other travellers at the infamous Full Moon Party, Koh Phangnan

Visited adorable pandas at the Chengdu Panda Research Center, China

Seen the Terracotta Warriors, China

Sailed through Halong Bay, Vietnam

Taken a casual camel ride through the Indian desert

And, who can forget, I've taught English to the most incredible and clever 6 year olds who never failed to amaze me every day!

I've met some great people from all over the world who I will never forget..

And some that I really hope never forget me..

And it's worth mentioning the not-so-good times I guess....
The 30 hour train journeys, being stared at like zoo animals...

Saying goodbye...

And despite all the AMAZING food...

 Rajhastani Thali, India

There have been some not quite so amazing choices.

 Chicken feet in Dongguan

Of course this has barely scratched the surface of the amazing things I've been lucky enough to experience. For 7 months 10 days I think that's enough to be getting on with, but who's to say I won't get to see more of the world one day!!

'The world is a book... and those who do not travel read only a page'

Back to Thailand

So after leaving Vietnam I was back to Thailand to explore more of the North with my friend Jen from China. We started in Chiang Mai with a rough idea of what we wanted to do and luckily thanks to the ease of tourism and travel in Thailand we managed to fit everything in!

First stop was a day trip to Chiang Rai, a city a little further north than Chiang Mai. We took a private tour which included a cute little tour bus and a slightly racist English speaking tour guide (with his words of wisdom such as 'Chinese people are always late').
Despite our controversial guide, Chiang Rai was beautiful! Our first stop off was a 'hot springs'.. which was incredibly unimpressive, more like a service station with one or two hot springs there as an after thought. We managed to get a nice cup of tea for the journey here though.

 Next stop was the 'White Temple'. I've said it before.... seen one temple, seen them all. BUT this one was actually different, and really beautiful, although I was dressed a little inappropriately in my denim shorts, so was kindly given a white apron to cover up my legs... fashionable!

We then headed to the Golden Triange, the point where Thailand, Laos and Burma meet. There is actually a small island in the middle of the water that joins these three countries that doesn't belong to any of them, essentially you can go there and commit all sorts of illegal crimes and there's nothing anyone can do about it, so they all meet here to trade opium. We also got the chance to pop over to Laos, I still want to visit there properly but  it gave us a quick flavour for the country.

We also got to visit the most Northern point in Thailand on the land border to Burma, where everyone pops across to refresh their Thai tourist visa once their free 30 days is up. This would be a nice photo if the stupid Chinese lady on our tour hadn't got in the way...

 And finally we took a quick visit to a cute little tribe in Northern thailand... all the women in the village wear these funny hats, apparently the more decoration on the hat, the more beautiful the woman is meant to be... (I want one)

It's fair to say after packing all of this into one day we were exhausted, but no time to rest as the next day we booked in to spend a day with some elephants! Easily one of the highlights of my whole trip... We spent the whole day feeding, washing, riding and playing with the elephants. They were so cute and well behaved, I'd read some horror stories about the elephants in camps like this being abused and generally treated really badly for the tourists but after some umming and ahhing we decided to book onto a day that seemed to have good reviews. I'm glad we weren't put off, with the right company you can tell the elephants are genuinely loved and cared for and seem to love the attention they get from the tourists! I didn't want to leave them!

Later that day... Well deserved drinks and a visit to the International Lantern Festival, Chiang Mai

So the day after (after a well deserved lie in) we headed to 'Tiger Kingdom' where we got to sit right next to some real life MASSIVE tigers! They claim not to drug their tigers which I was sceptical about at first.... but while some of the tigers were really chilled out, others were slightly more scary including one who kicked me and one who growled so much that one of the guides had to tell us to leave... so I honestly don't believe they were drugged up, maybe that's my naivety though.

 

After doing everything we wanted in Chiang Mai and getting pretty up close and personal with the local wildlife, We headed to another Northern town, Pai for a few days of exploring and relaxing. We heard alot about this place from people we met on the way and it definitely lived up to expectations. It's a really quiet place, so most tourists rent out motorbikes and ride them round exploring by themselves, so we decided to follow the trend! We went to the canyon and to see some of the beautiful waterfalls, but mostly it was nice just to roam around on our little bike (even though it did rain and we had to wear some particularly attractive ponchos to keep dry).

Overall the last two weeks in Thailand have been busy but amazing! Now after a few last days in Bangkok me and Jen sit in our hotel room before our early flight to Dehli tomorrow morning.... And after researching like mad and talking to so many travellers we are both equally nervous and excited but ready to take on whatever India has to throw at us. I'm not expecting it to be as easy as Thailand (this country is basically built for tourists) but in a way I'm looking forward to one final challenge before I head home on the 17th. China always threw up different surprises, which although sometimes made you want to pull your hair out, are at the end of the day the experiences that you learn the most from. At the same time, I will really miss the ease and chilled out nature of Thailand! Goodbye for now Thailand, I'm sure I'll be back one day!