After an almighty thunderstorm overnight, Yangshuo was sunny and warm. We haggled on the quayside for a trip on a 'bamboo' raft to see the Cormorant fisherman. After a lot of shouting on her phone, the fisherman's wife rounded up her husband and son, who towed his dad's raft next to ours to a backwater where the cormorants had a noose put around their necks to prevent them swallowing their catch. We were lucky to see one of the birds catch a large fish and were d...

We arrived in Guilin on a late flight. Our guide was Yonghong, we stayed at the Sheraton. This morning we had a 40 min drive to the embarkation point for the Li river cruise through the fertile agricultural Li floodplain. Rice, beans, and brassicas are cultivated in small fields, and there were orchards lining the road. Some farmers are still using water buffalo but we also saw small tractors. Conisbee weather again today, there was mist/ low cloud obscuring t...

Yesterday, Ros joined us in Chengdu to visit the Giant Panda Breeding Station. A beautiful sunny day, the grounds were full of flowers like antirrhinum which we wouldn't expect to see until June in England, and huge stands of bamboo 20ft plus arching across the paths. The wild panda population is about 2000, and there are 80 odd at this, the main captive panda breeding station. Truckloads of mountain bamboo stems and shoots are cut each day to feed the animals, ...

The Conisbee weather jinx caught up with us today, and it rained in time for our cycle ride around the city wall. The city wall is 14 Km long, a perfect rectangle with 68 watch towers and 4 original gates. It has a couple of extra gates since the 1950s and has been rebuilt as often as Trigger's broom. Outside the city wall are many tall apartment blocks, but inside there are no buildings higher than 3 storeys. Again, most are not older than 40 years as they have...

The Terracotta Army visitor centre is an hour's drive out of the city along a wide tree lined motorway. Tony, our guide, explained that the regional government in Xian realises that the environment is important, so factories have been moved out of the centre and the air quality here is better than in Beijing. We saw huge building sites, apartments being built. The pits containing the warriors are huge, photos and TV don't convey the size. We bought the book, whi...