TEAR DOWN THE WALL! Actually, I didn't tear down the wall so much as teeter precariously up and down it. The Great Wall was a truly amazing experience, but I wasn't prepared for how hard it proved to be... There were a large group of us, comprising Brits, Belgians, Dutch, French, Portugese, Italians, Germans and a Kenyan - but primarily a group of 21 from a school in Houston, Texas, who were really good fun. Despite there being maybe 40 of us, most of the schoo...

Part 2 of double bubble update - see also part 1 under a different date for Beijing. It's a long one, but plenty of mishaps for my loyal readers to laugh at... Louise had thankfully pretty much recovered from her bout of illness, and we've had a great couple of days, but it feels like no time at all since she arrived - so it was weird seeing her off at the airport this morning. See you next week doll, thank you for coming out. Our last night was rounded off with...

Part 1 - splitting this blog into two parts, they should both be available under Beijing though. Louise left today :-( but I think she would agree with me that Beijing is the most 'alien' of the places we've been to in China so far. Hong Kong was a bit of a soft landing, we didn't see too much of Guilin or Xi'an, and Yangshuo was geared toward extracting the western dollar. Even getting to Beijing was a problem though. Louise booked flights online from Xi'an - ...