Another city means another chance to get on the internet and update you all about the goings on in the past week.

After the Longi rice terraces we got another overnight train to Shenzhen before walking across the border into Hong Kong. By the time we had arrived at our sparkling and very fancy YMCA in the middle of Hong Kong it was mid afternoon. We then had a quick tour of the major areas and a quick lesson in how to use the subway (aswell as a stop in a krispy kremes to pick up some doughnuts) before we went to stanley night market. After a tour around the various stalls we had a big meal with everyone from the group as it was the last night of the tour. We then went for a drink before heading back to the hotel where a few of us had a few more drinks. As man utd were playing that evening/morning me and Andy decded to head out at 2.00 am to find an irish bar to watch it in. Thouroughly pleased with the result we finally got back to the hotel at about 5.30am.

The next day was spent on the internet, a quick call home and finding a bookstore to buy the south east asia on a shoestring lonely planet so i could start to plan the next part of my trip! In the evening we meet with our new group that would continue on from Hong Kong to Hanoi and it was very different to the one we had juts left. Aswell as me annie and reena from the original group there was a family of 3 from nottingham and 2 30yr old gys who worked in London. We then went out for a meal with them to get to know everyone before annie and I had a stroll through the markets again trying to pick up some last minute bargains. When we returned to the hotel quite a few of the group we had come from Beijing were sitting waiting for us which was a very nice suprise especially considering they had been sitting waiting for us for 2 hours! After our final goodbyes we went to bed to get ready for an early morning so we could head back into China. We got a internal flight in China to take us to our next destination Kaili and we got food during the flight even though it was only 1hr 30 mins and it was a lot better than a lot of meals ive had on planes. We spent most of the day travelling so crashed out quite early.

The next three days were spent treking through the countryside of SOuth China and staying in a guesthouse and a Homestay. From the moment we entered the Guesthouse we were constantly plied with rice wine which was horrible to start with just about manageable after a few more shots. That evening we were treated to a culture show where we all had the chance to dress up in traditional maoi (the area we were in) costumes and take part in some dancing!

The nexts days trek was amaxing and the sun had decided it was about time to come out so we all ended up with red necks and lovely t shirt tan lines! The homestay was a great experience and as we got there relatively early we had a chance to wander round the village and interact with the locals. SOme people played some basketball with the local kids and a few of us sat and read and tried to chat with the kids that came andsat with us. The evening was spent in the house of one of the villagers and then we joined them drinking more rice wine and trying to have a conversation. It was really good to get a real view of what life is like in rural china as we hadn't really had that level of interaction before on the trip.

Yesterday was the last bit of the trek and last night we got n overnight train to Kunming where we are staying for a day before we get a bus over the border to Vietnam tomorrow which im not particularly lookign forward to as we will be on it for 12 hours and it has started to get pretty hot here now.

The next time i will update the blog will be in Hanoi i think where my intrpid trip finishes and life on the road on my own begins!!