After a few minor delays on the train and at customs we arrived in Hong Kong about midday on Tuesday. I instantly fell in love with the place, everyone speaks English, the signs are in English and the people are so polite (it seemed far more British than Chinese!!) We got some taxis to the YMCA to find only 2 rooms are ready which Ruya and I pounce on! Early bird as my Granddad would say!! The rooms were small for the price but the shower was an actual cubicle, i...

Yangshuo & Longji Rice Terraces Our hotel, Fawlty Towers was nice. Each room is huge with 2 beds and private bath although the drainage system was not that good! Unfortunately the weather was not all that good for 2 days solid so we didn't see very much of the surrounding countryside. Yangshou has over 20,000 limestone karsts (steep tree covered mounds) up to 300m high and the town we are staying in is in the middle of this stunning scenery. We spent most...

Arrived at Yin Bo Hotel in Shanghai late morning and headed out for the usual orientation walk with the group. The Bund is only 10mins from the Hotel so we had a really good location, not right in the heart of everything, just away from the noise and bustle of the city. The Bund runs along the riverfront and is full of British, French and American architecture. Across the river is an awesome skyline including the worlds tallest Hotel (Hyatt within Jin Mao Tower) ...

Arrived in X'ian at around 10am and took the bus to Jin Cheng Hotel. The weather was wet and cold but the city looked very nice. It still has the ancient walls surrounding the city and is one of few where these have survived. After a short orientation walk in the rain we grabbed some food and had a sleep as we were so tired from the train journey (they turn on all lights at 6am). At 6:30 the group met for dinner in the Muslim Quarter. It turned out to be the ...

This morning we met at 7o'clock for our 3 hour drive to the Jingshanling section of the Great Wall. We had heard it was swarming with tourists but luckily for us Intrepid organises trips to lesser-known places so it was just our group for the entire walk. It lasted about 5 hours and was really difficult at parts. It began with a 30minute walk up a steep hill to reach the wall and our guide was not one for hanging around! It was very steep up and down, with fl...