2011: A Year In Random Numbers

Wonders of the World: 4

Uluru
The Great Wall of China
The Forbidden City
Sydney Opera House
The known world is rather bigger than it was when the original seven wonders were first listed — but these four often make folk’s lists today. The stand-out? Definitely the Great Wall.

Should-Be Wonders of the World: 4

The Summer Palace, Beijing
The Terracotta Warriors
Konglor Cave, Laos
The Kata Tjutas
For my money, the underground river in the Konglor Cave beats the Puerto Princesa Underground River hands down. Ditto Summer Palace over Forbidden City, and Kata Tjutas over Uluru.

Shockingly Beautiful Places Discovered: 4

Lijiang, China
The Painted Lakes, Flores, Indonesia
Khammuan, Central Laos
North of Songpan, Tibet
We set quite a high bar for beautiful places by now. But these four took our breath away.

Theme Parks: 7

Warner Bros Australia (Z)
Dreamworld Australia (Z)
Universal Studios Singapore
Happy Valley Chengdu
Happy Valley Beijing
Ocean Park, Hong Kong
Times Square Berjaya, Kuala Lumpur
Our current favourite, notwithstanding their policy of not running rides until they’re full even in the off-season, is Happy Valley Beijing, for the coaster where you ride near-vertical corkscrews — face down!

New Countries: 3 and a bit

Timor Leste
Singapore
China
Hong Kong and a bit of Tibet
A disappointing tally? Not in the slightest. China’s the world’s most populous nation, and Indonesia’s the world’s fourth, we like to travel slowly and both of these places take time to get around. We started the year in Australia, had a long trip across Indonesia, and returned to both Malaysia and Laos.

New Skills Acquired: 6

Surfing
Chinese
Moron-level Motorbike Maintenance
Coping with vertigo (me)
Horse-riding (Z)
Balinese painting (Z)
Flash design (Z)
Which reminds me. I owe you an update on our ongoing death-struggle with the Chinese language. 100 characters down. A couple of thousand to go…

Epic Roadtrips: 2

Adelaide to Alice Springs and back in a car with the grandparents
Bali to Timor Leste on a motorbike
This was, if you weren’t following, where we learned motorbike maintenance the hard way. And experienced some of the world’s worst roads, like this one.

Bizarre Foods Consumed: 10

Yak butter tea (Tibet)
Civet poo coffee (Indonesia)
Grubs (China)
Human placenta mixed with earthworms (China)
Dragonflies (China)
Duck bill (China)
80p whisky (Laos)
Lard shavings (Singapore)
Pigeon brains (Indonesia)
Buffalo skin (Laos)
How did I come to be consuming human placenta and earthworms? Well, that’s the joy of traditional Chinese medicine. I walked into a pharmacy to replace an asthma inhaler and, following the When in Rome…. principle, landed up on a 15 day course of earthworms, human placenta and three types of bacteria. It worked. Rather better, in fact, than the inhaler. But I won’t be seeking out my nearest TCM pharmacy in the UK.

Delicious Foods Discovered: 18

Chinese-style egg and tomato
Beijing dumplings
Sichuan-style shredded hot and sour potato
Mapo doufu
Fern root noodles
Singapore dim sum
Lao sour sausage
Spicy yak stew
Abalone
Sichuan-style liver
Chilli pickled peanuts
Sour bamboo shoots
Butter roti
Candied haws — Chinese toffee apples
Ginger honeycake
Lilies
Torch ginger
Which reminds me. I really need to do a post on Chinese food. Though, in all my market and supermarket adventures, I still haven’t come across a fruit to match the joy of mangosteens.

Scary Moments: 3

The masked men asking for money and talking about Osama Bin Laden on the landslid road in Sumbawa, Indonesia.
The time we realised the Chinese bus was, actually, going to hit us rather than brake.
And, of course, my first Chinese public toilet.

Still nothing quite compares to the time our international ferry left with Z but without me last year.

Especially Strange Places Stayed: 5

A tent in the snow in Tibet
Convents (two)
Government resthouses (three)
Surf camp
My own balcony during a particularly catastrophic sleepover
I can safely say that snow camping is, honestly, worth doing for the beauty of the landscape.

Amazing Outdoor Activities: 4

Horse riding in Tibet
Diving Komodo, Indonesia
Hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge in China
Surfing in Kuta, Lombok, Indonesia
Ooh, the beaches in Kuta, Lombok, are really something amazing. As are the aquarium waters of Komodo, Indonesia.

Amazing Animal Experiences: 3

Baby pandas in Chengdu
White tigers at Bali Safari Marine Park
Yaks in Tibet
There are few things cuter than a real live baby panda. Temple monkeys, on the other hand? Pure evil.

And Finally…

Museums: 21
Floating trains: 1
Sleeper trains: 4
Ferries: 8
House rentals: 2
Mini-golf courses: 2
Passport pages used: 12

Happy New Year! How’s your year been?