After our last 25 hour train journey on a hard seat we were heading to Xian on a 16.5 hour train journey with a hard bed, this one was going to be a breeze!

We boarded the train to find out we were in different cubby holes, I'd ended up on a middle bunk and Casson was on the top bunk of 3 next door. He ended up asking a woman to swap with me so we could be in the same bunk area. She jumped at the chance and why wouldn't she? She got the middle bunk and I ended up in the gods on the top bunk with barely any headroom.

For the first few hours we sat at a small table but eventually I decided to brave the bunk beds. I absolutely hate steps and. the 3rd bunk was quite high up, I was almost at the top when I realised I was stuck. There was no headroom so you couldn't put your knee on the bed to pull yourself up and the ladder straddled 2 beds with a wall in between so if you didn't position your feet right it made it really difficult. The conversation went like this:

Me: Casson, I'm stuck

Casson: Don't be ridiculous, just get on the bed

Me: I can't, I'm stuck, I can't go up or down

Casson: Just pull yourself up

Me: I can't, it's impossible, I'm trapped, I'm going to start panicking!

At this point everyone is watching, Casson's wetting himself and taking pictures. Eventually I managed to throw myself on the bed and slither on like a slug! But now I'm panicking, how do I get back down if I need the bathroom? I decided I'd wait an hour then wake Casson up to help me down, 30 minutes later they turned the lights out ..... I was trapped! I was stuck there till the morning as there was no way I was climbing down in the dark.

We arrived in Xian and went straight to our hostel, we'd booked a twin room but when we got there they told us the description of the room was wrong, it was actually a tent on the roof so we ended up in separate dorm rooms! Our idea of hell.

Xian was another bustling city, we headed to see the Terracotta Warriors on our 2nd day and whilst they were impressive neither of us were particularly wowed by them.

We spent a bit of time mooching about the city, the Muslim quarter was chaotic but really cool at the same time. It was a festival when we were there and animals were being slaughtered in the streets all around. We walked past about 5 rams heads on the side of the road with various bits of insides next to them.

The main reason for us coming to Xi'an was to climb Mount Huashan and walk the plank in the sky which is a 1 foot wide plank attached to the side of the mountain, 2000 feet up. After a false start one day (we got up at 6.30am, was on our way to the train station when we realised we didn't have our passports so couldn't book train tickets) we finally made it there. We could either get a cable car up that took 10 minutes or we could hike up which would take about 3 hours, we decided to hike.

My god it was hard work at times, it was never ending and the steps were relentless, some of them were at an 80 degree angle so you were practically on your hands and knees. Eventually we made it to the North Peak area and decided to power on to the South Peak towards the plank walk. This took about another couple of hours and god knows how many more steps.

Once at the plank we both had a moment of what the hell are we doing? Firstly, it was packed and we were queuing alongside the mountain with only a low barrier separating us and the 2000 meter drop below and whilst the pathway was only really wide enough for 1 person, all the people who had already done the walk were crossing us on this path.The Chinese barge through us and each other all the time so we hugged the mountainside whilst they walked past the barrier, if anyone was going over the edge by accident it wasn't going to be us!

Secondly, it looked scary as hell! We couldn't possibly describe what we did and do it justice but we'll give it a go.

Stage 1: Getting harnessed up

We get our harness on, get given no instruction whatsoever and then we waited in the queue bricking it

Stage 2: Bottle neck

As we wait to make our way down to the plank people are making their way up so there's a bottleneck at the opening to the steps down so we decide to wait till it's clear.

Stage 3: The worst steps we've ever been on

There are iron steps bolted into the cliff face that are practically at a 90 degree angle, we passed through an opening and start to make our way down, we're hooked on but we're pretty much climbing down the side of the Mountain. I remember saying "oh my god" about 20 times, after about 4 steps there's a boulder but I couldn't reach the step below the boulder properly so I had to sit on my ass and lower myself down. At this point Casson's in front of me (with the bloody go pro in his hand) thinking "why the hell are we doing this?" and wondering if I was going to make it or turn round as if he thought it was bad what the hell must I be thinking?

Towards the bottom of the steps they become really narrow iron bars and I almost couldn't reach the first one it, this is when I really thought I might panic but I managed it and then I had Casson shout up to me to move onto the footholds in the mountain. Eventually we reached the plank .......

Stage 4: The plank

Once on the plank which is about a foot wide my legs were shaking so badly, i think it was a mixture of fear and adrenaline. It wasn't very long but as you're walking along it people are walking back towards you so you have to cross. This involved them passing their harness ropes over your head and stepping around you. At this point we were both adamant on the way back we weren't going round anyone.

I probably should point out that as well as climbing down the steps and walking along the plank you have to unclip your hook at various points when you have to cross a bolt where the cable is attached to the wall. You have 2 hooks so you only move one at a time so you're always attached.

Despite absolutely crapping ourselves and wondering why the hell we were doing it when we got to the end of the plank we thought it was absolutely brilliant, just the small matter of walking back the way we came now.

Stage 5: The return

This time it was us on the outer side of the plank crossing people and it wasn't as bad as we thought. That was until there was a bit of a bottleneck and one girl tried to help Casson with his hooks, she only tried to take the 2nd one off before his first one was attached meaning he'd be on a ledge 2000 metres up unattached! To say he was forceful in telling her to back the hell off would be an understatement with me in the background calling her some not very nice names!

Stage 6: Back up the steps

Going back up the steps was a bit of a trauma as there was one guy who worked there shouting at Casson to go up but there was no room as one woman had both feet on one step meaning there wasn't space for Casson's foot. He ended up having to get hold of her foot and position it to make room. He got to the top after that. Unfortunately for me another woman coming down was having palpitations/panicking as she was stuck on the boulder bit (where I'd had to come down on my ass) and there was no way I was crossing her whilst she was flipping out, eventually she got down and I passed and made it to the top .... and breathe!

We were made up we did it, it was the scariest thing we've both ever done but it was brilliant!

General points

1) We were underdressed on the train, there were people changing into their silk PJ's to sleep in!

2) We have just over a week left in China and it's a week long national holiday so if we thought it was busy before god help us in Datong and Beijing as everyone heads to the tourist attractions during this time. Beijing's population is about 20 million but it could be almost double this figure when we're there. We're off to sharpen our elbows ......

3) We were glad we didn't make it to the mountain the first day as when we were on the metro we realised we had the same (albeit a different colour) courteeners t shirts on! What a couple of tools!