Well I have lost track of the days so will start with yesterday which was spectacular. We had a full day ashore and were taken for two and a half hours by bus to Yellow Mountain where Sleeping Tiger Leaping Dragon ( have I got that right?) was filmed.

It rained the whole day but the scenery was just fantastic - what you imagine when you look at old silk paintings of the mountains and mists.

When we arrived at the base of the mountain, we took Chinas longest cable car ride to the top. That was fun and reminded me of all the trips in cable cars that I had in Japan.

And of course the steps - I love the way they tell you that there are 350 steps today but they are nice steps!! As opposed to not nice steps?? However they were worth climbing.

We had lunch up there as well - this time nine dishes!! So the climb back to the cable car was appreciated.

We all fell asleep in the bus on the way back.

This trip took us through the country side and for the first time we got to see normal little towns and buildings - not the huge high rise monstrosities that line the river and which all appear to be devoid of people. Passengers are all commenting about the lack of people in the streets.

Yesterday, we saw some but certainly not the crowds of Vietnam or any indication of the 1.4 billion who live here. For example, we travelled on this three lane divided highway which had beautiful gardens on each side and the middle, plantings of mature trees, plantings of screening belts of trees on each side. And there was hardly any traffic using it - only a few cars - mostly VW's.

And the ongoing building for tourists - massive hotels (unoccupied at the moment), new huge buildings at the entrance etc etc. the prosperity is astounding.

So last night was fairly quiet as we were tired.