Dali is known in China as a 'backpackers and hippies' mecca. An area which supposedly saw the first few outgoing western travellers settle and travel in. We arrived by train and after a frantic bus ride (which could have been avoided as a bus leaves about every 5 mins from the station!) we made it to Dali Old Town. Our hostel has since 'changed' into a hotel, gone more upmarket and changed its name but as it was quiet we got an improved room for the same cost! W...

After leaving Yangshuo we decided to take a flight to Kunming, it became apparent that travelling a country the size of China in just one month would be hard and flights had to be taken even with more cost involved! The main reason for a visit to Kunming was to see the famous stone forest but we had a day seeing part of the city first. The city is not really known for its tourist attractions but there was a decent (nearly full day) loop we could do of the main s...

Our next stop in China took us out into the countryside. Well, what would be a tiny hillside village in somewhere like Vietnam, in China (with its 1.3 billion population) was home to around 400,000 people! Although once we were there you would never know and it didn't take any impact from the amazing scenery. To start our journey we took a coach from the city and then a bamboo boat along the meandering river that would normally take you all the way to Yangshuo. ...

So! Our first stop in China and what a journey to get there!! Starting with a sleeper train from Vietnam, 24 hours later... Covering 2 border crossings, navigating a mental Chinese train station (twice), somehow using sign language to describe our hostel name as we only had it written in English and all locals can read are Chinese symbols (and the hostel being on the other side of the city), we made it... Guilin wasn't one of China's big cities but as we came t...

Very brief update for our last day in Vietnam, especially as it was our third stop in Hanoi of these two weeks! We just had a day of pottering about before our night train to China... Much needed haircut and shave to avoid the 'castaway' look of Central America and a nice traditional Vietnamese BBQ and local beers to set us up before leaving! Great few weeks in Vietnam! If anything, showing Gemma around the places I'd been before and as this time it wasn't afte...