Caves Chambleau + Fado dinner

Last days in Switzerland: a sunny afterwork visit to caves de Chambleau followed by a Portuguese evening in Chauffage with Fado included. Spending time with good friends before departure!
Chinese VISA: check

Another big preparatory step regarding our first sabbatical destination: China. VISA done on the first attempt thanks to Sara’s great preparation work :)
Surprise farewell party

A surprise farewell party organized by our super "Swiss" friends, a farewell party by Sara's work friends, and Chinese visas coming through at first attempt thanks to a lot of preparation work!Lue lisää
Farewell from Sara's team

Farewell party #2 :) we had a lot of fun in the laser game, which also prepared our apetites for the huge meal that followed. They surprised me with a video where everyone gives me some useful tipsLue lisää
Ready, set, go

Packs are packed, goodbyes are said, let’s do it.
Step 1: drive to Bordeaux to stay with Sara’s mum for a couple of nights and do our first sightseeing :)
Bordeaux

Wake up late -> take a nap -> go out for a beer and walk around
Trying to get in the new mindset of having no schedule and no obligations, but it’s not that easy! We are formatted to be busy andLue lisää
1st week: Portugal

A hectic week spent in Portugal to visit our dearest ones and take care of about a million things before leaving to Asia. Being in a sabbatical is exhausting 😂 and now China: here we go!
Beijing & the Great Wall of China

Beijing surprised us. Our expectations were low and we were prepared for a cultural shock. But Beijing was a well organized, architecturally rich, relatively clean city with friendly people andLue lisää
Selfies em Pequim

Depois de a Sara ter vomitado no avião e ter logo arrumado com a preocupação de ficar doente da barriga, andamos a explorar Pequim meio adormecidos pelo jet lag. Felizmente era uma cidade superLue lisää
People of Beijing

We love people-watching, and Beijing is an amazing place to do it. We see busy people, sporty people, relaxed people, and they seem to find us interesting too since they ask to take pictures with usLue lisää
Xi'an & Terracotta warriors

We took the night train from Beijing to Xi’an mainly to take a peek at the Terracotta warriors museum. Once again, the chinese trains surprised us with clean and comfortable 4 bed cabins that weLue lisää
Train ride to Tibet

We took a train from Xi'an to Xining and then to Lhasa. Only 28h in total 🚂 🚂 🚂 🚂
We went past endless sand dunes, then past endless plains, spotted by so many yaks, goats, sheep, a fewLue lisää
Exploring Lhasa

We finally recovered from jet lag and now are only suffering with altitude 😂 as a result we were forced to spend a significant amount of time sitting in rooftop terraces with some Lhasa beers,Lue lisää
Mt Everest

Our journey to Mount Everest, also know here as Mt. Qomolangma, took us 2 days with a sleepover in Xigaze mid-way. The long bumpy bus ride was compensated by the rural and peaceful Tibetan landscapes,Lue lisää
Nam Tso lake

We were lucky to see the Namtso lake in all its colors: sunny and warm, windy and stormy, freezing and snowy. It is amazing to see a huge salt lake at 4600 m elevation, with snowcapped mountains onLue lisää
Lijiang & Tiger Leaping Gorge

Lijiang is an incredibly cute old town, although extremely touristy. Every single street is perfectly preserved, and most of the shops are of artisanal handicrafts where you can see the artisans atLue lisää
Dali

Dali was a place to relax. It was in the same style as Lijiang, but Dali felt more real. Where Lijiang was picture-perfect to the point of feeling fake, Dali has beautiful imperfections, and normalLue lisää
Guilin

No words needed to describe the breathtaking Guilin landscapes, especially the Li river and surrounding limestone karts - surreal. The pictures speak for themselves.
Longji Rice Terraces

Longji was our most authentic experience so far in China. It was a throwback to our childhood memories of the Portuguese rural - the green landscapes molded by traditional farming, wood oven smell,Lue lisää
Hong Kong

After a week in Hong Kong we had lots of memories and tons of photos. We ate dim sum, explored the city, ate dim sum, explored the beaches, ate dim sum, watched the Dragon Boat races, ate dim sum...Lue lisää
Macau

We went to Macau in search of the Portuguese heritage. We found a really interesting (and sometimes weird) mix of old Portuguese and mass Chinese architectures, with lots of casinos in between.Lue lisää
Crazy crazy Hanoi

Motorbikes and Phở. War history and street hairdressers. Oh, and pizza.
Ha Long Bay & Tam Cốc

Spending some time on the water seeing beautiful places. Ha Long Bay is gorgeous, but we have to agree to everything we heard about it - it is getting polluted and local people and tour operatorsLue lisää
Huế & Hội An

We wanted to visit Hue in order to learn more about the history of Vietnam and to visit some sites that still tell a lot about the last war. We saw old airbases, parts of the Ho Chi Minh trail, and anLue lisää
Koh Tao

Here we spent most of our time on, in or under water 🐠. Had an amazing time getting our Open Water Diver certificate! It was not always easy - doing all those exercises to prepare for the worstLue lisää