we got the train from shanghai and had soft seats which was nice didnt take to long to get there then we got to the hostel-bit hippyish but thats ok, we were actualkly for a change centrally located so we only had to go left out the door and there was the main sahopping street and all the markets etc. We even found a market that sold in tiny cages abut the size of a bag of sugar rabbits, kittens, puppies and even pigs! They were really cute but so cruel god knows what happened to them overnight if they wernt sold wanted to buy loads but couldnt!!! Then we ventured into a local restaurant and they had an english menu so we thoght great but it had ducks blood soup on it and things that didnt even make sense so we used our trusty lonely planet and ordered egg fried rice and veggie fried rice, they eat so much over here and thats like not even a side dish for them so they looked at us a bit strangely s we thought we had better order something else so we went for a safe veggie option and ended up with a plate full of peas in a pod!!!! nevermind we tried!!!! Off to Xian tomorrow flying as we couldnt get hold of any train tickets due to it nearly being chinese new year so were staying there for 4 nights and will either try and leave south for Chengdu before the chinese new year or might not be able to get train tickets so may have to wait til just after. Pain in the arse being chinese new year over here everyone is trying to get back home to their families so train tickets are almost impossible so having to fly sometimes which is more expensive but better than being stuck next installment from xian!!!