We're back safely from our travels in the south of China and what a month it was!

A couple of days before we left Leiyang, we took the advice of our friend Jelly's family and booked flights between our destinations rather than relying on train services. This proved to be an excellent idea as the Spring Festival is the busiest time of year in China and using the trains for long journeys just leads to delays, frustration and disappointment. We left on 6th January and met our friend and fellow teacher Vince who would be accompanying us on our journey. We flew from Changsha to Kunming in Yunnan province and headed for the train station to book tickets to our first destination, Dali. Although we had practiced how to ask for tickets in Chinese, being able to read timetables is another skill altogether! Luckily for us we met some helpful young Chinese men and after over an hour of queuing we were able to board our seven-hour overnight train.

We arrived in Dali Old Town at dawn and were greeted by the sun's morning glow falling on mountains peaks in front of us and shimmering on the lake behind us. We found our hostel with ease and were delighted by the golden Labradors that lived there and the promise of eating an English breakfast.

Our days in Dali were characterised by hiking along the Cangshan (mountains) where we saw streams, pine forests and the view of Erhai lake framed beneath the blue sky. The air there was so fresh and warm, two qualities that had eluded us whilst we have been living in Leiyang and we enjoyed the four hour walk greatly. The following morning Matt's friend from Folkestone, Sam, joined us as he had been travelling South East Asia and wanted to see some of China too. We rented electric scooters and went skirting around the lake. With a few more days left before we had to return to Kunming to fly to our next destination, Hainan island, we consulted our guide books and decided to embark on one of the most enthralling hiking expeditions that China can offer you: Tiger Leaping Gorge. After a six-hour bus ride north, we arrived in the foothills of the Himalayas on a sunny Thursday afternoon and began the trek. After thirty minutes of uphill walking, the majesty of the gorge unveiled itself to us and we were confronted by a huge range of snow-capped mountains draped in cloud. We continued along the deserted path in awe as it wound its way up the rocky valley. All around us were green rice paddies, and we could hear the roar of the mighty river below. After an exhilarating yet exhausting five hours, we finally arrived at one of the many guesthouses situated along the gorge just as dusk fell. We greedily ate up a delicious home cooked meal and were caught under the spell of the brilliant stars in the black night sky, a sight that can only be truly appreciated in those rare places in the world were there is no light pollution.

The following day's hike was less arduous and shorter than the previous one and so we absorbed the views of waterfalls and mountains with only a herd of wild goats to pass us all day. The peace that overcomes you when you are in the close presence of such grand mountains was unforgettable and I hope that many of my friends and family will also experience something similar one day. Our hike was over before we knew it and we sat reflecting during the seven hour train ride as we made our way back to Kunming.

We were soon to be in Hainan, a small island situated in the South China sea and very popular with Chinese and Russian holiday makers due to its tropical climate. We arrived in Haikou at midday on Sunday and took a short two-hour train journey down to the most southerly point, Sanya, our next destination. Out of the window I was delighted to see palm trees, rice paddies, water buffalos and barefoot Chinese farmers and I sat smiling the whole way because I hadn't seen such greenery since leaving England.

We arrived at our lovely hostel in 25 degree heat and headed straight to the beach which was a five minute walk away. The golden sand and blue sea was such a welcome sight to us, especially as we didn't get to go on holiday with our families last summer. We spent the next five days at the beach every day, soaking up the sun and making the most of the delicious food and fruit smoothies.

Our time in the sun was over far too quickly and we soon had to head for Hong Kong where we had decided to spend Chinese New Year.

Our first impressions of the world famous city was that it was so clean compared to mainland China and so well organised! Every sign had an English translation and there were reminders everywhere to not drop litter and have consideration for others around you. We were astonished. After living in China for so many months where people scream down the phone, spit phlegm right next to your feet and have no moral qualms about dumping huge piles of stinking rubbish everywhere (not an exaggeration), it was such a welcome environment to be in. We were staying in a really good location about ten minutes walk from Victoria harbour in Kowloon, but the building itself we soon discovered was very notorious. Named Chunking Mansions, it is the multicultural home to many Asian immigrants selling all kinds of services including hostels, food and drugs. Every time we walked in or out we would be swamped by lots of Indian men all offering us fake handbags, watches, suits and of course, hash which they referred to as "Something special, buddy?!" The day after Chinese New Year there was a huge firework display over Victoria Harbour and we had been invited to the 57th floor of a huge apartment block by our friends Jo and Rachael who were staying there. The view of the city at night from that high up was indescribable and we all stood in wonder on the balcony while we watched the unforgettable 23 minute show.

After our initial euphoria, we began to realise that Hong Kong was actually extremely expensive and the only thing you can really do there is either work or go shopping in the thousands of designer shops that sparkle along almost every street. However, we did try to sight see as much as possible and even visited Lamma, one of Hong Kong's many outlying islands that provide a welcome calmness to the manic 24-hour hype of the city. We were told that going to visit the giant stone Buddha on top of one of HK's peaks was a must, and so we stood in line for more than an hour, paid for our cable car tickets and waited to be hoisted to the top. As we ventured higher, the thick clouds engulfed the car and we were unable to see anything out the window except pure white during the whole ride, completely defeating the purpose and joy of this type of transport. We arrived in the drizzly and freezing 'village' of Pnong Ping where the Buddha resides only to realise that it was a contrived little community with brand new shops all offering food and trinkets for tourists, there was even a 'Subway' up there! We followed the masses to the top of a long set of steps only to be rewarded by a vague outline of the giant Buddha's hand… we could not even see the whole statue due to the thickness of the clouds! We were very irritated by this as we had paid so much money to see it and the cable car company did not give any warning at all that on cloudy days it is futile to visit. To top it off, we later found out on the internet that the Buddha was built in 1994 as a tourist attraction and so has no historical or real spiritual worth whatsoever…!

Our time in Hong Kong was coming to an end and we savoured our last few Western food treats like pizza, frozen yoghurt and coffee. Matt and I said goodbye to Vince, Sam and Chiara as we were to all go our separate ways.

Rather than return immediately to Leiyang we decided to stop off in Guandong province for a few days so I could spend my birthday somewhere nice. We stayed in Zhoaqing, a pretty town known for its karst peaks and beautiful scenery. It proved to be a good choice as it allowed us to acclimatise back into the Chinese way of life whilst still seeing a new place. We had a very relaxing 3 days there renting bikes, walking past lakes, and visiting waterfalls in the sunshine. We also saw a rat gets its head crushed under a bicycle wheel and fit in pain for thirty seconds until it died, but I wont go into that.

So that is the story of our travels! We have been back in Leiyang for a week now, and teaching has started again. The teachers and students alike seemed to have missed us and we have been welcomed back in the traditional Chinese way: being invited out to eat delicious meals and then singing our hearts out at KTV (karaoke), much to Matt's displeasure! The weather here is bitterly cold, grey and drizzly, however we are consistently told that "it is spring now!" so it should be improving soon although I doubt we will see blue sky again for months.

When we have saved some more money we are planning to visit Nanjing, Chengdu, Xi'an and hopefully at the end of our contract in July we are planning to end our Chinese adventure by visiting Tibet! That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed reading this. Missing everyone very much, please keep skyping but due to time difference it has to be before 1 p.m. English time!

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