We didn't get much chance to venture past the immediate environs of the hotel during our stay in Kunming due to the heavy rain which came in torrents leaving huge puddles and wet natives. We did however manage to make it to the ticket office to book two of our upcoming sleeper train journeys.

In China, there are numerous options when choosing seat types. On overnight trains, the favourite option is often soft sleeper, four beds per lockable cabin in bunk style, with brackets rather than ladders. The most expensive option they sell out fast so you have to move fast if you don't want to end up with a hard sleeper - six beds, no door. The use of the terms hard and soft are a bit misleading as the actual beds are the same it's just the number and privacy that differ. Anyway, you can book tickets online using some recognised sites but these incur quite a hefty commission so we decided to brave the ticket office and see if we could get them ourselves.

Never one to shy away from a challenge we headed for the station and joined the queue armed with an iPad, notebook and passports. Eventually, we got to the front of the queue " knee how" (phonetic spelling of the Chinese for Hello). I pressed the iPad screen onto the glass and the cashier strained forward to decipher the simplified Chinese characters on the Google translate screen. "You need ticket office ONE. " she said and went back to her screen. Ticket office One was in a different part of the station, but undeterred we headed off. The queues in ticket hall one were much longer than the previous ticket section, but we joined the back of one of the queues and waited our turn.

We had been warned about people queue jumping in China so we were keen to see how things compared with India. A few folks would sidle up to the front but would eventually return to somewhere further back. In contrast to India where people just elbowed you from the counter, it was all very civilised? When we reached the front again I hurriedly pressed the iPad against the window. The cashier read the screen, leapt up from his seat and then disappeared into the back of the office. When he came back he said "you go number 1". John gave a sigh of desperation, and we both hoped there wouldn't be a third long queue. In the event, there were just a couple of people in front of us, and it turned out the girl on number 1 could speak English, so when we flashed the iPad screen at her she replied with " you want to buy tickets!" Easy peasy from then on, we managed to come away with both sets of sleeper tickets without having to pay extra commission, or having too much stress. Just a long wait.......off to Dico's for breakfast now then. Our next train journey was to be an 8 hour day time trip from Kunming to Lijiang.

Wanting to save some money as usual we opted for the seats rather than sleeper carriages so we could enjoy the scenery en route. We arrived at the station in good time, and put our bags through the security scanner before heading into the station towards the waiting room. The station displays the waiting room numbers alongside the train number on LED boards so it's not too difficult to figure out which one you need. Another security scan before we go into the waiting rooms, and were able to settle down for a 45-minute breather. I headed off to find some breakfast nibbles and drinks, and then we were all ready. Tickets in hand we followed the crowd when the doors opened.

Carriage 11, seats15 C &D . The steward greets us at the door of the carriage, checks our ticket, and on we get. It turns out hard seats are actually the bottom bunks of hard sleeper, and hard they definitely were after eight hours- although there was the advantage that you could hideaway on the top bunk for a nap if you could cope with the altitude. We passed through some lovely scenery, rice terraces similar to the ones we'd seen in Vietnam and then majestic mountains covered with trees and red substrate. Well worth the 890 yuan (£9.50 fare) for the 8-hour journey.

Typically, after lovely weather during the journey, as we step off the train in Lijiang the heavens open. The railway station is about 6km out of town, and information we'd looked at beforehand suggested catching the bus to the town and then a taxi from there to your hotel, so we headed for the bus stop. Trains in China, at least the ones we catch are incredibly long, and it seemed the whole passenger compliment had the same idea as us for getting to town. The large canopy used for the waiting area was crammed to capacity, and when the first bus arrived it became obvious this could be a long wait.

Reluctantly we agreed we would have to negotiate a fare for a taxi, at least we would when we found one. We walked all around the front of the station until we eventually found a sign indicating request taxis were round the corner. Indeed, as we rounded the corner the car park was full of small blue minibuses. Lots of young Chinese travellers were busy negotiating fares and the taxis were quickly getting snapped up. John and I sheltered under our ineffective umbrellas as the rain found ways to soak us through. Two Chinese women who had earlier been touting for hotel guests offered us the shelter of a larger brolly, and through pigeon Chinese and English, written notes in Chinese and English we managed to negotiate a ride with one of them into town. She phoned ahead to our accommodation the Sweet Sunshine Youth Hostel, who sent Summer their English speaking staff member to meet us in the town centre. Next instalment - life in Lijiang