We awake to Guilin shrouded in thick mist and doused by heavy rain. It puts pay to our plan to go up and mountain and find our way down on a luge - probably ill advised at the best of times, let alone in a rainstorm.

Mr Zhang comes to see us off to the airport - though he has sent a younger taxi driver to take us, perhaps it's his apprentice - I hope he teaches him well, Mr Zhang has been thoroughly helpful, amazing considering we just flagged him down when we arrived.

Guilin airport is small and packed with excited tourists, who would appear never to have flown before - demonstrated by the remarkable number of people struggling with the 'push to unlock brake' trolleys.

We arrive in Hangzhou - a prosperous city in China's south east. It holds a beautiful setting around Xi Hu (the West Lake). Once described as 'the most beautiful city in the world' by Marco Polo (and he was from Venice!), Hangzhou is now a popular retreat for Chinese visitors and is famed for its cuisine. Across the vast lake tall pagodas are visible through the mist on the opposite shore. We walk along a boulevard alonside the tree-lined West Lake to Louwailou - one of Hangzhou's most famous restaurants. The specialities include Beggar's Chicken - a poussin wrapped in paper which is slow cooked until it is so tender one can pick away at the whole chicken with chopsticks. Another wonderful dish on offer is the pork belly in honey, wonderfully tender (again very much plausible to eat with chopsticks), it's probably the best dish I've had since arriving in China