Ok its been a while since the last blog entry so i've got alot to cover. Problem is there is a pub around the corner thats showing the West Ham game live in about an hour so i havent got time to spare. Ok well the last blog entry took us up to the end of our stay in Beijing i think. Right well the next city on our trip was Xian. We caught the train there and booked a "soft sleeper" cabin for 4 people. We didnt really know what to expect as we had never travelled in "soft sleeper" class but we were all pleasantly surprised. The cabin was air conditioned, had 2 bunk beds and a tv for each bed. Unfortunately no Sky Sports but you cant win them all. The 12 hour journey went by really fast and i woke up just as we were pulling in to Xian station. We checked in to our hostel and had a look around the city. There didnt seem to be too much Chinese culture to Xian as every street was filled with Western shops and fashions. I think it summed it up when we walked past a beautiful old Chinese temple that had a McDonalds next to it. Whilst in Xian we obviously went to see the Terracotta Army that is dubbed as "The 8th Wonder of the World". I thought it was good but not as jaw dropping as i had expected. I think the story behind the Army and the level of detail that went into each soldier is more amazing than the sight itself. But it was a good day nonetheless. We spent the next few days in Xian trying to get out of Xian. Basically its quite a tough place to get a train out of so we had to stay there for a further 3 days. And when you've seen the Terracotta Army and a few other little bits around town, you've basically seen everything that Xian has to offer, unless you're there to shop. We hired tandem bicycles to cycle around the city wall which was good fun but it was tough to fill 3 days. Anyway we finally got to Shanghai. I really liked this place. It seemed like a really cool place with lots of things to do. On our 1st day we went to a tea ceremony with some Chinese people that we met. That was interesting and the teas were all good. We went to the Bund which is the harbour where all the skyscrapers are. We went up to the top of the TV Tower which had amazing views over the city. We also went to the Hunan Gardens which were nice and a few museums. The strangest one being the Chinese Sex Culture Museum which was bad. It was really small and over in 5 minutes - that is not a joke. After Shanghai it was on to Hong Kong. This is where we experienced a hostel from hell. The place was in a part of town called Mirador Mansions. As you can imagine our expectations were quite high being in a place called Mansions. How wrong we were. It turned out that Mirador Mansions is a tower block that occupies shops and residential flats. When we got there half the lifts were broken so we had to wait in line to get to the 10th floor. When we got to the 10th floor we were shown to our room passing people that were staring at us and at the same time we were taking in the interesting aromas coming from each apartment. When we got to the room there was more good news when we realised we had 2 double beds. At least there was air-con. But of course when you turned it on, my side of the bed got covered in, what can only be described as soot. We decided that we would spend as little time as possible at the "mansion". Which was not a problem at all in the end because Hong Kong was a brilliant city with loads of things to do. The harbour was beautiful and the nightime view from Victoria Peak that overlooked the city was unbelievable. One of the highlights of the trip so far. We also visited Stanley where there are some nice beaches. From HK we flew to Hanoi which is the capital city of Vietnam. The first thing you notice about the place is the amount of motorbikes! i have never seen anything like it in my life. There doesnt seem to be any law for motorbikes. i saw 4 people on one, one guy carrying about 300 eggs and another with scaffolding? There are no lanes on the road and you literally have to dodge traffic. You soon get used to it. The Old Quarter of Hanoi is nice and we went to a few museums and cathedral, etc. We also went to see the Water Puppets show at the theatre which was amusing. The other thing we noticed was how cheap everything is. We went out to dinner on our first night, we had a starter, a main course and a couple of beers and i think it cost about 3 pound. Whilst in Hanoi we booked a trip to Halong Bay which is a couple of hours away. We spent 3 days and 2 nights on the cruise which was great fun and the scenery was beautiful. After Halong Bay we went back to Hanoi and got a train to Nha Trang. This was our longest train journey yet at 24 hours. Nha Trang is a beachy place and our first day there was a month to the day we left Heathrow. It felt good to finally be relaxing on a beach after a month of sightseeing. Nha Trang was good fun, we went to a Water Park and Amusement Park there and the rest of the time we spent on the beach really. Our last day there we got in a football match with a few of the locals. They had a pitch set up on the beach so it was good fun. We teamed up with a few other lads from England, France and Italy and had a Vietnam vs Europe match. You'll be pleased to hear we won. So now we are in Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon. We arrived yesterday by bus from Nha Trang. It looks like another good city. Today we went to a couple of museums and had a look around. Tomorrow we are off to see the Cu Chi Tunnels that were used during the Vietnam war.

Well i think i've covered about everything and not been too brief. Ill try and do another one soon!

Hope everyone is good, let me know what you're up to.

Nick x