Hi everyone,

We are now in Hong Kong and it all seems very exciting so far. Its a busy city regarding the amount of people. Everything is buzzing and nothing never seems to stop. Just went around a market which jonny loved as he likes to haggle and reminds him of the northern car boot sales!!

Beijing: It was always very hot and humid yet you could not see the sun for the sky was hazy with smog. We enjoyed Beijing a lot. We loved our trek of the Great Wall - it was spectacular. the views were amazing despite the misty and rainy weather. the trek was very steep much to kirsty's despair! She managed to take a few shortcuts with a mongolian woman which was slighty dodgy but all was fine! the wall was extremely impressive and definitely a highlight. at the end of the trek there was a zip line/wire to the bottom of the valley over a river - it was so fun!! Kirsty couldn't stop laughing!

The Forbidden City was great - very big but really impressive buildings, museums and pagodas. Tiananmen Square with the portrait of chairman Mao was also great to see. After which, we found a roast duck restaurant where they carved the duck right in front of us and then we had duck pancakes which were delicious!! jonny was like a kid in a sweet shop! The olympic site was also impressive especially lit up at night.

Shanghai: We didn't take to Shanghai as we did with Beijing or Hong Kong. we went up the shanghai world financial centre (the highest occupied floor of a building in the world) which gave us great views of the shanghai skyline. Kirsty was a bit scared of sheer drop to the street! We also happened upon a market place, where we tried some crab dumplings which were absolutely amazing!! the best food we have had so far.

Next we are off up to Guilin and Yangshuo to see the limestone karst scenery and then off up to Xi'an. Will update you all soon,

Lots of love and take care

Kirsty (author) and Jonny xx