I flew to Ko Samui yesterday morning. Was still feeling a bit anxious about heading for the beach as it was pouring with rain in Bangkok, but I arrived in Samui and it was glorious. What a relief!! I have a cute little hut all to myself right on the beach. And all I can see into the distance is sea and gorgeous beach. It really is exactly what I was hoping. The weird thing is having nothing to do, which was the idea but after having a pretty hectic schedule in C...

The countryside in China was awesome. Fom Shanghai went into Yangshuo, which is full of tourists but a really gorgeous little town on the river surrounded by all these limestone karsts. While we were there we stayed in a place called Fawlty Towers! I did a chinese painting lesson, which was really cool and cycled around the local countryside which was beautiful. It was so gorgeous there I didn't want to leave!! We also went to the Longji rice terraces and did a ...

Oh my god!! its taken me about a week to find a computer that lets me update this, despite Pam insisting i am not really here! I believe last time I wrote I was about to embark upon the great wall trek. Obviously I survived, but just about. It is the most exhausting thing I have ever done. It was all up and down hill and the bricks are really loose and scary. Couldn't believe I actually made it. But the scenery was spectacular and was definitely worth it in the e...

Went to the Forbidden City today where all the emperors and their families lived. It was totally amazing with all this intricate detail on all the buildings and the sheer size of it. We had a tour guide called Vivian who was able to pull off a bit of English style irony which made me feel very at home. She convinced the group that they cooked the old concubines in cauldrons and just as everyone responded 'Noooo. Oh my God!' she told us she was joking. Very funny,...

Been in China for about 3 days now. I arrived here about 9am local time after a long flight and the seemingly simple directions to the hostel didn't quite work out that way! Some guy in a rickshaw taking advantage of my sleep deprived judgement, charged me to take me to somewhere that clearly wasn't where I wanted to go, leaving me lost in Beijing!! I eventually found the place and spent most of the day sleeping. I was soooo tired! Met a girl in the dorm who is n...