Am leaving China early. I can't take it anymore. The main reason is the lack of contact with the outside world. It's soo lonely travelling here. I've met hardly any westerners, just some unfriendly Spaniards. My VPN sucks (hence why I'll probably have left China before anyone other than me reads this) and so can't talk any friends or family without incurring roaming charges. But also, China is just a very uninviting place. I took a 6 hour bus ride down the mo...

Am in Fenghuang! Fenghuang is famous throughout China for 2 main reasons. Firstly, its where China's Romeo and Juliet is set. Secondly, it was the last outpost of the Ming Dynasty and beyond here lied the territories of the Zhuang and Miao Peoples. Fenghuang is a touristic town though the crowds are nowhere near as thronging as in Zhangjiajie. It's pretty, but its outskirts really did showcase a poorer side of China. Bus stations have a habit of being in dodgie...

So... my VPN sucks! The Great Firewall of China means I cannot access anything google related which unfortunately because these blogs use google maps means I can't publish blogs until my VPN finally works or am out of China! But anyway... Zhangjiajie! My second day in Zhangjiajie far outclassed the first. There was much less hiking up steep mountain sides (although still a fair bit of it) and yet much more spectacular surreal scenery. I started on the Golden Whi...

After being shuttled to an all you can eat Chinese breakfast by the exuberant old Chinese lady at reception, I made my way to the Wulingyuan entrance to the Zhangjiajie national park. Surprisingly the ticket queue wasn't too bad, and I got a student discount! Zhangjiajie park is very large so you have to get a bus to various points and then hike or Cable car around. The buses are included in the ticket. The cable cars, no. Hence, it was a lot of walking.today! ...

Maybe that will be the last sleeper train I take... Been a quite dull weekend although this being China, even small simple things require a lot of thought. It was easy enough navigating Shanghai South station to find my train. The train left on time and whole system is very organised. I was in a hard sleeper carriage which means open compartments of 6. The beds are quite narrow to, I fell out once, though luckily I was bottom bunk. It was a relatively comforta...