3 excited children, ready for the big trip!! Breakfast has been had (thanks qantas!). Bags are loaded. 50 toilet trips done. New Zealand here we come!!

Yummy yummy lunch! Had a great lunch yesterday, culminating in these yummy little taro filled dumplings. All whilst overlooking the Bund and the Huangpu River. It was our splurgiest meal from the whole trip - $30 for both of us. Needless to say, food has been very cheap. Had a chilled day, photos, shopping, recharging for the year. Lovely! Now setting off for our last bit of sightseeing before the flight home. Loving Shanghai streets - can't wait to get out ther...

Ok, ok, so this photo really doesn't show any scenery... In the background are the beautiful yuyuan gardens in shanghai. We have had such a fun, amazing day. Good food, amazing views but most of all enjoying the contrasts in this city. One side of the road is 5 star, western style affluence, on the other, traditional, old style Shanghai, with washing hanging out the windows and simple, traditional businesses in small, "hole-in-the-wall" shops. I think the best us...

Wow - an exhausting, amazing, even emotional day... Had a lovely man take us first to the ming tombs, where emperors were buried deep underground more than 500 years ago. Was fascinating. Then on to the Great Wall of China. Still feels surreal just writing that! It was extraordinary, steep, quiet (!), beautiful. Also crazy - who builds a wall like that across the top of a mountain range...! Quite an emotional, even spiritual time, book ended by a crazily scary ch...

So after 32 hours door to door, I'm finding this chandelier above our bed too much of an assault on my senses!!! The great news is we made it, the hotel and room are very cool, and the tiredness and overstimulation is nothing a good sleep won't fix! I'm surprised by a touch of culture shock - our hotel is in a great area generally but a tiny lane that gives a sense of the real Beijing. Looking forward to taking photos. Taxi driver, of course, wouldn't give us cha...