Day Twenty-Two 26 Hour Train ride from Chengdu to Guilin I had a lovely lie in & the best nights sleep yet in Chengdu & I could have easily slept for a few more hours but packing had to be done as we were due to leave the Mix Hostel today & get ready for our train journey to Guilin. We both had lovely showers to make sure we were clean as our next wash won't be for a couple of days. We packed our rucksacks & headed down to the reception to sor...

Day Twenty-One Leshan - The Giant Buddha Extremely early start, up at 5.30am & out by 6am. There was 6 of us in total (us 2 & 4 Dutch people) all squashed on to this little minibus. As there were a few of us that wanted to go to Leshan but because of the distance (about 2.5 hours away) & getting there (many different buses) it was cheaper & less hassle to all throw in & hire a private driver & bus instead of trying to get there ourselves...

Day Twenty Crazy Chengdu Lotus Market Not such an early start, I lied in bed for ages & refused to get up because I hadn't slept well at all. The hostel is a fabulous place but you can hear a pin drop 3 rooms ways, the noise of people shifting around is awful. Finally out of bed! Time to try to figure out how the washing machine works. We desperately needed to wash some clothes as it's doing our heads in wearing the same things day in & day out. Washin...

Day Nineteen The Real Panda Sanctuary Up & at it & waiting in reception from 7.40 waiting to be picked up so we can be taken to the Panda Sanctuary just outside Chengdu. We had to be at the sanctuary early in order to see the pandas active because early morning is feeding time. In the afternoon the pandas tend to sleep. On the bus with 4 other people some are who we met at the dumpling party last night which was cool as they felt less like real strange...

Day Eighteen 5.20 & we had arrived in Chengdu train station. We got off the train & followed the sea of people towards the exit. Outside was even worse, there where people all over the place. It didn't feel like it was very early morning. Now 5.50am & after struggling to get a cab from the train station we arrived at our next hostel. This place looked authentic & it seemed to have some traditional features. We checked in & headed straight to...