Beijing - 16 December 2011 On my own now in this big city. Woke up this morning reluctant to get out of bed, feeling exhausted with a sore throat. Eventually checked out of the comfortable hotel mid-morning and took a taxi across town to my hostel. The hostel is in the hutongs (narrow alleys of Beijing, dating from the Yuan dynasty). The taxi driver dropped me on the main road and pointed down the hutong. I walked down the hutong, past many 'kashgar' (musli...

Shanghai Buzz - 10th December 2011 Stepping off the train in , I felt the energy that has made me fall in love with the city. Haven't felt the buzz since I left Hong Kong, and this city with it's western influence feels very familiar. The city is super easy to get around given its sizen (16million people). Firstly, straightforward metro system, local buses that read out stops in english, taxis so cheap that they make the taxis in hong kong seem overpriced, an...

Xian - 7th December 2011 Ok.. so where did I leave you? Somewhere in Yichang I think.. So we caught the train that arvo to Xi'an. Pros from the train; heaters, quieter carriage, discovered a western toilet several carriages down so did not have to use a squat toilet. Cons: the heating was a little too much, one of the group snored us awake all night and if it wasn't him snoring, it was very loud baby cries. So got off the train in Xi'an just after 7am feeling...

Weekend of travelling, Fengjie, Yichange and the Cruise down the Yangzte - 5th December 2011 Nihao from Yichang, Hubei province, in the middle of China! This city is the second largest city in the Hubei province, following Wuhan and with a population almost the size of New Zealand - 3.9 million - it is a small city per Chinese standards. It is on the banks of the Yangzte River and is 1h away from the massive Three Gorges Dam and is a very fashionable city acco...

Biking the 'local bike highway', Moon Hill and massage - 1 December 2011 Today had the best day of my travels so far. After yesterday's disappointing Li River cruise (150yuan for a 30min boat ride), the group made a consensus to hire our own bikes and guide rather than participate in the tour-organised biking, bamboo rafting and lunch (250yuan). We managed to hire a bike, get access to Moon Hill and hire a local bike tour guide for 55yuan (about 12 NZD) each -...