Am now in Lijiang and really nice old town in the South of China. We're staying in the old part which is a maze of old chinese buildings and shops which all look the same (it took us about half an hour to find our way to the centre on the first day even though its actually only about 10mins away!) Lots of pretty chinese cotton tops and pashminas shawls here (resisting the temptation to buy them all!) Staying in a guesthouse here and the 'grandma' who runs it make...

Hey, Happy Easter everyone. Hope you all enjoy your easter eggs. Cate and I have found some bars of cadbury's to eat tomorrow in place of actual easter eggs (so sad to be missing those) We have hot chocolate as well but its really warm here so not sure we'll want to drink it. In Kunming now in the South which is a really cool city. Alot cleaner and less busy than the others. The hostel is also v cool and has a roof garden/bar overlooking the city below....

Hey, Is our last day in Chengdu before we leave on another overnight train to Kunming, further south. We went to see a panda reserve yesterday, they were so cute although smaller than I'd expected. The babies pandas are also red with long tails and look more like racoons. We spent about 2hours there taking loads of photos. Walked round the city on Tuesday (it only takes about a day to see pretty much all the major sites) and sat in a real Teahouse drinkin...

Have now been through Xian and seen the famous Terracotta aramy. Very impressive, hundreds of really detailed life like figures and horses. There wasn't much else to see in Xian so we left after a 2 days and came by over night train to Chengdu. We were on a hard sleeper with six bunks to a set and we were on the top (slightly scared I'd fall out in the night but luckily I didn't) The train then arrived half and hour early (maybe some tips for british rail)

Have now left Beijing. Travelled down by luxury train which had clean toilets, separate sinks and a tv over each bunk! Sadly have decided to go for the more budget option next time but it was worth it for one journey. Now in Xi'an which has been good although there doesn't seem much to see in the city. Have walked around the major buildings, temples and towers but as they are all of the same architecture and have the same interior we've slightly given up actually...