Travelled here on the overnight train after leaving Beijing and Sam flew back to Blighty. It is one of China's last walled cities and it very pretty with lots of courtyards, winding alleys and flagstone streets. One problem though....no one told us that there were no banks in Pingyao for foreigners! After a few hours wandering round trying to find a bank, we bumped into another couple from Quebec in a bank with the same problem and amazingly Simon spoke fluent Ch...

Spent two days in Datong visiting the famous Hanging Monastry and Yungang Caves of more than 50,000 Buddha statues after a four hour bus ride from Beijing.The monastry is more than 1400 years old and there used to be around 15 monks living there at any one time, so we were a tad concerned when we joined around 100 Chinese tourists all clambering over the place which is just held up by thin spindly sticks! Had a tasty dinner of kebabs, rice, noodles and some unide...

Had a wicked time in Beijing especially with the very glamorous Miss Collins! In between necking cheap Mojitos for 25 yuan(£1.50!) and stuffing our faces with Chinese food at least twice a day, the three of us managed to squeeze in most of the big sights! We spent an afternoon getting lost in the Forbidden City, which is China's largest load of ancient buildings and where the Ming and Qing dynasty emperors hung out with their thousands of concubines. Shamefully ...

Hello all, Just a quickie, having a great time in Beijing, we are all in a really nice hostel with a traditional courtyard on one of Beijings hotongs (winding lanes). Its really humid and hot so have been taking it very easy, we were due to do the wall, but the weather was miserable on the day so will head there next week instead. Checking out the Forbidden city and an old part of town with hundred year old medicine shops and antiques tomorrow, hopefully work...