21/07/07:- We have traditional Chinese style breakfast this morning sweet bean curd and dumplings. After a small lie in we head back and pack up while we try to find a ticket out of town whether it is by bus or train.

This tedious task takes 6 hours of our day/lives. One whole day spent on miscommunication and a lack of manners and willingness to help….very annoying; by the end of the day we both just want to leave Beijing. (How will they cope will for the Olympics?)

We find some "Mullet" that tells us we have to come back and buy our tickets at 17:45pm for a 17:00pm departure! After traveling for numerous of hours to a south station because we are told we can only book south directions tickets at a south station which is half way across the other side of town. Arghh! This happens a lot!!

We eventually bring back our bags to the station and head to Tian; we arrive at 02:00am and find a hotel, although I could think of better names for it. We find a cheap room and after checking the half day room (12hrs) I receive the shock of a lifetime with a room of about 50 men spread across so many camp beds in the nip, doing what Dave describes to me as "tea bagging" each other! We hastily retreat to our room.

It was like a scene from Faulty Towers in a room which is by far the worst in China we have stayed in.When asking the landlord for a shower (as ours does not work) he hands us a very nice pair of thick satin PJ's that I can only envisage my Uncle Willie wearing, and a pair of flip flops. And as Dave flicks off the lights they start a strobe light disco effect!

22/07/07:- Today we try to head further to Xi'an, another late coach journey and another late night ahead. Dave finds that amongst all the shenanigans going on last night coming off the coach that he has lost is Ipod! With a crappy start that puts a downer on the mood we head to the station

We are once redirected form one station to the other, and take a very very very long road which we are repeatedly told leads to the station. After the trek we hop on a bus and an hour later we are there. We book our tickets and return with bags hoping that nothing else gets thrown our way.

23/07/07:- We arrive in Xi'an and find our digs for the evening (It's just nice to get our bags off our backs). The room is reasonable and clean so we are happy.

Dave is still not feeling 100% so we take a mini stroll up the main street. We peep in a few shops and buy some breakie for the morning (fruit and muesli).

We have found a restaurant and while in the middle of eating there we find a nest of cockroaches in the kitchen window. Puke!

24/07/07:- We have a decision to have a chill day seeing as though Dave is not feeling great. We have our breakie which is crammed with salt!! Yuck. We then head over the road and find a better hotel and set up first double bed in China. We look around the town shops, mainly for shorts and trainers. We stumble across a DVD shop and blow what seems like our years spending money on DVD's. (We are now in possession of everything from Disney classics to Simpson's and x-files).

We go over to the Bell and Drum tower however there is not a great deal to see for the money that they are asking. So we give it a miss for the day. We head back to the hotel with popcorn and our new collection and chill out with a movie.

25/07/07:- Up and today we visit the Big Goose Pagoda. Or should I say out ticket got us the entry to the temple surroundings and it was extra for the ticket to climb the Pagoda. We go to climb the outer city wall but again it was far beyond out budget and between the wall or the Terracotta Army and the men win hands down.

We then come back, watch a movie and head into the Muslim town to go for a souvenir hunt and for something to eat. We have a nice Chinese curry. With the present we just end up being chased by everyone so we leave for the evening. We book the Terracotta lads for tomorrow and other bits which seem included.

26/07/07:- Today we head to the Terracotta Army (we head out by ourselves as it is cheaper. The Terracotta Army is amazing. You are lead into 3 vaults through a dark room and then suddenly, wham; you are hit with this magnificent display of pits with the findings of the army, and other works that are still being continued. The amount of work and time put into the archeological project is over whelming! Vault 1 is by far the best there are approximately 1,000 men in the pit, where vault 2 is an ongoing project and vault 3 carries around 65 men, but there are horsemen and chariots in 3.

Later we head back to the Muslim quarters to the night market for pressies, again no one in China seems to understand the word no! After having dinner we head back and get ready to leave Xi'an tomorrow.

27/07/07:- Today we book our train tickets for this evening to Chengdu on hard sleepers for approximately 14hours, which is cool because at least we can sleep semi comfortable overnight.

So we spend the doing last minute bits and pieces. Dave gets a haircut, he doesn't like it but I think it's nice. He is once again tempted to go for the "crack head chic" and shave it all off, I said if he does it I will so I think he is thinking twice.

We buy some shorts. I try on a pair of XL which embarrassingly enough do not fit. The shop worker then tries to explain to her c0-workersand they all join in laughing which wipes the last remaining smidgen of self esteem. We then head into town and spend another couple of pounds at the DVD store.

We have some snacks for dinner and leave for the train station. We find out that our train is delayed, a first so far. We board ¾ hr late and watch some of our new Will and Grace box set and then bed down. Unfortunately we have a new born baby next door who cries a new set of baby lungs! Me and Dave head to the toilet before going to bed. As our bladders expand and seems to get cm's bigger by the minute we are told we are not allowed urinate while the train is stationary! Dave is very close to peeing in the sink! I get a lucky much relieved break while Dave is made hold for another 10 mins.

28/07/07:- I wake form a disturbed night sleep (babies and cigarettes). Dave and I watch some Looney Tunes to pass the time. We suddenly think we have taken a long time to our destination, we stop and start very slowly for a few hours and we have now been on the train approx 17hrs and still not at our stop. Very frustrating with a feeling like an elephant trying to squeeze into a matchbox!

We finally arrive and find a hotel near the train station, not our best but however it will do. We bag down and have a stone cold shower and go into town. We find a curry house and dine with wonderful memories replaying on our taste buds of Indian cuisine. Wow!

We stroll back stuffed and walk as our floor attendant saunters down our corridor with a machete swinging from side to side to unlock our door. A delightful nutter with a comical laugh to match. We watch some Wallace and Gromit and head for the sheep hills.

29/07/07:- Today up early and out to Huanglongxi (the place where Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was filmed). It's a beautiful picturesque setting and a first real glimpse of Chinese culture at its best. Away from the city we sit and drink Chinese tea.

While trying to translate the menu we are saved by a Chinese English teacher who later she and a group of her friends invite us over to join them for tea and convo. (Nice Chinses people do exist).

We bus it back into town and Dave sniffs out another "all you can eat" pizza and pasta buffet salad…..yummy! Waddling back we go shopping, we find a few tops and shorts for Dave.

Back at the hotel we discover a lovely friend crawling on the floor. While trying to adopt the "out of sight, out of mind" approach, Dave says zai jian (goodbye) to our friend and sends him into the after life.

While out shopping I discover an adorable ginger kitty, which of course is strung up by the sadistic b-stards aka The Chinese. As I gather him up in my hands and uncoil him from his 2cm rein I get a punjunt aroma of urine. He starts to purr from the unfamiliar attention I give him. I want to wrap him up and take him away form this unfair inhuman world he has had the misfortune of being born into, but his owner an 8 yr old boy yanks his string as he is brought in for the night. I can only hope this is where he is fed and a little TLC is given before the next day of blazing heat and lack of freedom awaits him. Sniff sniff.

Dave and I get some more pics put onto CD and I become the victim of more mosi bites. Tomorrow onto Leshan to see Dafo (the largest stone carved Buddha) as our time is diminishing in China.

30/07/07:- Today we caught a coach to Leshan to see Dafo. What an amazing sculpture, derived from a cliff its carved right back into the stone. Its large scale is just incredible! On a very hot day it's a tough climb up the cliff to see Dafo but worth it, as I stand a glow with sweat in line to view the Buddha.

They also forget to include that you had to trek back up the cliff form the viewing platform. Dave assumes that this is obvious, however I hoped for a hidden elevator secretly built into the cliff with a/c to take exclusive (Dave and I) passengers back to the top. This unfortunately was not the case.

We met a friendly backpacker on the trip down called Jonathan form Keel. V. nice chap. We chatted but parted ways at the entrance to Dafo.

We rushed tot the station to catch our next ride to the next destination. The bus we are informed runs every 40 mins, but a locker room closes at 6pm. We have enough time to grab a quick bite. (Pork veggies and rice….god dam language barriers!).We rush over to the station everything is running smoothly so far.

Balls, the woman has cocked it right up. The bus that leaves every 40 mins in fact runs once a day at 10:00am….oh my god! So our option is to stay overnight and take the ONLY coach in the morning. We find a grotty hotel room opposite the train station and pay only 40 Yuan for the night. I have to reassure myself whilst showering and trying not to drop my foot in the directly below Chinese style squat toilet that it is for only one night.

Dave and I go shopping into town where there are oodles of trainer shops and cheap clothes shops. Dave purchases a few more pairs of shorts. (I think he needs some sort of retail rehab!). We nearly miss the last bus, but luckily one comes our way. We head home.

31/07/07:- We hop foot it into town for a quick breakfast to a coffee bar. (2xmilkshakes and dumpling soups). As we wriggle back we just make the coach and board. 7 hours on the coach, we watch DVD's, I got Dave to watch "Waking the Dead" for the first time and he falls asleep.

We arrive a 6pm with a numb bums. We decide to keep going with our journey, we book an overnight train journey to Chongoing it sets of at 8:15pm and arrives around 6am. We find a restaurant amongst some crappy cafes and order food. (Veg, noodles and pork).

We try to steel the bottom 2 bunks on the train (most room) but we are quickly reminded and instructed but the rightful owner and ticket inspector and some Buddha look a like k*** jockey where we belong.

01/08/07:- After a reasonable disturbed night sleep, we are woken at 6am by loud clanging (ticket inspector and Buddha k*** giving us our wonderful wake up call.As I gradually try to come round in my half asleep and dazed state the t*** faced Buddha man is snapping photos on his mobile in my face…cheeky buggar!

I tell him off, but with a language barrier it's difficult so I very politely and descreetly tell him to shut up and sod off and give him the international understood finger.

We find tickets to go further tonight on yet another overnight train to Liuzhou which leaves at 7pm and arrives at 9am, but somehow is an shorter distance than the previous train journey…..bizarre?

We find a non-prozzie half day o'clock room till 6pm as the need for a shower is way past due! We look around town and find ourselves in sloth heaven at yet another "all you can eat" buffet. We hand over the cash, wait for the pizza and sip a lovely cup of English tea.

So many servings later and a few visits to the toilet we leave and go trainer shopping. Dave and I purchase some spanky new trainers. Dave gets another haircut, more to what he wants. We make a move to the station for yet another overnight ride!

02/08/07:- After a semi decent nights sleep we get off the moving hotel at 9am, we find a coach which is 3 hrs long to Nanning which is where we want to head for the boarder crossing into Vietnam. We arrive into Nanning and find a nice hotel with free internet use. We decide as Nanning sucks and has nothing in there to do apart form wait to cross the boarding that after all our traveling we will chill out here for a few days before we start another country.

We find a travel tourist office next tot the hotel that are taking care of our visa for Vietnam, our Chinese ones are running gout on the 08/08/07. A well spoken English Chinese man sorts it and say it will take 3 days. Back on Monday. A little longer than we had hoped but we are chilling so that we hand over our passports.

We later find a German couple that are also crossing the boarder and they got their visas sorted at the Embassy (which the guys in the office claim there is not one around) and for the same price they are getting theirs done in one day. So we head back to the office with this new info, to which the guys in the office claim they know nothing about. They day we can check ourselves so after 2 hours of arguing we agree to do just that…so much for our chilling out wkend.

03/0807:- Up early to the Embassy, it turns out that the guy in the office was correct and that the Germans got it slightly wrong. So on our way back we drop in to tell them that Monday is fine for our visas. They then tell us that they are ready for tonight for pickup at 7:30pm.

So at 7:30pm we find out that there is a new price for our visas 650Yuan, in the end just before a CVA we call the police as they are refusing to return our passports. The police are just as corrupt and no help at all. They put in down to mis communication and say we should just come back on Monday and basically give in. So we spend our wkend in Nanning, and buy our tickets to Vietnam for Tuesday.

4/5/6/08/07:- We meet a young Swedish girl Amelia who has been teaching English in Shannghai since Feb and is also going to Vietnam. We have some dinner with her a couple of evenings. I have lunch with her when Dave is in bed recovering. She is good company in Nanning where there is nothing to do.

07/08/07:- We get up at 6am and head for the bus station for our coach at 8:30am. We travel with Amelia and we meet a very cool French family trying to travel the world buy bus and train….how cool! Finally we say goodbye to China.