Our plan was to travel by train between major points within China. This never actually transpired. A whole host of airlines now offer cheap one way tickets for around £30, turning a marathon 20 hour train ride into a short haul 90 minute flight.

Xian followed our Panda extravaganza. The terra-cotta Army being the main tourist pull. 2,000 of these 1.8m tall fellows have been unearthed since 1974, when farmers digging a well stumbled across them. It is believed that thousands more exist.

The city itself fitted the model of a modern Chinese city. Shopping malls rubbing shoulders with restored ancient buildings.

Our final stop on our blow through China was Beijing. A week in a suburban business hotel brought with it a familiar routine. Scraggy businessmen sitting on the end of their hotel beds, door flung open, smoking, their mates yelling from their open doored rooms, and generally misbehaving. Each evening half a dozen massage service business cards would slide under our door and the routine 11pm call came offering Phill some light relief. By the third night, Sue was taking the calls!

Visits to the Forbidden City and The Great Wall were interesting, though there is an element now that we are just playing tourist because we are supposed to. Phill has nodded and winked at the imbalmed bodies of Ho Chi Minh (Saigon, 1992), Lenin (Moscow, 2003) and was set to complete the BIG THREE here in Beijing. But it was not to be. Chairman Mao's Mausoleum is closed until Phill's birthday on 20th September. This is largely due to the fact that the Olympics are being held in Beijing in August 2008, so the whole city is being revamped.

Our week in China's capital city was dominated by visits to all the markets. Our backpacks are ladden down with genuine fake goods. We even had to sign a customs declaration upon entering Korea to saying we are not in possession of any such goods. Shush!

Oh, the Peking Duck was wonderful by the way.

We have enjoyed China. No doubt about it. Far more modern and together than we had imagined. Some big sights to see. That said it has been difficult to ignore certain aspects of the Han Chinese's behavior. Spitting on the floor in restaurants seemed a little off, though only the tip of a large iceberg on the manners front. Perhaps we have become less tolerant in our acceptance of cultural differences? Perhaps we are just tired and in need of a Digestive biscuit and a decent cup of tea?

PaSx