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 actually for a change centrally located so we only had to go left out the door and there was the main shopping street and all the markets etc. We even found a market that sold in tiny cages about 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 as 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.

Well today we went to see the terracota warrioirs on a tour booked through the hostel was really good, there was 14 of us and we went to a terracota factory first to see how they are all made etc and was really tempted to buy you a little set of soldiers dad but the shipping home would have been to much but when they come to London museum you could buy some there, then we went to where the warriors are and there are 3 pits, the 1st pit conained over 6000 soldiers and horses but it looked more like 600 cos alot of them are all in broken pieces and this was how they were all found and over 20 years of restoration work they built them all up again as they were destroyed by enemies of the emporer, then the 2nd pit had a few soldiers but again were mostly all ruins and the 3rd pit was all ruins but was good to see them all and was amazing to see what they looked like all different and the detail is incredible. Then we went for lunch and had a feast for 40 yen was quite expensive for china but only about 2 quid in pounds so cant complain. Quite an interesting valentines day anyway! Tonight were prob going to have a wander round the muslim quarter where the night food market is and tomorrow have a wander then were debating whether or not to go on the 3 night 4 day yangtze river cruise because from here we could either fly there do the cruise then fly to hong kong or fly straight from here(train is out of question all the tickets they seem to be offering are standing tickets and the train takes at least 17 hours so not really up for that!) so cos of money were not sure what to do we want to do it cos the things we will see wont be there in 2 years time cos they are building a dame but its about the money aswell so keep you posted on what we do next!!!

Well after alot of debating we decided not to do the river cruise as we cant do everything so we managed to get a really cheap flight to Guangzhou right by Hong Kong on the 17th Feb then were staying there for 1 night before getting the train to Hong Kong on the 18th then staying there for 5 nights and we need to sort out a visa for Vietnam there our stop after that. Today we both felt really ill as i have really bad cold so the little old man that runs the hostel took me all the way to the chemist and translated it all for me so i got some pills now but he was so sweet. Going on a panda tour tomorrow which should be good and the common room here is really good so we met some nice people last night and prob meeting up with them in Hong Kong theyre Jasmine and James from Essex so quite close to home

Went on the panda tour with Jaz and James was a bit of a joke we got there and it was closed so we somehow got in and was more like a general zoo that had about 4 pandas, the condidtions again were really awful and sad to watch was nice to see the pandas though then we went off for our lunch included in the tour and again this was closed due to everything shutting down for their new year so was a bit of a rubbish day and in the evening we went to an amazing light and water fountain show and all these lights and music appear and it was really good to see and it was free and we went with the couple we met from essex even though we were all really ill it was worth going out. Last day today were flying south to Guangzoh then were catching the train or bus into Hong Kong tomorrow where were staying for about 6 days cant wait!!!