75 things that we've learnt while travelling

So everyone talks about travel being an amazing opportunity to see and learn more about the world and all the wonderful things it has to offer.

Food

1. Ron is the Spanish word for rum

This really surprised me, but mostly because the Harry Potter books must read really differently in Spanish

Book: And then Harry got into the car with Ron
Spanish Reader: yep
Book: And the car started to fly
Spanish Reader: Obviously
Book: And they crashed the car into the tree
Spanish Reader: Well that's quite common with Ron and driving

2. Papaya tastes yucky, especially when you think it's orange juice

So bad!

3. Most Mexican food isn't Mexican

By this I mean that everything you think of as Mexican food isn't really. Chile Con Carne for example is actually Texan. Although we did have Burritos and Quesadillas which were really good.

4. Burek is akin to Mana

Unlike Papaya, so good! Burek is meat, cheese or vegetables wrapped in pastry and then eaten, it's so tasty and definitely something that should come to England. (we had our best in a small bakery in Mostar)

Mostar's Famous Bridge

5. Bread is a dangerous affair in Japan, as is chocolate

So in Japan and China as well, we went to buy bread which I thought had chocolate in it, it turned out to be Adzuki (the Japanese name) which is a sweetened red bean paste, not at all like chocolate! Sometimes it is also mixed into kit kats...

On a side note if you are interested in Japan, the son of some friends of ours has recently moved there and vlogs about his experiences, take a look here.

6. If you're a Scuba Diver you can eat the breakfast of four people

Afterwards we would imagine he pood like Gandhi. Literally this guy was so skinny, but definitely packed a punch in the breakfast buffet in Fiji, it was like watching the very hungry caterpillar.

7. Some people think it's ok to cook curries in toilets

I think for me this was the most disturbing thing that I'd seen throughout our trip. If you bear in mind that we saw rat skulls in Chengdu for eating... This man in Chaoyang was cooking a curry in a random hot pot in the toilets! WHO DOES THAT!!! We had been informed there was a kitchen at the hostel and then couldn't find it, but that is a whole new level.

The Amazing Great Wall of China

8. Coca leaves are a good way to get mother-in-laws stoned

Coca leaves are a plant that cocaine is derived from. Now they do well for helping with altitude sickness, we also found they were good for getting people off mountains who were a teensy bit worried about the height.

9. Dad Davies cannot use chopsticks

Dan Dan Noodles in Hong Kong

Bad Dad noodles in Beijing

10. Breakfast is akin to lunch in Asian countries.

I don't know why this came as such a surprise, but in Zhangjiajie we had dumplings and noodles for breakfast. It just seemed odd to us as we'd not had such savoury breakfasts before.

11. Olivia can eat her body weight in popcorn

Trujillo consisted of 3 large bowls of popcorn, in Merida the bar La Negrita gave free chilli popcorn with their drinks, Olivia can tuck away quite a few of those too. (it's not limited to popcorn, works with waffles, cake, ice cream, anything really...)

12. Cold fish isn't too bad

We tried Ceviche in Cusco which is raw fish cured with lime juice and chillies. Other things like sweet potato and lettuce are added to it. To be honest it sounded like it could be horrid, but actually tasted really nice. If you find yourself in Cusco there is a great Ceviche and Pisco Sours bar near the San Blas Cathedral, it's just called Ceviche I believe.

13. Marmite and chips is amazing, also ground chocolate smells surprisingly similar.

In New Zealand they have a different kind of Marmite, they also commonly have chip butties with marmite. In Wellington we finally got around to trying this and it was honestly so good! We both like marmite and Olivia was surprised to find that grinding chocolate in Merida produced a marmitey smell, which we were told was a very British thing to say.

The Kaikoura Mountains

14. Chinese coffee is expensive

When we were in Chaoyang in Beijing we couldn't get coffee in our accommodation so went in search of some. Although China is better known for it's tea there is a growing coffee scene, especially among students. However what we found was that Costa was even more expensive than it is in the UK despite being able to get a huge meal for about three pounds in China.

15. Hobbit Holes make perfect homes, and the local pub serves the best cider.

For my birthday we took a trip to Waitomo Caves and Hobbiton. As part of the tour around the endearing Hobbit Holes you got to partake in a beer or cider at the Green Dragon in Hobbiton, a fully working pub. The beverages, or the Southfarthing Range, are all brewed in a local town of Hamilton. Sackville Cider was honestly the best cider we've ever had!

The Hobbit Baker

16. They pickle and spice oranges in Mexico

Yeah, this was odd, it was slightly sweet, spicy and vinegary oranges, all served in La Negrita bar in Merida to the sound of Mexican music.

17. Purple corn tastes like Christmas

In Peru they drink something called Chicha Morada which is a drink made of purple sweetcorn it tastes like Christmas spice and was surprisingly nice when we tried it in Nazca.

18. Pisco sours get you Pished

They are limey and delicious drops of wonderfulness. We tried Mango ones in Arica, Maracuya or passion fruit ones in Cusco and the normal ones all over the Peru! They are delicious and wonderful but also very moresome.

Pisco and Maracuya sours at Organika in Cusco

19. Cocoa seeds straight from the fruit taste citrussy, and you can make liquor from it.

While in Merida we did a Cacao workshop and tasted some cocoa beans straight from the fruit. The pulp around these is surprisingly citrussy and tasted great, as did the liquor.

20. Mexicans have the best sacred drink

Fiji has Kava, a relaxing drink that tastes like dishwater. Mexico on the other hand has a Chocolate drink made of Corn and Cacao and is good (but unlike Kava apparently doesn't deserve a clap)

General life

21. New Zealanders hate insulation

We left Fiji in balmy summer temperatures and arrived in Christchurch in winter. It was hard, but also insulation isn't a thing, but thankfully heated blankets were!

22. Every South American house has a blender, but no kettle or coffee machine

No idea why, we just found this in each area we went to from Brazil and Argentina; Peru; Bolivia and Chile; Colombia and Ecuador none of them had kettles and everything was done on the stove, but they all had blenders!

23. Sweaty old Chinese men wick away sweat with credit cards in public places

This was gross, there was a lot of spiting in China but the worst thing was a man wicking away sweat from his brow in the very crowded queue in Tienanmen Square.

The less busy part of Tienanmen Square

24. Young couples make out under religious relics

You go to visit a statue of Saint Peter which overlooks a mountanous town and then bam! people snogging and grabbing bums everywhere! Who knew that Saint Peter's statue in San Pedro de Alausi was such a dogger's delight.

25. South American women are entrepreneurial but not as pushy as Chinese women.

When we'd left Turkey where it was mostly men who were telling you to buy stuff we were quite surprised that in South America it was mostly women. My favourite was the woman in Bolivia who we bought some avocados from and she informed us that we needed two. But China was a whole new level! In Zhangjiajie I had someone trying to sell me some fruit, I politely declined and she followed me around with a grin on her face offering me fruit and every time I said no, she smiled some more and went 'Yes!'

26. Most people take selfies rather than look at the view.

This was kind of sad to see. I think in particular there were a few that really struck home. When we saw the Terracota Army most people were taking selfies with the warriors for their various socials rather than looking at them. Another astounding one was in Chichen Itza where a woman walked over, took a photo of an information plaque then took a selfie with a ruin and then walked off, it was just sad that there didn't seem any urgency or desire to look at a place it was all just about getting the next photo.

On a side note on this it's also been funny to see the amount of people who try and live their lives like superstar models. One such was in Tulum when they were pulling funny poses by rocks in a model-esque way or when they demanded like a whole section of beach and got shirty when we walked along the path. I understand being considerate of those taking photos, but you can't demand people move out of your way.

I don't think there is anything wrong with taking selfies to commemorate something (we've done it) but when you take the selfie and leave, it feels like it was such a hollow achievement to climb a mountain to not even admire the view.

Tulum without the selfies

27. A lot of Americans are really loud

You could always find the American tourist as they spoke really loudly. I don't know why, potentially it is a cultural thing, much like Chinese people spoke really loudly. But it just became unbearable in places where you couldn't even have a conversation. The worst was an American girl on the bus in Banos where she was talking so loud and swearily that the driver turned the music up, only causing her to talk louder, everyone else was silent!

28. Macedonian storms are even louder than Americans!

So incredibly loud that it woke Olivia up who wakes for nothing (apart from a free breakfast)

29. Crossing a road is a life changing experience.

Any moment felt like it could be your last (we're looking at you China and Peru)

30. Fixing a wonky bed is easy if you have a brick lying around.

This was really surprising. When we arrived in our not as advertised hostel in Beijing one of the beds was really wonky and sleeping on it would have been tricky. So we complained (potentially hoping we'd change rooms to one where the shared bathroom didn't include a man cooking curry) and they simply came in and shoved a brick under the corner, gave it a wobble and walked off.

The pre-dark in Uyuni

31. Weird things happen in Dorm Rooms when lights go off

People suddenly dissappear from their beds and end up in someone else's and cats randomly appear on your bed. I know Uyuni was cold, but you're in a shared room! Besides, where did the cat come from?

32. Stuffed birds reside over Kosovan fridges, like one armed, hungover men do with couches.

The bird in Prizren was scary enough, but so was the desk man passed out on the couch with his arm in the other room. Thankfully a false arm or it would have been worse...

33. The locals get shirty when you call it the Cardboard Cathedral

Because obviously it's not made entirely of cardboard or it wouldn't survive a rainstorm! They then accuse you of not speaking English.

34. Southerners aren't built to climb big hills, unless they're an honorary northerner

No Aldershotians in sight at the top of the Rainbow Mountains

Although I will admit that they did well with Huaynu Picchu

35. Bolivian children hate Andrew

No idea why, but they either point and scream (admittedly that was in Peru) or just punch him on the Salt Plains.

36. South Americans love brass bands

This could be a big business opportunity for The Salvation Army? But Puno was a whole new experience with brass bands that continued into Latacunga and Colombia.

37. Fat bottomed girls make the Boteran world go round

Squidgy bums everywhere! From bums on the wall in Bogota to bums in the square in Medellin, Botero sure does like them!

NO!

38. Your hoop twitches when fireworks go off near live volcanoes

Imagine the scene, lying in bed in Banos just knowing that outside your window is an active volcano and then there is a loud boom. You run to the window terrified to see the volcano still stood there peacefully, it turned out to only be a firework.

Places

39. Istanbul isn't too bad!

Not going to lie, we expected it to be a lot of hastle and awful, but most people were okay in the end. This was in the main tourist area and it was even better on the Asian side where we simply milled around and had some nice strong coffee. All in all a very pleasant place.

40. The Salt Plains taste like salt, but Sugarloaf mountain tastes kind of grassy.

Look before you judge us, it is a massive plain of salt and we were curious to know so yes it is salty. But we didn't actually lick Sugarloaf mountain, it was obvious from appearances that it was just grassy.

41. Chinese people love us

It was incredibly surreal in China (particularly Zhangjiajie) that everyone wanted to take a photo with those weird pasty English people. Everywhere we went there were people taking photos of us, some were sneakier than others. In Beijing there was even a bus full of children hanging out trying to take a photo of us. This was a trend that happened again in Trujillo, North Peru where a group of school kids all wanted to talk to us and introduce themselves. Just like minor celebrities.

The many faces of origami Japan

42. Japan has a cartoon character for every occasion.

There was even a cartoon character mascot for the Skytree in Tokyo, it actually felt like there was a cartoon character for every occasion.

Again if you are interested in Japan take a look here it is a great country.

43. Traffic is more fun in South America

Apart from the impending sense of doom, there was also entertainment at many traffic lights. So we first saw this in Buenos Aires where there was a man on a unicycle. Also a particularly obvious one was in Medellin where there was a couple juggling small balls and even footballs. My personal favorites were the drumming and dancing group in Arica. But all over South America we see these whimsical talent shows on zebra crossings.

44. Singaporean punishments are really harsh.

There is a surprising number of contraband items from fairly common things such as guns and porn to more obscure things like Mormons and Chewing Gum. But what we were struck by was the severity of some punishments such as being caned for groping and the death sentence for bringing drugs into the country. I am curious as to if these actually work in stopping the crimes.

The Supertrees of Singapore

45. At 5000 feet of altitude you get a nip on

It's really really cold! Even the cat comes to sleep on you.

46. Geysers are like sweaty earth farts

Rotorua smelled constantly of eggs (to the point that they even tried to convince us in a news article that men found the smell akin to an aphrodisiac) and when we went to Uyuni the jets of air were very warm and very eggy. So definately earth farts...

47. Sweating is frowned upon in Japan, inevitable in China and almost a requirement in Hong Kong

So as a brief summary Japanese people wipe sweat away as it is considered bad taste to be seen as sweaty. in China it just happens (unless you have a credit card handy) and in Hong Kong it is so hot, humid and busy that it's pretty much a requirement.

48. Tokyo plays a song at Sunset

For the first few days it really confused us that every night around sunset we could hear a little jingle playing. Then we read an article that said they play a song through the city's intercom system every day at dusk.

Tokyo at dusk

49. Tokyo has heated water sprays that clean your bum (and other parts)

It was the most high tech poo I think I've ever had! There was a device that played a rain like noise so no one knew what you were doing and then a jet of water to help clean your bum afterwards. The only downside was the jet for cleaning lady parts was a bit of a shock as a man (I can't comment as a woman). It was also confusing trying to find the flush on the panel, as it turns out there is a flush button in the usual place.

50. The Neretva river is as cold as a polar bears testicles

This is the river that the Mostar bridge divers dive into. The temperature is about as low as 7-8 degrees in the summer, making this almost undeniably the coldest river in the world. Mad people jump into this! The river is so cold that the divers have to douse themselves with cold water before jumping as otherwise the shock of going from hot to cold could cause a cardiac arrest.

51. Skopje is a nightmare for Doctor Who fans.

Statues! Statues everywhere something mad, there are so many statues that the number is in fact practically unknown, don't blink...

The voming lions of Skopje

52. Dubrovnik doesn't look like Star Wars, but Uyuni does.

Oddly we went to quite a lot of filming locations during our trip. Zhangjiajie is better known as the planet from Avatar, Split is home to some scenes from Game of Thrones, there is of course the infamous Hobbiton and the Basillica Cistern in Istanbul which features in the new Dan Brown book. But Dubrovnik (Kings Landing from Game of Thrones) was a weird one, it was featured in the eighth Star Wars film but really didn't look like it (for those who have seen it, it's the casino like planet). A lot of shops made a big thing of this, but it really didn't look like it as it had been so heavily edited and CGId. Uyuni on the other hand looked very similar to it's Star Wars counterpart in the same film, despite the ground not turning red underfoot.

53. There are dinosaurs in Bolivia but no whales

This was what Olivia really wanted to know when she learnt that the salt plains came from the sea after it was cut off by some mountains. Where there wales under the salt. The answer is no

54. Rio contains the ugliest Cathedral in the world

So awful! It was like someone had decided to mix a cell block, a volcano, a council block and stained glass windows. I mean I'm sure they're very endeared to their cathedral, but honestly! so ugly!

bleurgh...

55. South Americans are really nice!

This sounds really silly to say, but we had read so much about dangerous parts of South America and were a little apprehensive that we were going to be mugged at any possible moment. So here are a few things to add in Rio (despite having poor slum areas that people feel the need to tour, I mean why would you go on a tour to anyway) is really nice, despite the Cathedral, it did not feel unsafe when we were there. Peru has scary drivers, but let's be honest, so does Paris! Bolivia is great and everyone was kind and welcoming. Colombia is incredibly arty and really moving past its drug lord riddled past. Chile was full of lovely welcoming people. Argentina has some lovely sights. Ecuador is gorgeous too! Does this mean that all of South America felt like a safe haven, no not at all, Medellin was a little scary, and there were many occasions where you knew people were trying to rip you off. But that shouldn't put you off, the people are kind and the sights are amazing, and similar things happen all over the world!

(Uruguay was great too, but we literally only spent a few hours there so can't comment too much on it.)

Life in General

56. Britain is great at recycling

There is so much said in the UK about recycling more, but we actually discovered that in comparison to a lot of places Britain is actually really good at minimising single use plastics and recycling as well. Obviously there is still a lot of room for improvement but gives yourselves a pat on the back!

57. The Great Wall of China, as it stands today is as old as a council flat.

This was kind of surprising, a lot of the wall (apart from some ruined parts) were heavily renovated after the cultural revolution in the 70s. So although the stone is technically older, you could argue that it is as old as a council flat.

The Great wall of China

58. Pigeons and Sparrows have taken over the world.

We didn't find anywhere that didn't have pigeons or sparrows.

59. God is a Sally Basher

We found this out in Teresopolis, for anyone with no idea about The Salvation Army this bit is too long to explain, but this mountain is God's finger which looks surprisingly like the Salute? Andrew's mum was right all along

The Sally Basher Salute

60. History repeats itself.

There is so much that reoccurs again and again in so many places, it's quite amazing and concerning at the same time.

61. All you need to win a war is a damn good diseases, and to convince them you are a God.

The Mayans, Aztecs, Incas and a lot of the people from the Americas were said to be defeated by colonizers due to being inferior. This is simply not true at all, particularly in the Yucatan area (as we learnt about this one) the colonists were defeated on a number of occasions by the Mayans. What helped the Colonists win the wars was wiping out a huge portion of the population by the diseases they brought over and then attacking, literally old school biological warfare. This process was then repeated when the Incas were attacked.

62. The people you meet will pop up in the strangest of places.

We met two Australian ladies in Bosnia who we then randomly met on a beach in Kotor. The weirdest one we had was with a man called Scott who we stayed with in Christchurch, he worked for the British Antarctic Expedition. On our flight out of New Zealand we were watching the safety video that he then showed up in!

Chichen Itza

63. Brexit is a mahoosive ballache for the entire world

It's everywhere and just seems to go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and well I guess you get the picture...

64. You don't need millions to travel

I wouldn't have said we've had to scrimp and save our way around, or that we've had luxury places everywhere we've been. But ultimately seeing the world is worth it and it was surprisingly able to do. I will admit we were worried in the begging as things were a bit more expensive than we were expecting, but then other places were cheaper than we expected. Overall it's well worth doing and doesn't cost the world.

65. Colonisation wasn't great for everyone.

A particular bit of information we read was in the Te Papa museum in Wellington. Essentially what happened is that in the 1800 the British people made an agreement with the Maori people and then went back on the agreement. This resulted in the deaths and eviction of hundreds of Maori people an official apology wasn't released until much later on in 2012. That is around 200 years later!

Further to the various diseased that were brought over to South America by Colonizers, it also wasn't great for the Spanish. Due to the large influx of gold and precious materials that were taken over from the Incan Empire a economic crash occured. This then made lots of problems as they spent a load of money on their navy to ward of the British, only to have Napoleon invade by land.

66. Flamingoes are the introverts of the bird world.

The ones that we saw took a whole day to drive to! Nothing says leave me alone world than a lake in the middle of mountains in the middle of the salt plains. Also apparently they're pink because of minerals in the water, not shrimp.

Flamencos

67. Pandas are born naked

We saw some baby pandas in Chengdu and they're really small, bare and rat like when they're born. But giant pandas and red pandas are really cute (if you go to China Chengdu is well worth it for the pandas)

68. Adverts predominantly use white women.

This really shocked us! From clothes adverts in China to porn being sold on the streets of Bogota everything seemed to use white women. It seemed mad to me to advertise in such an unrelatable way?

69. Fiji water is the biggest scandal since the horse meat one.

It's over priced, doesn't taste great and is generally just pointless and stupid. Go drink more reasonably priced water!

70. The Devil has a massive penis

With the devil's throat in Iguazu, the devil's arse in the peak district and the Devil's nose in Alausi I thought we would be prepared for anything. But nothing quite prepared us for the models we saw in La Paz with the devil and his massive penis... it was like half the size of his body! We have no pictures of this because you weren't allowed to take photos inside, probably because of that...

The moon valley of La Paz

71. Jade is sacred everywhere but the UK

In China it is considered a sacred thing. The Maori people also revered it and then we find that the Mayans quite liked it too. But in the UK it's not such a big thing. It makes sense that it was sacred considering it was green and probably looked cool (like the fascination we have with gold), but just funny it isn't a thing in the UK.

72. Circling condors are scary even when you're not nearly dead

They are so big! We were very much alive walking to Chan Chan but we still felt the need to flap our arms a little so they didn't swoop down on us!

73. Dalmatians come from Dalmatia

A small kingdom which contains Split is the home to Dalmatians (although we didn't see 101 of them there...) We just never made the connection before...

74. Travel is best shared

So thank you to you all for joining us in reading about our journey. Thanks as well to Olivia's Parents who joined us in Cusco and Andrew's Parents who trekked through China with us. We enjoyed exploring the world with you all! Also we need to say a big thank you to Yvonne for her encouraging notes throughout our trip, the only thing left to say really is Haben sie arbeit fur mich?

A Yvonne plant