This trip was different from my previous travels in America in that I did the whole thing with a single overlanding company, Exodus. This has it's upside and it's downside. Some people find out too late that they don't like the constant proximity of a single group, others dislike the lack of flexibilty.
Personally I like the whole deal. The lackof flexibility is more than offset by not having to bother with any of those tedious organisational details such as how to get to wherever, who is going to do the driving and will it be possible to persuade the Chinese embassy to issue a visa. It's all done for you. As for the close proximity of other people, well people make a trip don't they. And you can always walk away.
As ever a cast of thousands were involved and without wanting to sound too much like an Oscar acceptance speech I'd like to name check everyone. Take a deep breath and
Steve and Dave the drivers, Suze, Rebecca, Gordon, Helen, Helmut, Bec, Marius, Haydn and Wendy, Marg, Niels, Jens, Aske, Christine, Karen, Harriet (all of whom started in London), Albert, Anil, Louis, Flavio, Jeff and Louise, Ruth (our joiners in Rawalpindi), Lily who was our guide and interpretter in most of China, Dave, Tess, Bill and Karen, Fiona, Chris, Mark, Anthony, Richard (who all merged with us and vice versa in Hong Kong), Hamada the Barber for the weirdest and most painful haircut ever, Captain Jamaica and his family, everyone at the Marang Guest House, Selahattin Kartal and Erkan Demir and everyone at the Galery Ayla in Istanbul who were so friendly and helpful on a very bad day, everybody at every cafe, restaurant, hotel and internet cafe anywhere on the trip, the students of the Kunming English Club, everybody else that I might have forgotten.
And Cameron Cash.
The pictures below are presented uncaptioned. If you were there you know who you are. If not, why would you care who these strange individulas might be ?
