Guess what the weather was like when we arrived here?! It has probably only stopped raining for a few hours in total since we've been here but this has still been an amazing place. Yangshuo is a small town, which you can walk around in around an hour taking in most of the sites. There's a lot of cafes and restaurants as well as shops and places to stay. But it's around Yangshuo you really get to see some sites. Rob's been pretty busy here, doing a cycling tour o...

Happy Hallowe'en from the 5 star Dragon Boat! We've become accustomed to this new luxury now; with 3 meals a day included, en suite luxury cabin with riverside view and rubbing shoulders with the German elite (that's the people who paid good money to be here, not receiving a last minute free upgrade like us!) Views here have been a bit limited by the rain and fog (anyone see a pattern developing here?) but we've still had a great time. After out celebrity-style ...

Finally we were really out in the countryside. Emei Shan village is a small but still quite touristy area as many people use it as a base to climb Mount Emei. There are also lots of monasteries/nunneries. On nights 1 and 3 we stayed in Baguo Si monastery. Only 2 cockroaches in the room and a shower that would make most of you shudder/collapse with fear but a real experience. Very different from the luxury Japanese monastery we stayed in but we felt much more inte...

Pandas. Opera. Hotpot. Chengdu - done.

Arrived in Xi'an after our first night train experience. 6 to an open cabin - pretty claustrophobic but fun as was a novelty. Ended up playing cards before lights out - Cheat (which I was always terrible at) but ended up being more fun as we were playing with the Danish girls on our trip who taught us it's called 'Schnu' in Denmark and this seemed more entertaining to shout for some reason. Took in a couple of pagodas while we were in Xi'an and the main reason f...