Day two in hangzhou, and it was time to cycle round the lake. Now Jen and I had realized we were getting very short on funds after seemingly breezing through our cash on the first ten days of our trip on three square restaurant or hostel meals a day, beers and coffees whenever we wanted them and so on. Last night we ate a meal of two steamed buns for dinner as they were ¥2 each, and breakfast today was the same. So we walked the route down tourist street towa...

We arrived into a Shanghai train station at about 9 in the morning, id been awake since 5.30 am as try as i might, sleeping slumped across a seat meant for three people (though in fairness the one guy that was left on my seat was as good as gold slumped up by the window) we stumbled off the train and found ourselves in one of the stations, though we had no idea which one. We bumbled about and managed to find the bus station where we got a ¥68 ticket into Hangzh...

We decided that we would have a lie in and catch up on sleep ahead of our overnight hard train seat to Beijing tonight that neither if us were looking forward to! I ended up getting up at 9 anyway as I couldn't sleep and wet down to eat breakfast, joined by Jenny about 90 minutes later. After she had eaten, we put our bags in storage and headed out for our last day in Beijing. On the menu today, the forbidden city and tiannamen square. First we did the city a...

Day two in Beijing! Today was the day of the wall! We got up early and after speaking to a spanish guy called George in the hostel yesterday (who told us about the Icy place he'd tried to go to, made difficult as it had snowed the previous week, and then showed us various photos of his unsuccessful trek) we knew which area we were headed for. One of the farthest points you can go, but in its original form, if not a bit if a scramble in places. Sold! We caugh...

Got up early after an ok nights sleep and came downstairs to find the gang either eating or waiting for their breakfast. Mandy and John (something going on there we wondered) were heading out bamboo rafting so we wouldn't see them again, but the rest of us were up for the bike riding! We ordered our mountain bikes (not toooo bad for rental standards) and as they arrived said our goodbyes to Mandy and John with a hug and a 'have a great rest of your trip' The...