Hangzhou Sept 5th - Sept 6th (Day 185 - Day 186) From Shanghai we took the high speed train to the small lake city of Hangzhou. Just to clarify small in Chinese terms still means a population of 6 million! The train took us through the countryside outside Shanghai at 300KM per hour. The chinese are very pleased with their new highspeed rail network and all the trains have speedometers in the corner of each carriage to let you know just how fast you are goi...

Shanghai 1st Sept - 4th Sept (Day 181 - Day 184) Hi everyone, sorry for the huge delay in the blog updates...I´m going to blame a combination of limited internet access and two weeks in Las Vegas, probably more the later. After 2 nights in Xián we took a flight to Shanghai. It was a simple 2 hour flight to Pudong airport in Shanghai, we then successfully navigated the Shanghai metro system and arrived at our hotel which was located right next to the bund. ...

Xi'an 30th Aug - 31st Aug (Day 179 -180) With only a day and a half here we had much to do and see. We arrived in Xi'an airport about 11am. We got the airport bus into the middle of town. Very easy. Straight away I noticed that the atmosphere here is completely different. Smaller than Chengdu and much more organised with a greater mix of ethnicities, especially chinese Muslims. To get to our hostel we headed south on a pretty cobbled street devoted to bars a...

Chengdu + Le Shan 27th Aug - 29th Aug (Day 176 - 178) We've spent three days in Chengdu, unfortunately for me I came down with a mild case ofdelhi belly - still, had to persevere on. I blame it on China Southern for bad aeroplane food and two baby cockroaches... We arrived at our hostel quite late as our plane was delayed, and we were picked up by the most rickety minivan ever. The journey into Chengdu was ok, the city is thick with smog, so much that i could f...

Guilin + Surrounding Area 22nd Aug - 26th Aug (Day171 - 175) We've arrived in China and it's been a manic five days for us. We haven't had a chance to stop at all. Whilst here we have been to the rice terraces, watched comarant fishing, a Li river cruise and a 20km bike ride round Yangshou. We arrived in Guilin late at night and settled into our hotel for the evening for a busy few days. When we woke up the next day we didn't expect call girls' business car...