Hello everyone, we are fine but having a nightmare with internet connections and picking up various websites.

We are currently in Xian, which was lovely and we saw the amazing Terracotta Warriors yesterday. In a couple of hours we are setting off on a 17 hour train journey to Shanghai for a couple of days. Hopefully internet connections will be better there. We also did a 13 hour train journey from Beijing which was an eye-opener. No doors to the compartment everyone walking up and down and spitting just a few yards from where our compartment was. Don't even talk about toilets!!!! Just to say that we didn't wash until we got to our hotel and we all slept in our clothes, but fortunately the other people in our six berth compartment were all from our tour - not all were that lucky.

China is still a big culture shock but Xian was more user-friendly than Beijing. We were in a better part of town and it is also a much smaller, therefore more managebale, city. We have NOT yet got used to the amount of spitting in the streets - GROSS!!

We haven't managed to get any pictures or videos uploaded yet as the internet cafes are not good enough to do this. Again, hopefully soon - watch this space.

In Beijing we saw the most amazing Kung Fu show - and Issy now wants a Kung Fu master for Christmas as a bodyguard !! We also managed to do PART of the Great Wall walk - forget what you see on the TV - we actually walked the mountain part which is really, really difficult as none of it has been repaired. It's steep, steep, steep and slippery and the walls have fallen down at the side so you have a steep drop either side of you. We were supposed to walk for 10km like this, but Pat and I couldn't quite manage so we went off on a side track with two guides through some beautiful countryside and river. Unfortunately the guides abandoned us about two-thirds of the way but they pointed out where we had to go and the road we had to take, so we were completely safe - just exhausted.

This is a bit out of date order but the keyboards are different and we keep hitting something that stops us typing.

Lots of love to everyone - we are absolutely fine and having a great time. We are really pleased that we have got a lot of younger people with us who have travelled the world and are giving us lots of tips.

Issy and Pat xxxxxxxx