Here’s our summary of the last three months…

Clockwise from top left: Pompeii; Fiat 500 tour near Florence; sledging at Grindelwald in Switzerland; good food and wine in France

Countries visited in the last three months (1st January to 31st March)

Italy, Vatican City, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands (total visited to date on this trip = 24)

Have you managed to stay within your budget (£70 per day)? And what has been the expense breakdown?

Yes, although the spend across the three months was uneven with the average for January and February being around £60 as we didn’t move location often in relatively inexpensive Italy, shooting up to £90 per day with shorter stays in the more expensive Switzerland, France, Luxembourg and Netherlands. Our average daily spend over the three months has been £69.61. Our daily spend to date since we left home has been £69.83.

• Accommodation is as usual highest at 38.0% – even though we were fortunate to enjoy the hospitality of friends (thanks all!) for 13 nights, Europe is getting more expensive the further north we go.
• Intercity transportation was relatively low at 11.8% – no flights this quarter helped. Three-quarters of this amount is our train tickets during March travelling all the way from Rome to Amsterdam.
• Entertainment and entry fees were high at 8.4% of the total – entry fees for big name sights like Pompeii, the Colosseum, Vatican Museums and the Leaning Tower of Pisa have bumped up the total and almost one fifth is accounted for by Museum Cards for the Netherlands allowing free entry to many museums across the country for a full year – we will get most of the benefit from this during April.
• Guides and Tours was 2.8% – two-thirds of this is the Fiat 500 driving tour that we did in Florence

What has surprised you most in the last three months of travel?

Julie – How much overlap there is between English and the Romance languages. I know a little Spanish and was surprised by how much Italian, especially written Italian, I could understand, and when we were with our friends in France it became a bit of a joke that any word (especially longer words) that they didn’t know how to translate they could just say with an English accent and 90% of the time it would be the same word!

Andrew – We’re always trying to seek out the local specialties and what has surprised me most is how rich Europe is in diversity. In Italy the shops have aisles dedicated to different pasta, in France the bakeries are similarly stocked with amazing varieties of fresh bread, and in Switzerland (and France) we sampled many lovely cheeses. We had no idea there are two languages spoken in Toulouse, or that ‘pain au chocolates’ are known as ‘chocolatines’ in the south west of France (which is derived from said language), and with help we tried our best to educate our palates with fine wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy.

Apart from family and friends, what are you missing most about life in the UK?

Not much to be honest, we’re kind of in the travelling groove now and Europe has all the creature comforts we need. One thing that I hadn’t realised that I missed are lighter evenings in the summer. For most of our time in Asia we were much closer to the equator and it would get dark around 5-6pm but as we move further north and get closer to spring it is light until at least 7pm and soon much later. I like it.

What’s the most memorable sight that you’ve seen in the last three months?

Julie – I’m going to say the day that we spent touring the food hotspots of Testaccio in Rome. The food all over Italy was even better than I had expected, made (and consumed) with such passion that it would be impossible not to catch the excitement. The added bonuses of the keyhole with an amazing view and the Protestant Cemetery were just the icing on the cake.

Andrew – Oh man, that’s especially tough to answer this time around because we’ve seen so many of the famous, iconic sights known the world over: The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Pompeii, St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City, Michelangelo’s David, The Colosseum and Forum of Rome, The Atlas control room for the LHC at CERN, The Veiled Christ in Naples.. I remember them all, but as you’re forcing me to choose just one, I’d pick the Sistine Chapel as much for the story behind it as well as its awesome artistic accomplishment.

Tell us a funny story from the last three months of travel.

On a windy day in Naples, near Castel Nuovo, we were approached by a woman who asked “Do you speak Russian?” (in Russian) and as if by reflex Andrew replied “Izvinichi, ya nee gavaryu pa Ruskii” – “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Russian” – in Russian, which halted her in her tracks and put an intense expression of confusion on her face. Fortunately she then spoke enough English that we were able to help her with some directions!

Who is the person you’ve met that you remember the most from the last three months?

Fernando, our Fiat 500! What do you mean he’s not a person? He certainly has a lot of character, and if you don’t speak to him nicely he definitely won’t make it up the hills.

Finally, what have you found to be the greatest challenge?

Striking a balance between enjoying the travelling while it lasts and thinking about what to do after we get home… To be honest, we’ve probably spent more time in the former mindset but it does weigh on us occasionally that we’ll be hitting a different kind of lifestyle in a few months/weeks time.

Here’s our summary of the last three months.

Clockwise from top left: In front of the Haghia Sophia in Istanbul; We were thrilled to be joined by Tom, Steph and Olly in Istanbul; Getting out into the countryside was one of our highlights of Malta; Climbing Mt Etna near Catania in Sicily

Countries visited in the last three months (1st October to 31st December)

Turkey, Malta, Italy (total visited to date on this trip = 19)

Have you managed to stay within your budget (£70 per day)? And what has been the expense breakdown?

Yes, and we’ve managed to make back the over spend from Q6 (mostly attributable to flights and visas). Our average daily spend over the three months has been £65.18. Our daily spend to date since we left home has been £69.86. We’re really pleased to be back on track.

• Accommodation is higher than any of the previous quarters (as a percentage) at 41.0% – we knew accommodation would take up a high proportion of our budget in Europe. We’ve found renting apartments to be the same price or cheaper than hostels and guesthouses with the advantages of more space, privacy and access to a kitchen and, usually, a washing machine.
• Intercity transportation was 15.9% – one long haul flight (Tashkent to Istanbul) accounts for over half of this. Otherwise, staying in one place (Istanbul for five weeks and Malta for a month) has minimised long distance travel costs.
• Entertainment and entry fees were 6.3% of the total – we’ve definitely noticed that entry fees to tourist attractions are much higher in general in Europe and are being more picky in the sights that we pay to see. We have enjoyed taking walks in both Istanbul and Malta and find it a good way to get a feel for a place for free.
• Living expenses was 4.5% – as well as the usual toiletries, haircuts and replacement clothing we had to replace a hard disk in the box in the UK where we store our photos. Fortunately it is set up so that if one disk fails we don’t lose any data.
• Visa spend for the quarter was just 0.5% – just a nominal amount for entry to Turkey. As we expect to be travelling through Europe for the rest of the trip this should be its last appearance.

What has surprised you most in the last three months of travel?

Perhaps it’s more of a realisation, but we were surprised by how many places of worship there are in Istanbul, and that we didn’t think there were so many at home in England. But when we thought about it, we remembered that almost every town and village has a chapel or church of some kind, so there as many if not more!

Apart from family and friends, what are you missing most about life in the UK?

Julie – Now that we’re in Europe and predominantly in cities I’m starting to feel a lack of smarter clothes. Not that I was ever much of a follower of fashion, but when we went to a nice restaurant for Christmas lunch, or if we go out for dinner or a drink on an evening I feel that I would like to be smarter than jeans, T-shirt and scruffy walking shoes. On the other hand I don’t much fancy carrying/giving over rucksack space to clothes, and especially shoes, that will be rarely worn.

Andrew – We’ve eaten the best local specialties in every place we’ve been, and as our thoughts turn towards our arrival back home in a few short months I’m missing my own local specialties.. a Gregg’s stottie cake, one of Paul’s fry ups and a proper cup of tea. Not all at the same time though!

What’s the most memorable sight that you’ve seen in the last three months?

Julie – Once again a difficult choice but of all the beautiful historic buildings we saw in Istanbul, the mosaics in the Chora Church Museum really stand out for me.

Andrew – I’ve developed a fascination for world history, and the previously unknown strategic and pivotal importance of Malta in World War II to us was a highlight of our time there. The Lascaris War Rooms is my choice as it has it all; history, artefacts, photos and underground bunkers, brought to life by the amazing tour guide Tony.

Tell us a funny story from the last three months of travel.

Opposite our apartment in Malta was a small bread shop called St Joseph’s Bakery, but we rarely saw it open, indeed, at about 8:40pm one night we had a knock at the door from someone asking the time who’d heard the bakery opened at half-past 8! Anyway, one evening as we were returning from dinner we saw the lights on and the doors open so we went over to buy some fresh bread. Stood inside the doorway was the baker, a large round rough looking man in dirty whites, one hand on the rim of a giant steel mixing bowl and the other holding the end of a cigarette. I said hello and asked to buy some bread. He shook his head, said “no bread.” I took that to mean it wasn’t ready, but then I noticed a large shelf at the side of the room full of loaves and baguettes so I pointed at them.. “no fresh” he said, then spoke to the elderly woman stood with me in the doorway, who turned to me and translated that we should come back tomorrow morning. “What time?” I asked. “Between 3am and 6am.”

Who is the person you’ve met that you remember the most from the last three months?

For our first four weeks in Istanbul we rented an apartment on the Asian side of the city in Kadikoy. It was a lovely apartment and we made friends with the nearby shopkeepers – the old man in the mini market next door kept trying to give us a carrier bag even though we always brought our own, and the friendly owners of the fish shop on the other side always smiled and said “merhaba” when we passed, they even gave us some of the chips from their own lunch when we stopped in for a balik ekmek (fish sandwich)!

Finally, what have you found to be the greatest challenge so far?

Maintaining a sense of adventure and wonder in places where the culture is much more similar to our own. It’s quite easy to fall into ruts when so much seems familiar and we sometimes need to remind ourselves to probe past the obvious and look for new experiences.

Here’s our summary of the last three months.

Clockwise from top left: With ROK soldier at the DMZ in Korea; the largest Buddha in the world at Leshan; sunset in Ichon-Qala at Khiva [photo credit: Jo Harris]; Registan Square in Samarkand

Countries visited in the last three months (1st July to 30th September)

South Korea, China, Uzbekistan (total visited to date on this trip = 16)

Have you managed to stay within your budget (£70 per day)? And what has been the expense breakdown?

Not quite. Day-to-day expenses haven’t been too high, but three sets of flights, expensive visas for Uzbekistan and travel insurance renewal in September all bumped the total up. Our average daily spend over the three months has been £75.52. Our daily spend to date since we left home has been £70.63.

• Accommodation is a little lower than the last two quarters, but still the biggest expense at 30.5% – we found accommodation in China to be very cheap, and moderately priced in South Korea where for half of our stay we rented apartments in Seoul. In Uzbekistan accommodation is expensive compared to other on-the-ground costs, we think because supply is limited by government licensing of hotels and guesthouses, but still not too bad at around £25-30 per night for a double room.
• Intercity transportation is next highest at 22.5% – three flights in this quarter (Osaka to Busan, Seoul to Shanghai, and Beijing to Tashkent) account for two-thirds of this amount totalling just over £1000. This cost has been the one of the major factors in our being slightly over budget and is a good reminder to us to travel overland whenever possible.
• For the first time, healthcare has been a noticeable amount at 0.8% – fortunately this isn’t due to a decrease in our general well-being although there were a couple of trips to the pharmacy for cough medicine and rehydration sachets. Most of the spend was a pair of glasses for Andrew as he was getting headaches when using his computer for extended periods.
• The living expenses category is a much higher percentage than usual at 7.6% – before we left home we bought an 18 month travel insurance policy so we needed to replace that when it expired in September, a new 6 month policy cost us £280. Our wardrobe was also starting to look a bit tired so we replaced our jeans and some T-shirts while we were in Seoul.
• Visa spend for the quarter was 3.0% – we got both our Chinese and Uzbekistan visas at the embassies in Tokyo and, while the Chinese application was relatively straightforward and inexpensive, we had to pay a premium for the Uzbekistan one to be ready at the “express” timing of one week rather than two.

What has surprised you most in the last three months of travel?

That the Korean language is written not in characters representing words, but with an alphabet called Hangul. At first glance it looks like it’s made up of thousands of characters like Chinese or Japanese, but it’s actually built from just 24 basic letters arranged in blocks. We got to the point where we could recognise a good few and decode whole words with the aid of a cheat sheet!

Apart from family and friends, what are you missing most about life in the UK?

Julie – A soft bed… Many have been the nights when I have wished for my own comfortable bed in the last few months as the concept of springs and mattresses doesn’t really seem to have caught on in the budget accommodations of China and Uzbekistan. The most extreme example would be the bed we had in Wuhan where it is no exaggeration to say that we may as well have been sleeping on the floor…

Andrew – I’ve really missed driving. It’s not the convenience as we’ve packed pretty light and we love public transport – especially overnight trains – but the enjoyment of motoring and, as we’ve seen quite a few motorbikes and scooters, of riding too. Though I’ll see how I feel about a motorbike when I get back to the British weather..

What’s the most memorable sight that you’ve seen in the last three months?

This is usually a really hard question to answer, but this time we both immediately said the Registan in Samarkand. We were really looking forward to seeing it and had a nagging worry that it might be a let down but it was even better in real life, absolutely jaw-dropping.

Tell us a funny story from the last three months of travel.

In Samarkand we’d met the same portly taxi driver pretty much every day near the Gur-E-Amir Mausoleum offering to take us to Shakhrisabz. The evening before we planned to make the trip we went to seek him out and arrange to meet the following morning. At the mausoleum we didn’t see him in his usual place but Andrew soon spotted a large guy a little way off chatting to another taxi driver. He rushed over to shake his hand and say ‘hello’ but as the man turned we realised it was a different driver… He was so dumbstruck by a random tourist shaking his hand that we were walking off giggling before he recovered himself enough to shout ‘taxi?’ after us!

Who is the person you’ve met that you remember the most from the last three months?

The owner of the Mirzo Guesthouse in Tashkent, Murod. He’s an affable retired history professor who is always keen to have a chat although he doesn’t speak much English (he absolutely pounced on any guests who spoke Russian). When he found out that Julie’s degree is in maths he excitedly told us (mostly via his son Oybek who runs the guesthouse with him and speaks excellent English) about medieval Persian mathematician Al-Khwarizmi, who came from Khiva, and whose name serves as the root for the words algebra and algorithm. When words fail, Mr Mirzo is proficient at communicating through the language of music, liking nothing better than getting out his dutar on an evening and serenading any guests who happen to be about!

Finally, what have you found to be the greatest challenge so far?

More so than on our first trip, we found the language barrier in southern China harder. It’s not that we encountered more Cantonese where our very limited Mandarin didn’t work, it was that our pronunciation made planning our independent travel very difficult on occasion. For example, we were trying to buy our train tickets to Zhangjiajie but the woman behind the counter didn’t have a clue where we wanted to go. It was only after showing it on a map to a student who just happened to be in the queue with us, that we learned how to say it properly! (it’s “Djang-Jar-Jay” in case you’re wondering!)

Here’s our summary of the last three months.

Clockwise from top left: at the spring float festival in Takayama, beautiful cherry blossom at Kenrokuen garden in Kanazawa, beside Lake Motosuko with Mt Fuji in the background, at Ginkakuji temple in Kyoto

Countries visited in the last three months (1st April to 30th June)

Singapore, Japan (total visited to date on this trip = 14)

Have you managed to stay within your budget (£70 per day)? And what has been the expense breakdown?

Nowhere near, we knew before we departed that Japan would be expensive but it still came as a shock after a year of travelling the rest of Asia, although to be fair it’s probably no more expensive than travelling in Europe would be.

Our average daily spend over the three months has been £99.83. Our daily spend to date since we left home has been £69.67 which is exactly what we’d hoped – our savings to date were enough to balance the overspend in Japan.

• Accommodation is yet again the biggest expense at 38.0% – for most of the time we stayed in business hotels which as a couple usually work out cheaper than hostels with the added advantage of an ensuite bathroom. The downside compared to a hostel is you don’t get to chat with the host or other travellers and there’s nowhere to prepare meals (not that all hostels have kitchens but some do).
• Food is next highest at 24.0% – we’ve eaten really well in Singapore and Japan and while it’s possible to find relatively reasonably priced food it certainly can’t be described as cheap.
• Intercity transportation was high at 18.5%. We had two flights in this quarter, from Dhaka to Singapore, and from Singapore to Nagoya (Japan). When moving long distances in Japan we usually travelled by Shinkansen, the famed bullet train. Very fast, clean and comfortable but not cheap. We kept costs as low as possible by taking occasional buses or travelling by local train when moving between nearby cities.
• Local transportation was comparatively high at 5.2%. Although buses and trams are not too expensive (usually £1-2 each per trip) they do add up. We also did a few long distance day trips which were possible because of the speed and efficient timetabling of buses and trains, for example to Kamikochi from Matsumoto and to Ibusuki from Kagoshima
• For the first time on this trip the visa spend for the quarter was absolutely nothing – no spend and no stress! Both Singapore and Japan allow UK passport holders to stay for 3 months visa free.

What has surprised you most in the last three months of travel?

If you listen to the continental Europeans or Americans they’ll have you believe that the British are plain weird for driving on the left, pretty much unique. Well, in the last 9 months we’ve visited no less than 6 other countries who also drive on the left (Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Singapore, Japan) and while it could be argued that for some of these countries, though certainly not all, this is due to a colonial British heritage I don’t think we should let that detract from a good argument.

Apart from family and friends, what are you missing most about life in the UK?

Not much to be honest. Travel in Japan and Singapore has been pretty easy, with all our creature comforts adequately provided for. Although we both love trying new foods we do get the occasional hankering for a good cheese sandwich or a plate of fish and chips.

What’s the most memorable sight that you’ve seen in the last three months?

Julie – I loved Okunoin cemetery in Koyasan. The huge cedar trees amongst the gravestones of all ages, the surprising statues that we came across and listening to the monks’ morning chanting all added up to an experience I won’t forget.

Andrew – My preconceptions about Japan were fast trains, commuter-packed metros and high tech everything, so the most memorable sight is the amount of greenery and scenic beauty here. Julie won’t let me have that as it’s not specific enough, so I’m going to pick Mt Fuji, the iconic mountain of Japan.

Tell us a funny story from the last three months of travel.

On our first day in Kanazawa we had lunch at Omicho Market and bought a small cake each for dessert before walking across town to Kenrokuen garden. Inside the garden we found a bench from where we could admire the view while eating our cakes. Suddenly, I flinched back as I caught sight of a bird seeming to swoop very close. When I turned to Andrew to see if he had seen it, he was looking in disbelief at his empty hand which had been loosely holding his cake. A Black Kite had swooped in and taken it without touching him! Since then we’ve always been very watchful when eating out in the open…

Who is the person you’ve met that you remember the most from the last three months?

Our host in Singapore, Diana, was such a pleasure to stay with. We booked her spare room through Airbnb and it was an ideal place for some R&R after the somewhat challenging travel through Bangladesh. She made us feel right at home, from her comfy sofas, fast wifi and well stocked kitchen (Julie seriously lusted after her top quality pans and knives), to her friendly conversation and introducing us to the TV programme Grey’s Anatomy which we watched avidly for a week! As an added bonus we discovered that she had lived in Japan for 6 years and didn’t mind us picking her brains. Her suggestions on where to go basically established our itinerary for the first month of our stay here.

Finally, what have you found to be the greatest challenge so far?

Julie – Struggling with the budget again. We’d really got used to staying in fairly nice places and basically eating wherever we wanted while travelling through SE Asia and into Bangladesh and it’s been a hard habit to break, needing to think twice about stopping at a cafe for coffee and cake, or whether to organise a packed lunch rather than relying on finding something while we’re out. We don’t compromise on sights and activities so accommodation, food and drinks tend to be where we try to save money.

Andrew – We’ve found that booking last minute budget accommodation as a couple has been hard in Japan, especially as we usually want to stay for three or four nights. It seems that as well as all of us foreign tourists, the Japanese also like to travel a lot, which meant we had to quickly firm up our plans and start booking 3 to 4 weeks in advance, rather than the 3 to 4 days we’ve been used to so far!

We have now reached the one year anniversary of our two year trip! Here’s our summary of the last three months.

Meeting elephants in Chiang Mai, pretending to be Buddhas at Sukhothai Historical Park in Thailand, the iconic Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, we commandeered a rickshaw in Birisiri in northern Bangladesh

Countries visited in the last three months (1st January to 31st March)

Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh (total visited to date on this trip = 12)

Have you managed to stay within your budget (£70 per day)? And what has been the expense breakdown?

Easily within budget, our average daily spend over the three months has been £50.59. Our daily spend to date since we left home has been £62.40.

Bangladesh has been an incredibly cheap place to travel with March’s spend bumped up only by flights and our 3 day tour to the Sundarbans. Our record day was just £9.32 including a 3 hour bus journey, an ensuite room, food for the day and a haircut for Andrew!

• Accommodation is again the biggest expense at 34.0% – half of the quarter was spent in Chiang Mai and the apartment we stayed in was relatively expensive.
• Guides and tours – 16.9%. We took some expensive tours in Thailand and Bangladesh including spending a day with elephants, taking a Thai cookery class and 3 days in the Sundarbans National Park
• Food is next highest at 16.4% – just £8.30 per day for both of us. Eating out is tasty and inexpensive in Thailand and Bangladesh, again for much of the time we were living in the apartment in Chiang Mai and cooking for ourselves – also fairly inexpensive.
• Intercity transportation was 10.0%. Lower than other quarters as we were settled in Chiang Mai for half of the time, over half of the spend in this category is our flights from Kuala Lumpur to Dhaka.
• Alcohol was 7.3% this quarter. This is wholly accounted for by the first two months as alcohol is extremely restricted in Bangladesh and we only had one small can of beer each during our whole month there!
• Local transportation was very low at just 2.4%. This includes hiring motorbikes several times in Thailand and many, many very cheap rickshaw rides in Bangladesh.

What has surprised you most in the last three months of travel?

Julie – That we would need to take a break from travelling.  It sounds crazy that anyone would need a holiday from a holiday but by November we were pretty burnt out and exhausted from almost constant sightseeing and movement (albeit at a reasonably relaxed pace) and we were craving a place where we could slow down, unpack and catch up on admin (blogging, photo uploads, Skype with family back home).  I’m pleased to report that after two months of rest we were again raring to go!

Andrew – How much we rely on the internet. For something that’s only been around for about 25 years to have dramatically altered the way we research and plan our travel is astounding to me. Perhaps it’s because we feel more comfortable about a place or a journey if we’ve got an idea of what to expect, but going from the high-speed wifi everywhere connected of Thailand and Malaysia to the no-speed wifi rarely-where of Bangladesh was both frustrating and liberating. I think it’s definitely more of an adventure to say “we’ll get a bus from here to there” and see what happens, than “we’ll get bus XYZ that departs every hour from ABC station, takes 3½ hours and arrives at DEF station, 1km to the west of the centre of town.” The good news is that even with access to the internet we can still choose to be a little more adventurous.

Apart from family and friends, what are you missing most about life in the UK?

Taking tap water for granted. We boiled water in Thailand, we were encouraged to drink water from the cooler in Malaysia, and in Bangladesh – a country that by one estimate we heard ¼ is covered in water – it was hot and we drank a lot of bottled water. There were a few bouts of the Bengali Bowels after we forgot now and then, but most places we stayed included a large bottle of water with the room rate.

What’s the most memorable sight that you’ve seen in the last three months?

Julie – The temples of Puthia in north-western Bangladesh really blew me away with their abundant carvings but the day I really remember is the day that we were elephant owners in Thailand.

Andrew – The flora and fauna of the Sundarbans is a very close second, but for me it’s the modern splendour of the Wat Rong Khun or White Temple in Chiang Rai. It’s a fairytale palace of decadent detail that I hope I’m still alive to see completed in 2070 – I’ll be into my 90s by then!

Tell us a funny story from the last three months of travel.

Julie – On the train ride from Rajshahi to Joypurhat in western Bangladesh our window was missing the bolt that would hold it open. We fashioned a bit of a wedge from some paper which wasn’t ideal but better than nothing. The two Bangladeshi ladies sitting opposite noticed our struggles and (unprompted by us) mentioned the problem to the ticket inspector when he came round. A couple of minutes later, a uniformed porter appeared, grudgingly fiddled with the window for a few seconds before slamming it shut and then unbolted and shut the ladies’ window as well! The older of the ladies remonstrated with him but he grumpily shrugged and walked off. We caught their eye and all of us burst out laughing which broke the ice and we spent the rest of the journey having a very interesting conversation with them (after we’d re-wedged our window open of course!).

Andrew – Bearing in mind that most English conversations we had in Bangladesh consisted of “What’s your country?”, “How are you?”, with the rare and more advanced venturing a “Where [do you plan to] visit [in] Bangladesh?”, it was in answering this last question that after reeling off a list that didn’t include Cox’s Bazaar (the longest beach in the world, and the proudest place in every Bangladeshi’s heart) that my inquisitor responded in true American sit-com style with a loud “No Cox’s Bazaar? Seriously?!“

Who is the person you’ve met that you remember the most from the last three months?

That would be Hasan, an English literature student we met at the Pink Palace on our first day in Bangladesh. As a precursor to the kindness we were to receive across the country, especially from students, Hasan took us on an impromptu tour of the riverside area of Dhaka into places and businesses we wouldn’t have found without his help – a school with amazing old buildings, a sign-painters, a cinema theatre (just to take a quick look – without paying!), and the markets to name a few. We enjoyed his company so we hooked up with him again on our last day in Bangladesh for a day trip to Sonargaon.

Andrew with Hasan at Sonargaon on our last day in Bangladesh

Finally, what have you found to be the greatest challenge so far?

Navigating baksheesh in Bangladesh. Baksheesh, for those who don’t know, is kind of like a tip or reward for good service, a higher tip to ensure that repeated service remains good, or a sort of Robin Hood payment that the more well-off are to feel pleased to be given the opportunity to give, and in some cases, an out and out bribe. Once we’d worked out if the situation called for baksheesh, we then hit the minefield of having to work out how much to give. There were a few uneasy experiences but they were very short-lived as we reasoned, being tourists it’s likely we’d been a little overcharged already!