Artiste The Bridal Collection

Plongee

After Tokyo so I arrived in New Caledonia , specifically with my parents Poindimié , a small village in the Northern Province in the heart of what townspeople call Noumea the bush. I quickly got my diving certificate in order to get the most from that New Caledonia has best to offer the seabed of the lagoon. The entire northern half of the lagoon, which is all around this island of over 300 kilometers long, has recently been listed as World Heritage Site by Unesco, Because of the diversity and the incredible richness of marine life it supports. Whether scuba diving or just snorkeling, the show is fabulous, and the dive sites here are characterized by a major relief, with many faults, arches and caves, still dominated by beautiful corals. It is the richness of these corals that make these unique sites: staghorn coral sea fans through the soft corals or the brains of Neptune, you can find everything in abundance, and the underwater fauna is changing before our eyes in a setting simply sumptuous. Here are some pictures of what can be seen here diving ...

A diver just formed! Clown fish (Nemo!) Hidden in his anemone Focus on these anemones Angel Fish semicircular The nudibranchs, worms and slugs aquatic much more attractive than their terrestrial cousins! pencil urchin Rays, still majestic in the water The reef sharks, always impressive A cuttlefish, whose colors change depending on his mood staghorn corals Alcyonarians Gorgons Benches riflemen

Hardy Weinberg Problems/solutions

Bilan en Tokyo

Voici un post pour faire un peu le bilan de ces 9 superbes mois de voyage !

• Moyens de transport

Nous avons au cours de notre périple parcouru des milliers de kilomètres, empruntant à cette occasion des moyens de transport divers et variés.

Nous avons ainsi parcouru :

• dans les 14 000 km en bus.

• dans les 11 000 km en train.

• plus de 1300 km to motorcycle, all in Southeast Asia.

• nearly 2000 km boat on the ferry boats going to the junk, via the slow boat on the Mekong, the zodiac and many more ...

To this are added all the miles traveled by rickshaw, tuk tuk, rickshaw, cycle, horseback, camel, bicycle, rickshaw, minibus, car, jeep , on buoys, swimming on the roof of a bus ... not forgetting of course all the miles traveled to the march, as we have achieved over the whole trip a vertical drop positive in trek 20000m!

• Country traveled

A short summary of the 11 countries we had the opportunity to visit over the past 9 months ... What they retain (in italics are the countries where it is certain that we will return):

• Peru: Machu Picchu obviously may be the wonder of the world's most thrilling - the Inca ruins - but also kind of Peruvians.

• Bolivia: the paysages à couper le souffle du lac Titicaca, du Salar de Uyuni , et du Sud Lipez - l'ascension du Licancabur à plus de 6000m avec la vue incroyable sur la Laguna Verde - mais aussi malheureusement le contact souvent difficile avec la population locale.

• Chili : pas grand chose à retenir en dehors de la grande arrogance des Chiliens et du peu d'intérêt que présente le pays en comparaison avec la Bolivie, exception faite de Torres del Paine , de très loin le plus beau parc naturel de Patagonie pour nous.

• Argentine : le nouvel an à Ushuaïa, un unforgettable, and very warm welcome from Argentines, true to their reputation.

• India : unquestionably the most beautiful temples and forts we have seen, obviously with the Taj Mahal , but also the Jain temples, a delicate haunting, majestic and strong Rajput without forgetting the splendid temples of Khajuraho - by far the finest craftsmanship that we have met - the biggest culture shock and difficulty in travel times, particularly because of dirt, which is a cultural thing in India ...

• Nepal : the most beautiful mountains in the world - the breathtaking scenery of our trek - but also the friendliness of the Nepalese, and our first contact with Tibetan Buddhism, incredibly addictive.

• Thailand : welcome, smile and impeccable service of the Thais - the massage - the prettiest girls in the world - the ease of travel - but also the wealth of temples and ruins Northern Khmer of Isan.

• Laos: Laos, meeting the nicest and fun of travel, by their indifference and kindness - the Mekong this so mythical and majestic river - our road trip on a motorbike in the countryside around Bolaven Plateau, one of the highlights of the trip.

• Cambodia: Khmer ruins of course, remains the finest and most beautiful architectural style of South East Asia, including Angkor - Tomb Raider ambience of ruins lost in the jungle - but also the countryside and its beautiful rice fields, and the kindness of the Khmer, although still very visible marks left by the civil war.

• Vietnam: Experience the most detestable of the trip, beautiful country, unfortunately tempered by its inhabitants, to avoid at all costs!

• China: the stark contrast with the common prejudices about the Chinese in the West that are actually for the most part very friendly, helpful, friendly and open - the ease of contact with young people, always curious and friendly which has enabled us to make many friend (s) - and of course the legendary Great Wall, just fabulous.

• The "plus"

• highest point top : Licancabur Volcano, Bolivia, 6004m.

• highest point down : Nha Trang, Vietnam, diving a few meters below the sea surface

• highest point hot : probably in China, including Beijing, warmth stifling and exhausting.

• highest point cold: the rise to Thorong La, on the Annapurna trek in Nepal, during which the water froze almost instantly (and our fingers!).

• highest point dry : the Atacama Desert Chile, considered to be the driest desert in the world.

• highest point wet : all Southeast Asia, a veritable sauna!

In conclusion, we both had an incredible experience, and we enjoyed almost every moment of our world tour, during which we learned a lot. The return to France will be very difficult, but other trips undoubtedly follow (we each have in mind the itinerary for our next world tour in a few years!). We realize how lucky we have had to have such an opportunity, and we strongly encourage all persons in the same situation that we seize this opportunity and take the plunge, a long trip like ours, only happiness, and you learn so! We thank all those who followed us on this blog, and even those who regularly left comments, it is always very happy to receive when it is at the other end of the world. For me, the trip is not completely finished, and I will ever be another post or two to put pictures of what I get to see, including diving, here in New Caledonia.

Ft Worth Cruising Spots

While Yohann took the lead of France from Shanghai, I had the opportunity to make a short stopover in Tokyo before joining my parents for a good month in New Caledonia. I landed at Narita airport distant mid-afternoon, and I got to Tokyo itself as the dark, in heavy storms. After having wandered some time in the pretty park Ueno, I joined Shinjuku, the heart of Tokyo nightlife. The neon lights, neon signs and giant screens are legions above the streets teeming with pedestrians, which must request a cost Electrical proper staggering! There are vending machines for everything in this high-tech city, including distributors of Haagen Dazs that I'm obviously felt compelled to test.

The beautiful park Ueno

change of scenery with the Shinjuku area and its ubiquitous neon

After a nice walk in the neighborhood ultra modern I joined Shibuya, the neighborhood a little more classy and trendy nearby, where bars, restaurants and shopping luxury mall occupying the edges of the streets. The Hachiko intersection at the exit of the subway station, is topped by huge screens that project commercials multiple and varied.

The Shibuya and Hachiko intersection

It was then time to reach my hotel for the night, one of the famous capsule hotels in Tokyo. These hotels have tiny individual beds, mostly for the Japanese too drunk who missed the last metro. He better not be claustrophobic if you want to sleep in these capsules, but it was a very fun experience, can be like being in a spaceship!

My capsule hotel for the night

The next morning I headed to the old historic district of Asakusa , where the oldest temple in Tokyo, Senso-Ji , which had to be rebuilt many times through the wars. This temple is very pretty and unfortunately very little we very quickly made the tour!

The Senso-ji in Asakusa

I then resumed the RER to go to the local Shinto shrine of beautiful Meiji-Jingu . This sanctuary, built entirely of wood, has beautiful doors, finely carved and imposing entrance gates. Pretty paper lanterns, painted, occupy the edges of large avenues leading to them.

The Shinto shrine, Meiji Jingu-

I obviously could not go to Japan without going to eat some sushi! I went for it near the fish market Tsujuki , reputed to be the largest fish market in the world, and I could taste extra delicious sushi fresh a typical restaurant in Tokyo!

sushi restaurant Tsujuki

I finally went to the city 's electrical Akihibara , one of the wildest places in Tokyo. This landmark sale of high-tech devices packed with computer shops, it feels like Montgallet street in Paris! Between the deafening jingle, large posters of video games, and young Japanese Cosplay disguised as heroines of manga, we really feel that they have entered another world ...

electric town Akihabara

It I was left only to return later to Ueno me walk a while before resuming the train to Narita, where my plane was taking off to Noumea and New Caledonia. I appreciated this passage from Tokyo, which despite being very short, I still allowed to have a very good overview of this crazy city. Tokyo is very expensive, the 2nd most expensive city in the world after Moscow, but I still found the cost of living more affordable than I expected, especially as regards accommodation and food. Naturally I was still a shock to Asia South East and even China, so cheap, a good way to get used to the exorbitant prices of the Western world ...

Birthday Wording For Three

Suzhou - Shanghai

Before joining Shanghai for our last day we visited Suzhou, a charming city north of Shanghai famous for its canals and parks. We visited the Garden to Linger in , where we enjoyed a beautiful pond and the rocks in small gardens.

Garden to Linger in

Time has unfortunately not been very forgiving and having suffered a heavy downpour, we still managed to visit the largest and most impressive park of Suzhou, the Humble Administrator's Garden . Dating from the early 15th century, a maze of ponds, bridges, and pavilions, all surrounded by forests of bamboo and lotus flowers.

channels Suzhou The Humble Administrator's Garden

We then took the TGV to reach Chinese Shanghai. Shanghai est une vibrante mégapole chinoise de plus de 15 millions d'habitants qui fourmille d'activité. C'est le centre financier et des affaires en Chine, une ville moderne hérissée de gratte-ciels qui rappelle un peu Hong Kong. Nous avons passé moins de 24 heures à Shanghai, difficile donc de se faire une idée mais la ville nous a tout de même parus très agréable à vivre, bien qu'elle manque de véritable attrait touristique.

Nanjing Road, la principale rue piétonne de Shanghai


Le Bund, le long de la rivière qui traverse Shanghai


Pudong, le quartier des affaires, de l'autre side of the riverfront

The last day a little sad in Shanghai has unfortunately marked the end of our journey itself. We loved China, is probably the country where we arrived with more prejudices, mostly negative because of the often unfair media coverage that is made in Western countries, and yet have found the Chinese friendly , warm, friendly, polite, and above all incredibly friendly, especially young students. He had never been so easy to make friends while traveling, whether on trains, hostels youth, or even on the street, and we leave with many email addresses and contacts. Young Chinese are very open, they have the same concerns that young Western and seem mostly to be quite aware of the limitations of their regime and the challenges China faces, which made us very optimistic about the The political future of the country. We in any case much regretted not being able to spend more time, we would have done better to finally come directly from Cambodia to China, it would have avoided this horrible experience in Vietnam. Too bad this is only a postponement, we will definitely be back spend more time in China! We both spent our last few minutes here in the Maglev train Magnetic levitation, which connects Shanghai and its Pudong airport in less than 8 minutes, reaching speeds of hair-raising 430 km / h, a good way to leave this town edge of modernity!