On a buzz from that Naughty temple. we rode back along the highway (check me pix) back to the old city of Pingyao. Pingyao, was a nice little quaint city of only 40,000people which was great, but the inner walled city was crenelated with chinese tour groups, each with thier own flag and megaphone and a leader..noisy! the next day, we went one better and discovered a 3man'tandem' if you can call it that. what jokes! the main objective of the day, was to find a snickers bar as by the looks of what we had seen so far, they hadn't been invented yet. i sat at the back and as we rode slowly,and skillfully as not to come to a hault, i would leap off the back, run in the shop, hectically search for the holy peanut chocolate covered candy bar, (persistently to no avail) and bust on out of there, down the street and hop back onto the bike, ofcourse still in motion.we soon perfected this art, and learnt to encorporate every aim in this manner.

we found out it was pretty difficult to get out of pingyao to beijing, so we arranged for a 2hour train to Taiwyuan on a hardseat, which wasnt too hard, and then hastily purchase a ticket to beijing.which we did.this was brilliant because we thought we would have to wait atleast a day.

arriving in beijng at around 5:30am, we made our way, after a round tour of beijing for an hour and a half, courtsey of ourselves, to Leos Hostel. this was a nice place, and many lovely young ladies workin there. The Smog in Beijing was hurrendous and did wanders for the bronchitus. everyone in the hostel were splittering and spluttering, the common room more like the affects of the gas chamber.

a downfall of our time in beijing was that we headed to a 'notorious Teahouse' where we believed we were scammed. we paid around 20quid each for a tea ceremony. at first we were both so shocked, we sort of divided the cost happily. and the fact we were with two chinese pals swayed us not to make a seen and argue the price down. we didn't realise what was happening, and although it wasnt a deliberate scam,organised by over-friendly touts, or so it seemed, it was common place for teahouses to bump up the price with extra costs. charging us for 30minutes use of the room (which came to more than the cost of both beds in our dorm for one night). i kick myself for not kicking off.

still dan got out of this one sweetly, as he was in day2 of his hangover from the nights previous. Beijing was party on everynight. we continued to share the snicker licker love and were constantly on the hunt for cheap local beer, everynight vicotorious. it was a wonderful community at leos hostel, and even though it was pricey i enjoyed my stay there.

ofcourse we made a visit to The Great Wall. we decided not to take the hotel up on their offer of Y180 for a trip there, and located the place ourselves with an assortement of local buses and taxis and eventually after 3hours we arrived Y165 still in pocket. the wall was magnificent, the smog giving the landscape that eerie tingle, that forced you 1000s of years back to the face of a Mongolian army snaked over the pallid hills. i had great fun on the wall, larking about as usual takeing snaps and pacing up steep steps, sometimes even climbing!on the way down however, the main show began as we beat the queues by arriving late to the zipwire. the fastest route down back to the carpark where our taxi was waiting. it was probably around a kilometre long and beamed through the mist, over a silent lake between two mountains. i have a video of me going down and i should think it probably reached speeds of maybe 30/40mph. the girls ofcourse didn't try it!tut, but back at the hotel, we celebrated not only their last night, but also Anna's 24th birthday. much beer guzzled and plenty of duck muzzled. the night ending up with all tucked in bed asleep, including the boi shay and me keeping steve, a photographer from virginia, and malcolm a dj from london company in a dumpling house to the 7th hour of the morning. what a night

the day they left, shay and i had arranged to meet with Adrians family. unfortunatly adrian wasnt there to meet us, but Birgit his wife, welcomed us with open arms. she was very hospitable and truly made us feel welcome. it was great to stay in a nice home, with some delightful people. the luxury of cammebaire and french stick was brought back fond homely memories.on the supposed second night of our stay, we stupidely missed the shuttle bus back to the compound, Eurovillage. we stayed another night at leos, which was pleasant surprise for the dan the space man. the nigt after we got back in the evening, to finally meet adrian who had returned from his business trip. he was a very intelligent man, and pursued an interesting line of work.Charming enough to accompany his wife and children. he explained that on fridays the family liked to go out for a meal. they took us too a superb italian restaurent and i feasted of a bowl of exquisite carbonara for around 2.00!unfotunatly courtesy of the family..

the next day we took full advantage of the clubhouse within the compound, and got in a couple of set of tennis of which the second set i won.after i pushed to my limits in the gym, and then enjoyed a heavenly finnish sauna and a plunge pool. finishing with more than a few lengths in the pool. Great to get some soothing exercise in. so far we try to keep ourselves healthy by exercising in our room. unfortuntley fruit is not so cheap and the bottled water isnt spring water and instead boiled to s*** to kill all the amoebas and bacteria along with the essentials.

packing our bags, we left to meet dad checking out of his hotel and went to visit the forbidden city. its was huge! however the temple rooms were purely pitstops for pre emperors to rest as they walked the length of the city. the most impressive bit for me was the imperial garden where i hugged some several hundred year old trees and admired the beautiful shrubbery along with an icecream.

moving out of beijing we took a fast train, only 12hours! surprisingly as it was on the same latitude as Chengdu! here it was less polluted and every now and then you could catch a glimpse of the sun lancing through the clouds. shanghai seemed to be a more peacful city, despite what others told us. a bonus also that the locals did not try to add a couple of yuan onto the price of everything we tried to purchase. we were recommended the Bund Sightseeing tower, and as spectacular as it might have been we decided against it as the Y100 entrance did not seem worth the pictures at the top. we did however attempt to visit the home of the CCP, based in the French Concession. unfortunatley we misesd that whilst searching for it by only 15minutes. the french concession was also a bit of a let down, as it was more shanghai that the rest of the city, only thing different being the prices were extortinate.

two days later we had booked a train ticket out of there.it was to be a 46hour train ride to Kunming. the thought not so appealing we stocked up on instant noodles, snickers and plenty of peach flavoured rice wine and began the slog.

it wasnt too bad..infact quite enjoyable. i spent alot of the time reading chinese history and finishing off my book. as the lights went out, the train was black. in my compartment i lay there lieing on my bunk, with shay on my level to my left.timeless.listening to his tunes, earphones stretched across the gap between the bunks.Totally relaxed. no responsibility, no worries, being carried from town to town.46hours is not alot of time in a lifetime but the duration could be filled with wild dreams, or tasting countless local quisines, or maybe creating new fresh and diverse relationships with fellows.but when these opportunites arise, i take full advantage, as per usual, to totally disconnect.instead of it being 46hours of boredom, its 46hours of leaving this world and entering into my own. one so familiar, like Brighton or ShayD's face but also so rare.i dont often get the chance to visit, but when i do i feel as if i come back wiser, with more profound knowledge, illimatable strength and a syringe full of enthusiasm. the train sleeps with every being on their bunk and the aftermath.. scraps of food littered on prison trays crenelated over the hallways tables. the bright lights sprinkled over a velvet space twinkling past the window.10pm and lights go out,and its just me and the darkness and im feeling the music. until dawn, when that worlds opens again, and i step out. onto the platform.

first impressions of Kunming is that it appears alot poorer, than the previous chinese cities i have visited. that in mind, walked up the steps out of the station i find 20cigarttes on the floor. its strange we never seem to buy them but always gain them some way or another. spending only one day here, a serious delight for me is that this city has vegetation, and wow what a difference it makes! the airs healthier, the streets are cleaner and it really gives you a change of scenery, literally. as soon as you stepped out of the station, much like when we arrived in nepal, you could feel a strong influence of the closeby neighbouring countries. in this case vietnam, even though iv yet to visit, i can see these people characteristics wise are much different to what iv seen so far. this is exciting because reminds you how close you are to moving on.

Been away for 2months now and iv found that its not that life is short, its just that time moves so fast. grabbing life by the balls and seizing every opportunity with the upmost enthusiasm, is hard even for skilled and experienced humans.its human nature to take it all for granted and i do pinch myself every now and then just to make sure im not dreaming.and ofcourse to remind myself i am here, thousands of miles away from what i know so well. some places iv visitied could quite easily be another world, and its easy to pass it by. but thinking hard its really just a the same land but with a differnt george and shay journeying through a similar lifestyle, rules or no rules, rice or no rice. all trying to achieve the same thing. survival. not neccesarily far away from home, even close by.countries in europe, all are foreign.