We arrived in Xi'an (pronounced shy-ann in case you were wondering) after a very comfy train journey - we had carpet, slippers and even a tv in our cabin...we're definitely not in India now! Xi'an is another huge city, swarming with people and clogged with traffic. The pollution is therefore choking and you can taste it in your throat after walking for just a short time, it also results in black bogies at the end of the day which is a lovely image for you all!...

Another bad weather day in Shanghai - the thick fog and pollution combo persisted so, after finally tracking down a copy of Lonely Planet, we headed through the art and antiques quarter of the city to the museum to take in some ancient Chinese art, sculptures, calligrapghy and traditional ethnic costumes. It was very interesting but as the museum was just so massive we were exhausted by the end of the day a tad cultured out! We psyched ourselves up to face the...

We woke up to a very grey and wet Shanghai and it pretty much stayed this way all day. The hawkers were out in force selling umbrellas but we bought a large golf one from a cheap shop (which we unfortunately left on a train). We spent the day walking around, getting lost, getting wet and trying to decode Mandarin symbols on signs and menus. Shanghai is a massive city full of huge skyscrapers on every inch of space and big businesses. The backstreets were int...

After missing our train from Hong Kong (we never thought sending mail home could be so difficult and take over an hour!) we ended up 90 minutes away in the sprawling metropolis of Guangzhou for the night. We spent most of the next day roaming around the city waiting for our night train to Shanghai and trying not to blame each other for missing the train and wasting money. We spent a large part of the day eating very Western food e.g. Starbucks and McDonalds a...

Steve and I caught the very efficient, speedy, cheap and immaculately clean underground train (London take note!) to Mong Kok to visit the markets there. As it was densely populated the markets were packed particularly the Ladies Market - you can probably imagine hundreds of women crammed into a tiny space haggling over knickers and petticoats! The pet fish market was amazing - you could get pretty much any type of fish, crab, turtle you wanted for a few pence ...