Today we did an awful lot of walking. The plan was to go to the Temple of the Eight Immortals, which is situated East of the city walls. It looked so simple on the map but was actually tucked away down a tiny side alley that most people wouldn't give a second glance. Naturally it took us about two hours to find the temple and when we got there we found that it was just the same as all the other temples we had been to and packed with locals, so we decided not to d...

Day 16 Some time towards the end of our train journey from Shanghai, an old man collapsed and hysteria broke out in the carriage. There were cries from relatives and just about every member of staff had congregated around the old man, not to offer their assistance but just to see what the commotion was about. After some time the man came to and the train detoured to the nearest station so that he could be taken to hospital. Daley and I had been looking on f...

We were really pleased to be leaving Shanghai and left the hostel with plenty of time to catch our train. Unfortunately, when we arrived at Shanghai station, it became clear that about four million other people had had the same idea. With the shear numbers, no English signs and our general lack of navigational skills, we found ourselves on the wrong side of the station, swimming against the stream to find out way to the right entrance. So close were we to missi...

Day 14 If there is one thing I do exceptionally well, it's sleep, so if you were expecting me to start today's blog by telling you that we made it to the bus station in time to go to the water village, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you. Truth be told, I woke up closer to the time the bus would have been bringing the tourists back from their day trip. Daley and I spent most of the day in the common room, reading up on things to do in Xi'an and Beiji...

Day 13You may not be surprised to read that I woke up a little later than planned this morning. Still, nothing a bag of Lays (foreign Walkers, for you uncultured folk) and a pineapple juice couldn't sort out.As we had only originally planned to spend three days in Shanghai, we were a little stumped for things to do. The only tourist attraction left on our list was a water village in Zhou Zhuang, but we needed to be a the bus station for 7 am. Clearly that was nev...