hello from Shanghai, As has often been the case so far this trip we do not have much time to update the site but will do our best once in OZ. Shanghai is very different from everywhere else it is by far the most modern area we have visited. It is dominated by huge skyscrappers with tacky blackpool lights. The first thing that you notice is the huge numbers of people. On Sunday in particular it was like Christmas in Bluewater with M&S doing a half price sale...

Hello Everyone,We have a little more time to update you about our travels although by no means enough as the last few days have been non-stop.Currently we are in Suzhou about 2 hours outside Shanghai although it took us 16 hours by train to get here from Xi'an. Since our previous blog we have finally seen the Terracotta Warriors one of the main reasons that I (Rob) wanted to do this trip. We certainly were not prepared for the sheer scale of the tomb that was...

We are currently sitting within an internet cafe in Xi'an and have now been in China for four days. We were in Beijing for the past three days before a 12 hour night train during which we hardly slept. In Beijing we saw all the main sites which were largely as impressive as we were expecting. However the site of a Starbucks within the Forbidden City was certainly a shock as was the inclusion of a tobogan ride to help get down the Great Wall (admittedly thi...