Hello once again!

Well what an eventful few days involving illness, eating in a toilet restaurant and stolen bikes...!

Dave left things in Yangshuo when he was due to go to a caligraphy class while I secretly went to get his birthday present before my cooking class. My class was great - we went round the local markets learning about all the veg and saw the butchers where not only did they have live chickens, ducks and geese, but also rabbits and dogs...! I saw the dead, prepared dogs hanging up and could hear the live ones in the back so a little nasty. We then cooked 5 dishes including beer fish, aubergine, dumplings and chicken and cashew nuts. After the class the group met up again and caught the sleeper train to Guangzhou to then get the cnnecting train to Hong Kong. All was going well until the early hours of the morning when I surfaced from my bunk rushing to the stinking squat toilet with D&V! Travellers bugs aren't great at the best of time, but using a squat loo on a moving train with silly Chinese people constantly trying to get in was a bit more than ridulous!

We made it to Hong Kong, on Dave's birthday, but I went straight to bed while he explored and bought me goodies like crisps and coke. Later that night we met up with the group and headed to Kowloon via the star ferry to watch the 'Symphony of Lights' followed by a suprise birthday cake for Dave. He loved it and ate my piece too :)

The next day was the end of the tour, but Craig said we could stay with him at a friends house. Having moved all our stuff over we explored the city and watched 'Confucius' at the cinema before meeting up with the two Aussies from the tour (Cathy & Caitlin). We'd arranged to go the 'Modern Toilet', which is exactly what it says on the tin...! The decor included sitting on toilets, urinals on the walls and sinks as the table bases. The food was then served in either a toilet, bath tub, urinal or sink...! I've never seen anything like it! Hillarious and it must come to England one way or another!

Once we could back to the flat things went down hill and I was ill again (thanks to Jamie I got better over the next two days - thank you for the pills and advice!). While I stayed in bed all day, Dave went of exploring and came back with Jeans - I'm so jealous! It's strange to see him in 'normal' clothes!

The next day we boarded our flight to Kunming and spent the afternoon eploring the local surrounds. The hostel is typically backpackers and lively with good cocktails :) Today we decided to hire bikes and find the lake to sit and have a relax round, exploring the beautiful scenery...that was the plan anyway. After cycling for nearly 3 hours (along silly busy roads) we reached the lake to be swifty escorted away by a man on his bike and his dog. We headed to the University area and wandered around the park only to get back to the railings where both bikes should be and there was just one waiting for us. A grumpy walk back to the bike rental place follwed :( We're both over it now as we've had a drink and a hearty meal!

Well, that brings us up to date for now. We're due to head over to Tiger Leaping Gorge the day after tomorrow so will let you know how that goes.

Lots of love to all, as always.

Isey and Dave
xxx