This is the forst chance i've had to e-mail since sunday, as it has been a very hectic 44 hours...... MON: Up at 6am to get bus from Hong Kong to boat terminal (me and Lisa must have looked a sight running down the main street of Hong Kong at 6am on a monday morning in flip flops to get tissue paper and water for the journey!). A 3 hour hydrofoil trip gets us to the Chinese border where we board the next bus. Then onto the overnight train to Guilan - suprisingly comfortable (based on the Vietnamese standards) - with air conditioning, hot water, a pillow and duvet!! Played cards, ate noodles, practised our chinese and then slept very well. TUE: Arrived in Guilan at 6.30am and got on bus to Yangshou. Checked into hotel - very nice indeed. Nice comfortable beds, air con (thankfully as its bloody hot here). Then headed out around the villages by bike. It was a nice ride - even if the seats were from the stone age. Had lunch at the foot of Moon Hill before heading to the Water Cave. This was pretty scary as some of the holes were smaller than I was entirely happy with but it was also good fun as got to play around in a mud bath and then swim in an underground lake. The cave was an impressive 3 Km long. Then cycled back to the hotel, showered and changed in record time in order to head to the Comerant Fishing. Had an interesting trip just to get there as lorry was jack-knifed accross the road which mean our heavily laden bus had to do a spot of cross country..eventually go there to witness the Comerant fishing...basically the bird catches the fish and so the Chinese catch the bird! they let them do all the hard work. It is a slow process but interesting to watch none the less. We then hit MCs Blues bar...me and Katherine managed to find a rather nice bit of chocolate cake too....he he.. WED (today): Headed out early again for a trip down the Li River. The scenery is spectacular here - Yangshou is set amid gorgeous limestone pinnacles and is a very laid back place albiet very touristy. So have had this afternoon to chill out (mainly shop and eat!). Tomorrow have a Chinese Cooking class - looking forward to that. Then tomorrow evening get back on another sleeper train for 13 hours! Am loving China and the group I am with. Haven't been able to put up any pictures yet but will try again soon. Hope all is well in the UK xx