Hello this is the last blog from our china adventure...

Laura finished the last blog by saying that we were spending a few days away in yangshow in the country before heading to Hong Kong our final stop. Yangshow was an awesome place to chill out and shop and this is what we did for 2 days after going from beijing, Xian and shanghai all in the space of a week it was really nice just to chill and enjoy the gorgeous scenry. the location and setting of yangshow is simply surreal and beautiful i hope the photos show how wondeful the setting really was. First day in yangshow we had the chance to particpate in some kung fu which was hard and a proper workout but really fun!! me and lau esp enjoyed it as it brought back our days of doing karate as some of the moves and stances are similar. After our morning work out we just walked and did some shopping. we spent most of the day just walking around enjoying the relaxing atmosphere. later in the afternoon we took a lovely boat trip down the river. In the evening we went on another boat trip with the rest of our group to watch cormerant fishing were the birds catch the fish and the fisherman every 20 minutes picks up the bird and emptys his mouth... there are photos so show lauras horror at having a bird on her shoulder!!

The next day we started off the day by visiting a market which was trurly and experience and a half ;seeing fish we with their heads cut off their heads were still twitching.. chickens being killed everything was on display, apart from the killing of the dogs but the dead ones were on display. Then after this slightly dramtic start to the day we were off a bike ride for the whole day... the bike ride was really nice and i really enjoyed it!! after lunch we rode to our new guesthouse futher more in the country. this place was even more chilled than yangshow and everyone was very tired after our long bike ride so the evening was very chilled we had some nice red wine and just chated!!

Following day still in the country we had a free day which had is most def the most chilled out day of our whole tour me and laura didnt wake up til 12.30 and all we did was eat and read till cooking school at 4. Cooking school was fun we cooked about 5 dishes; beer fish,chicken with cashew nuts, egg plant with chill, green veg and dumplings. after our meal that we cooked me and laura headed back in yangshow with our tour leader to have a few drinks...

The next day was a travelling day!! we were travelling to the rice terraces.. we had to get 2 buses and walk for 45 minutes through the rice terraces to our next guesthouse. me and laura sadly fell ill and missed out on a 5 hour walk through the rice terraces and slept most of the day apart from a short walk and a bus ride to our second guesthouse in the terraces we slept all day and missed out the fun goings on of the night.

We woke up feeling better but had another day of travelling install we were leaving the terraces and heading back into the main town of Gulin for our last train ride to Hong Kong!! the train was only 16 hours and was pretty fun we all chilled out in the dining cart playing cards and drinking beers til the early hours which passed the time!! however, had the worst nights sleep ever it was soooooo hot on the train. we finally arrived in hong kong around 2ish our last hotel which was very nice and in a pretty great location. we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around on the serach for ipods and plugs all very exiting. also ended up in mc donalds where i enjoyed an apple pie!! in the evening we all swaped presents as we did a secret santa.. then we had our final meal which was rather wasnt that great and quite expensive but out of our control.. we ended the night/tour by going to an irish pub and drinking well into the early hours.

Our final day in Hong Kong we enjoyed a boat trip around the harbour, did last minute market shopping and had a lovely lunch at hard rock. our last evening was the proper goodbyes with everyone on the tour were all all went to watch the lightshow by the waterfront which was awesome. a few of us then went to victoria peak on a tram however when we got to the top it was soooooo foggy that the view was not great at all actually we saw nothing!! its funny now at the time am not sure how funny we found it. China as been awesome a really great place and we have meet some lovely people all very sad to leave but exited for our next adventure in Tokyo

Now in Tokyo laura will update you with our goings on..

LOts of love Lily and Laura

Keep the messages coming on the board x x x