9. Eat Peking Duck In Peking(Beijing)

I love Peking Duck and was excited that we had a Peking Duck Dinner included in our tour of Beijing.  Our guide took us to a lovely park and Ian and I had a walk around before dinner.

The restaurant was nice and the food was probably some of the nicer stuff that we had in Beijing.  But the Peking Duck was exactly the same as Peking Duck that we've had everywhere else.  I wanted/expected something to be different.

8. Walk On The Great Wall Of China

This was one of the things that I really wanted to do when we were in China but in reality I hated every minute of it.

I have no idea why I didn't really think about how high it was but it just never crossed my mind.  You would have thought that reading about cable cars in the guide book might have given me a clue. And it's not like I haven't seen it on the TV or in magazines before.

But nope, had no idea.  Even riding in the cable car on the way up the mountain with my eyes closed didn't make me think that it wasn't a good idea.  All I was thinking was "I'm going to walk on the Great Wall of China!" when I should have been thinking 'oh, this is a bit high".  A bit high is an understatment!  Considering that I don't like to climb on a the first run of a step ladder this was not the best place for me.

It was so busy with people on the wall and it was pretty narrow and very steep in some parts.  It gets to about 80 degrees in some part, luckily not that step where we were but pretty step. 

All I wanted to do was lie down on the ground and cry.  I tried so hard to be brave so that Ian could look around and not worry about me.  I basically plastered myself against the wall (the high side) and clung on while he wandered around a bit.

7. Visit China - May 10

Ian and I decided to do a last minute trip to China in May.  Luckily I had been researching it for ages (not surprise there) so we were able to put it together in a couple of days.

Ian was dispatched to the Chinese embassy in the Hague with our passports to organise the visas that we needed, luckily it's just around the corner from his work and we got them the same day.  We book our trip with a tour company based in Beijing and they organised everything - hotels, guides, internal flights.  All we had to do was to get ourselves to Beijing airport.

On the whole I enjoyed the trip but there were certain things that I didn't like - people staring at us all of the time for one.  Not even subtle staring, they come right up to you and stand staring.  Apparently it's not rude, maybe not but it's flipping annoying! 

I also didn't like the way the we went every where via a 'museum' which turned out to be a tacky souvenir shop where you had to haggle over the price of everything.  Luckily as Ian and I were with our own private tour guides we told them to stop taking us to the 'museums'.  Some places even had separate entrances for overseas visitors and domestic visitors - guess which ones didn't go through the shop, sorry, the 'museum'?

Over all it was a good trip but at a frantic pace but I found it hard not to compare it to Japan and it didn't come out the winner....

I'm a Bad Blogger!

I can't believe that I haven't update this in months!  I have still (sort of) being doing the 101 things but stupid things like work and life keep getting in the way. 

How I miss the days when I had nothing to do at work and actually had time do things like this...
Not really, I like my new job but it seems to take up such a huge amount of my time - oh, yeah, that's what works suppose to do ;-)

Of to do some proper updates now.

40. Visit Luxemburg

Ian and I decided to visit Luxembourg during the Easter weekend.  It took us about 3.5 hours to drive there on Saturday morning.  The weather wasn't too bad when we left home but the near we got to Luxembourg the worse the weather got. 

We had booked to stay at Le Grand Ducal hotel so we headed straight there so we could park the car.  The hotel was lovely and we had a stunning view out over the Petrusse Valley into the old town from our room. 

As it was raining we decided that the best thing to do would be to take a sight-seeing bus tour which lasted about an hour.  To be honest after the bus tour I was feeling a bit undecided about Luxembourg, there just didn't seem to be much to it and the highlight of the tour was the financial district. We wandered around for a little bit after the tour but it was so cold and rainy that we headed back to the hotel pretty soon.

After breakfast the next morning we decided to head down into the Petrusse valley and risk a walk around, it was still raining on and off but not as bad as the previous day.  And finally we found a really picturesque part of Luxembourg! 

I think that the roads down into the valley were too narrow, steep and winding for the bus so that was why we missed it the day before.  We managed to wander around for a while before it started to rain again. 

I'm pretty sure that Luxembourg would have been much more interesting if it hadn't rained so much and been slightly warmer. Maybe one day we'll venture back that way but only after we check the weather forecast first!

57. Go For A Walk In The Rain And Not Care That My Hair Will Frizz

I forgot to write about this one when it happened, better late than never I guess.

Ian and I went to an ice scultping exhibition in the south of Holland and it was a really stormy day.  After we went for a walk and there was absolutely no point in even attempting to use an umbrella as it was so windy.  Plus I only had my lovely Lulu Guiness umbrella that I got for Christmas with me and I wasn't risking it being destroyed on it's first outing.  So we walked in the rain and wind and I ended up with 'interesting' hair.  Luckily as it's so long I can easily tie it up so it doesn't scare small children.

We decided to have some lunch while we were there and we could see people struggling with umbrellas and little kids nearly getting blown over.  Then the chairs from outside one of the other restaurants started flying along the street too.

Oh, and the ice sculptures were good too ;-)

101. Grow A Vegetable

After the success of last years chilli growing, I decided that I would try to grow red onions, beetroot and strawberries. 

I planted all of the seeds and was really impressed that the beetroot sprouted within a couple of days.  They looked very pretty with their bright purple stalks but unfortunately they all proceed to die on me :-( The red onions are looking better and some of the strawberries have appeared now but they are teeny tiny things.

Watch this space for a progress report...

82. Try 5 New Restaurants

A couple of weeks ago it was 'Restaurant Week' in the Netherlands which is when a lot of restaurants over special prices menus to try and encourage people to try new places. 

Ian and I decided that we should try out a few places and the first one we went to was Lulu which is an Asian restaurant.  The food is a mixture of Japanese, Indian, Thai, Malaysian and probably a few others too.  The starters were pretty nice but the main course was very strange - it was 8 little taster dishes which were all lovely but it seemed wrong to be eating a Japanes seaweed dish along side a Thai curry. 

The next place we tried was Bistro Do which says it's a French restaurant on it's website.  When we arrived they couldn't find our reservation which was a bad start but they more than made up for it with the service and food.  We had to wait a little while for a table but they gave us free drinks and snacks at the bar until it was ready.  The food was really nice but a bit confusing as it seemed more Italian based than French but I think that we will probably go back there at some point.

48. Use Up All Of The Toiletries That I Have Before I Buy Any More

I'm declaring this one finished!  I've finally got through the stash of lotions & potions that I had when I started this blog.  I actually had to go and buy shower gel this week, can't remember the last time that I did that. 

Now I can spend money on nice smellies again :-)

49. Do 3 Things That I’ve Never Done Before

I actually nearly changed this task as it seemed a bit wooly but I think I can mark it as complete now thanks to the weekend at the Ice Hotel.

1)  Snowmobiling

I went snowmobiling which was a lot of fun, little bit cold but thankfully we had all of the clothes that the hotel provided so not too bad.  We stopped half way and had dinner in a little cabin in the woods.

2)  Ice Sculpting

Ian had arranged for us to try ice sculpting which I was not really hopeful for as I'm the least artist person that I know but I was willing to give it a try.  I was suprised how easy it was and I really quite enjoyed it.  

Ian decided to make a diamond and I attempted to make a heart as it was Valentines Day the next day.

3) Dog Sleighing

Instead of taking the bus from the hotel back to the airport in Kiruna, Ian had arranged for us to take a dog sleigh ride.  There were a couple of hair raising moments as the snow was so deep due to the snow fall overnight that the dogs couldn't find the track so we got stuck.  Once the sleigh tipped over and we fell off into really deep snow, about 60-70 cm, and had to walk to catch the dog sleigh.  The huskies were very pretty but a little bit smelly....

17. See The Northern Lights

I've always wanted to see the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis to give it it's posh name. 

I hoped that we would be able to see them on our trip to the Ice Hotel but it didn't look to good.  The first night there we went out on snowmobiles for a couple of hours but there was too much cloud cover to see anything. 

One the second night it wasn't so cloudy and we could see some stars but nothing seemed to be happening so we went for dinner.  During dinner the restaurant staff annouced that the lights had appeared and everyone went outside to look at them.  It was to difficult to take a photo of them without a tripod so we had to make do with just watching them. 

I was so busy looking that I started to walk along what I thought was a path but as soon as I stepped on it I was up to my knees in snow - it was a path of sorts, one made by a snowmobile.

We only saw the lights for a few moments but it was beautiful, maybe one day I'll see them again for longer.

73. Stay at the Ice Hotel

I used to spend a lot of time in Sweden with my last job, so much that I actually contemplated moving to Stockholm at one point but decided to move to America instead (stupid choice but that's another story).

People kept on telling me about a hotel that was built each year in the north of Sweden, made out of ice from the river.  After looking at the hotel's website I decided that I really wanted to go there at some point.  Most people that I mentioned it to didn't seem to keen on the idea of sleeping on a bed made of ice so I sort of put the idea on hold and would occasionally mention it.  I'd more or less given up on the idea of every going there when Ian surprised me by planning a trip for my 40th birthday last year.  As the hotel only exists for a few months each year we couldn't actually go when it was my birthday so Ian had booked everything for February.

It was a very hectic trip to get there and I don't think that we could have cut the timing of our connecting flights any finer.  We flew from Amsterdam to Copenhagen to Stockholm to Kiruna...

When we arrived at the Ice Hotel they kitted us out with snowsuits, boots, gloves & balaclavas so that we won't be cold.  They kept telling us that it was quite warm that weekend, it only got to about -12 outside.  Inside the Ice Hotel the temp is quite stable, between -5 and -8 and they provide you with big thermal sleeping bags which you can zip up until only your face is sticking out.

The staff give you a little talk about how to sleep cosily (how to survive really) - wear layers of thermals, gloves & a hat when you go to bed.  You have to prepare for bed in a warm dressing area then run outside in the snow in your thermal undies to get into the Ice Hotel and then find your room. 

Ian and I were suppose to be sleeping in a room called Abancio (which means fan in Spanish) but there was a problem with the lights so we switched to The Magical Life in the Far North which was themed on husky dogs.

The beds are made of ice and covered in reindeer skins for insulation.  It wasn't too bad to sleep in, we did actually manage to get some sleep but it wasn't fun when I had to get up to use the toilet in the night as I had to run from our room outside into the snow and then across to the warm dressing room area in my thermals.

There are lots more photos on our website

43. Go 30 Days Without Eating Take-Away

As all we seemed to do when we were on safari was eat, I decided that this would be a good task to work on when we came back from South Africa.

We don't actually eat many take-aways anyway, maybe once a week but I think that before Christmas the number was creeping up as we were both very busy with work.  It's so easy to just think 'stuff it, can't be bothered to cook' order something.  Especially now that you can paid by card, I don't even need to think about if I have cash or not.  And I can order over the internet so no problems with them not understanding my limited Dutch.

Yesterday was our last day of the 30 days and it really wasn't a problem to not have take-away.  As long as we were organised and actually thought about dinner before dinner time.

So I think that we'll celebrate completing this task by ordering sushi for dinner tonight!  The only thing I've missed having is sushi - we could make our own but I'm never organised enough to go to the proper fishmonger for very fresh fish so it's much easier to order.

61. Watch A Sunrise And Sunset

I forgot to update this one when we came back from South Africa but this is definitely complete thanks to getting up in the middle of the night when we stayed at Lukimbi. 

Sunrise - The morning game drives leave at 5.30 so you get a wake-up call at 5am.  When we were going to bed on our first night Ian and I had a conversation about how he would have to answer the phone as it was on his side of the bed and I told him not to be grumpy as it wasn't the ranger's fault that he had to wake us up. 

In the morning I leaped out of bed shouting that we had slept in and it was 5.20!  I started running around getting dressed and complaining to Ian about hanging up on the ranger and that we were late because of him!  A rather bemused Ian told me that he hadn't hungup as he hadn't answered the phone!  Apparently I had a dream that he had answered the phone and then went back to sleep, oops...  It was only 3.40 in the morning.  We tried to go back to sleep but then we heard lions roaring near by so we gave up on sleep! 

Poor Ian!

Sunset - the afternoon game drives leave at 4pm and they last 3 or 4 hours.  Part of the way through the game drive you stop for sundowner cocktails.  A lovely way to watch the sunset, drinking cocktails and listening to the animals.

15. Spend The Day Watching And Photographing Wildlife

Kruger Park is definitely a great place to see wildlife - we saw 4 of the 'Big 5'. We also saw 3 of the 'Big 6 Birds' and heaps of other birds and animals.

The first night we stayed at Lukimbi we woke up to the sound of lions calling to each other.  They sounded very close but our ranger told us that they were about 2 kms away and then we went to find them.  It was amazing how close we got to the animals and none of them seemed to be the slightest bit bother by us.

Lukimbi is a private concession in Kruger Park which means that the roads can only be used by people staying there or by their rangers and over the years the animals have become used to them.  I loved staying at Lukimbi, everything is set up so that you can see outside at all times just incase there might be something to see.  You even have a view outside from the bath and the toilet!

44. Go For A Picnic

Ian and I decided that it would be a good idea to pack a picnic lunch on the days that we were self-driving around Kruger so we bought a cold box from the local shop to try and keep everything edible.

It was 44 degrees the first day when we stopped for lunch but luckily we manged to find a picnic table under cover in a nice shaded part of one of the camps.  You are only allowed to get out of your car at camps or gates in Kruger which is good as I didn't fancy share my sarnies...

70. Go A Week Without Straightening My Hair

This one was pretty easy really.  When we were in South Africa it was so hot and humid that it just wasn't worth straightening my hair, it would have frizzed up again the minute I went outside.  Plus it was just too hot to spend 20-30 minutes using hot straightening irons and I didn't think that the lions would care if I had frizz hair or not.

So I had curly hair for a week...

14. Go To Kruger National Park

The place that we stayed at in South Africa was only 15km from one of the entrance gates to Kruger so we decided that we should spend some time there.  After reading a lot about limits to the number of day visitors to the park I decided that we should make some reservations so that we could get in without having to start queueing at 4am.

We set off from Marloth Park thinking it wouldn't take us very long to get there, but what we didn't know was that the 15kms was on a dirt road which isn't exactly an easy thing to drive on at any speed in a Ford Fiesta.  When we finally made it back onto the tarred road just before the entrance to Kruger we hit a rock in the road and the hub cap came flying off!  Ian managed to find the hub cap and we drove to the gate only to be told that they had closed it as the daily limit had been reached already.  Luckily we had a reservation so we were allowed in.  Sometimes the Crocodile Bridge gate is closed because the bridge is flooded and it's easy to see why when you look at the photo below.  Easy to drive over if you have a huge 4x4 but not so easy in a Fiesta!  It was a bit of a heart stopping moment each time we had to drive over it!

Once we managed to get to the other side of the 'bridge' Ian had to change the tyre as the rim was buckled and he thought that it would be better to change to the spare tyre in the car park rather than end up being stranded in the park.

Kruger is a huge place and was fantastic, we saw 4 out of the 5 five in the first day (just the leopard missing).  But it wasn't quite as relaxing as we had hoped - one of us was always driving while the other was trying to spot animals which meant both of us had to concentrate all the time.

We had a very close call with a rhino - we were driving along one of the quieter back roads and went round a bend in the road only to find a huge rhino just a few feet away from us.  It didn't seem to happy that we were there so we quickly reversed away from it.

Ian and I decided to treat ourselves and book a couple of nights accommodation in one of the safari lodges in Kruger which meant that neither of us had to drive as they organised 2 game drives a day.  We stayed at Lukimbi Safari Lodge which was fantastic and a perfect end to our holiday.

13. Go Back To South Africa

Ian and I spent New Year in South Africa.  I love South Africa, it's one of my favourite places to visit so I've been really looking forward to this trip.

It was a bit hectic and stressful before hand as we were a bit worried that because of all the snow in Holland and Scotland that we wouldn't actually make it there.  The plan was to go home to Scotland for Christmas, come back to Rotterdam overnight and then fly out to Johannesburg the next day.  At first we thought that there would be problems with the flight to Scotland because of the snow in Holland but that cleared up in time.  On the day that we were suppose to fly back to Scotland Edinburgh airport was closed in the morning so we thought that our flight would be cancelled but luckily it wasn't.  When we got to Edinburgh it was -11 degrees and still snowing.  There was even snow on the beach at Port Seton!

When we were worried that we wouldn't get our flight back to Amsterdam in time.  Luckily we had already packed and left our bags for South Africa in the left luggage lockers at Schiphol airport so in the end everything was fine.

We decided to go to a new place this time and picked a place called Marloth Park which borders Kruger National Park.  Marloth Park in a conservancy area which means that there are animals wandering freely around and that the properties don't have fences around them.  We rented a lovely house called Khaya Romantica

On the day we arrived we saw giraffe and zebra wandering by the roadside and a huge warthog came to the house, climbed the steps to the veranda and lay down in front of the door.  I was a bit scared of the warthog as it was an older one and had quite big tusks so I ran inside to hide! 

The next morning when I was sitting outside drinking tea a huge bunch of about 30 striped mongooses (should that be mongeese?) came running over the path and then a few minutes later a kudu came to graze on the bushes.  We also had a rock monitor and a water monitor and more warthogs come into the garden (smaller warthogs this time so I didn't hide)