EASTERN CHINA - THE LONG ROAD FROM BEIJING TO SHANGHAI From Beijing we took the sleeper train to the town of Suzhou. This was another Chinese city we hadnt heard of before we left the UK, but once again, it was huge. This place had a population 20% bigger than Sydney. We were now well used to the trains, and whilst not exactly the last word in luxury, they were better than going by road. China's road network may be better than that of its immediate neighbours, but the driving skills of its people are no better. We have noticed that in developing nations, they drive in the same way that a few years ago they would have ridden a bicycle or scooter. Chaos is not the word! The interesting thing is that they think it takes great skill to drive in this way. Ha! Anyway, Suzhou. Famous for its silk and gardens. Yawn. Checked out an large garden - think zen gardens of Japan - rocks, water and few flowers. As has been the case with a number of this country's tourist attractions, it was more interesting watching the hoardes of domestic tourists conduct themselves than the attraction itself. Being amongst it tends not to be much fun (push, shove, spit, push, shove, spit) but observing from a safe distance is good. A short train ride from Suzhou took us to Shanghai. A transit stop for 36 hours. Time for a small amount of sightseeing. Our priority was to find the office of British Airways agent in town. A bit tricky as nobody speaks English and China blocks BAs website (amongst many, many others). A bit of help from Blighty solved the problem (thank you) and we had time for a bit of sightseeing. Lisa became an attraction walking along the bund (Shanghai's famous waterfront) as domestic tourists literally queued up to be photographed with her. This has happened throughout China, but this crowd was something else. From Shanghai it was on to Hangzou - our second experience of a beautiful Chinese city (well parts of it anyway). Braving another day of 40 degree heat we hired bikes and cycled around the place. Next stop was Tangkou, a small town at the foot of Hangshuan(Yellow Mountain), and China's most famous natural landscape. We had come here to scale the two highest peaks of the range. It was impressive, but we didnt exactly have the place to ourselves. The routes up and down are named eastern and western steps. And they really are steps carved out of the rock and are pretty much straight up and straight down. It took seven hours and we felt it the following day. Lisa for several days after that! Whilst in Tangkou, we supposedly stayed in the same hotel as Chairman Mao when he came to town. Unable to obtain confirmation that we were staying in the same room, we settled for a bit of Mao food. Pig fat and potatoes was declared his favourite dish. Coincidentally when this information was released China was experiencing its worst famine for generations and this dish would have been easier to rustle up than caviar. It has been fascinating to see that, despite Mao's policies being responsible for the death of upto 60 million Chinese people, that they still love him. Statues, posters, key rings dangling from the rear view mirror of most taxis. Well they either love him, or pretend to. A quick hop to Hangshuan (the main town in the area) for the train to Shanghai. We were in town at the same time as the competitors of the Miss Intercontinental Beauty Contest. The whole town had turned out to see these dolly birds from around the world be escorted around the finest galleries, tea shops and restaurants of the town. It was clear by looking at some of the competitors that this contest was the (very) poor relation of Miss World. Still, it helped pass the time whilst waiting for our late train to Shanghai. S