Hi everyone from the buzzing metropolis of Shanghai! I have just arrived today and will set out to explore the city tomorrow, but I must first update on my past few days in rural China - I have had a brilliant few days and such a contrast to Shanghai! First things first - my cooking class. After I last wrote, I joined the Yangshuo Cooking School for the afternoon and learnt how to cook five Chinese dishes! We set out on a tour of the fresh produce market first, ...

Hi everyone, I have escaped the city and made it out into rural China. I'm in a town called Yangshuo, in the province of Guangxi. I'm not exactly sure where I am to be truthful, even Google maps is in Chinese so I could be anywhere but let's just say I'm somewhere in the south of China surrounded by awesome scenery - karst limestone pinnacles, rivers and valleys - it really is spectacular! I last left you all amid the chaos of Guangzhou (that place really wa...

Hi all, I've made it to China and thought I would give you a quick update before I catch a sleeper train north-west to Guilin this evening. I am in a sprawling city of 10 million people called Guangzhou, or Canton. It is a totally chaotic place, I have never seen anything like it - one giant construction sight covered in scaffolding, streets full of rubbish, gaping holes, road repairs that seem to defy all logic, bricks, planks of wood, people and all shrouded in...

'Ola' everyone - that's hello in Portugese! No, I'm not in Portugal but in Macau, an odd peninsular off the the south coast of China, an hour's ferry ride west from Hong Kong. It was once a Portugese colony but now like HK, is a Special Administrative Region of China, and is totally Chinese in culture but Portugese in style - cobbled streets, beautiful churches and plazas, gardens and ancient stone fortresses, with a blast of Chinese temples and Vegas casinos - w...

'Ng on' everyone from Hong Kong! Well I have made it into Asia at last, it is super exciting to be in this part of the world but a huge culture shock - Western Australia to Hong Kong is one extreme to another - it is total chaos here, millions of people pounding the boiling hot streets with thousands of towering skyscrapers - I really have never seen anything like it - it is unbelievable! Perth seems a million miles away now - I caught the flight at midnight aft...