As the train approached the Kunming area I noticed how hilly the scenery had become and a mist had fallen. The mist had disappeared as we pulled into the station and the weather is lovely. It is easy to see why it is called the spring city.

We got on the bus number as directed and got off at a notable landmark so we knew where we were for our map reading. We headed further towards the hostel but feeling hungry, I stayed with the bags while Neil did the hunter gatherer bit and got us some breakfast - chocolate filled rolls all round….yum! We were soon on our way again, feeling that Kunming is a lot smaller than where we have been before in China and much more easily navigated. Despite this we had trouble finding our hostel. After wandering around for a while with no luck, we were both getting tired so decided I would stay with the bags while Neil searched out the hostel as we knew we were close. Neil found it in no time, we were closer than we thought and had actually already almost been there once!

Our next task was to get our Vietnamese visa sorted out, and after asking at the hostel (to which we got told the manager was too busy to help even though he spent all day every day playing games on the internet!) we got the bus to try and find the embassy ourselves. We had an idea where we were heading as it is listed in Lonely Planet but it wasn't made very clear. Again after a little while of walking around to no avail we decided to ask someone. Trust me to ask someone who knew hardly any English. However, with the use of our phrase book, the guide book and his broken English he soon knew where we meant and even walked away from his tourist office to point us at the building we needed to go in saying 'hotel'. We said thank you as he headed back to work - again another kind gesture displayed by a Chinese stranger.

With this information in our minds we headed in to the hotel we thought he had pointed at. We walked into the very posh hotel to ask the receptionist, believing this to be the building we should be in; we were told in no uncertain terms that it was actually the building next door. I started to feel like I was on a wild goose chase at this point, but carried on regardless.

We headed for the next building as instructed, straight for the lift and for floor five. The lift didn't stop at floor 5. I went into a different lobby area where I asked someone on the desk and it became clear that there were twin towers for the same building. We were pointed across a courtyard to another set of lifts. There was a man on reception here, and I was asked to sign in, happy that we were finally in the right place! We got to the 5th floor for the embassy and it was closed! I was annoyed we hadn't remembered this, but wasn't too concerned as we only had to wait 15 minutes.

As we were waiting for the embassy to re-open we realised we didn't have our passport photos with us - complete schoolboy error and I was so annoyed. We figured we may have to go back to the hostel to collect them or simply get some more done nearby. The answer was actually simpler than this, and when we got to the desk with our completed forms and passports in hand we were told we would have to pay an extra 1 pound each as we didn't have a photo. Awesome! We walked out of the building with a spring in our step, turning so we would recognise the entrance for when we had to collect our passports in 3 days time.

We got back to the hostel and after an hour's much needed rest we headed back out to a nearby busy street where all the university students hang out. It's full of cafés, street food stalls, clothes shops and obviously students. We wandered around and grabbed some food - noodles for me and chips for Neil from a street stall - all for 80p! Yum! We then walked around the area some more and ended up in Green Lake Park - It's lovely - So relaxed. We got a little lost as we wandered around but soon rectified our mistake and headed back to the hostel. It seemed that there were no other guests earlier, it is more a guest house than a hostel but now it seems to have come alive and is very noisy. It feels like we have come across another lovely city which I am looking forward to exploring more.

We were kept awake last night and this morning by a group of Chinese people who are staying here - they are so loud! After a cuddle we had a luke warm shower and headed out. We stopped at the bakery at the bottom of the street for some delicious sweet breakfast pastries. Then we headed towards Zhengyi Lui shopping area.

We walked up and down this area perusing the shops before heading towards the flower and bird market. There were not many flowers but we saw our fair share of birds and other animals such as turtles, snakes, beetles, spiders, crickets, grubs and cute little puppies and kittens. We enjoyed some spicy potatoes while we looked for Nancheng Mosque. We had trouble finding this as it is tucked away behind all the shops; it was only because I noticed the moon and star symbol on the gate that we found it. It was a big mosque with lots of gold cladding on it, but felt rather bland compared with all the other Chinese architecture we have seen.

After this we walked back down the shopping street and towards Green Lake Park - such a pretty park. We pottered around here watching the locals sing and dance, play cards in the pagodas and generally just pass the day - it was surprisingly busy being a Tuesday. We had an ice cream before walking back to the hostel where I noticed I had caught the sun and was a little bit pink. I think it might be one of the malaria tablet side effects as it wasn't too sunny today.

We relaxed in the hostel and used the internet before going out for some tea. We went down the local busy street but finding nothing we fancied we went further afield where we stumbled upon some hutongs selling all sorts and lots of bars and cafes, all centred around the university. I had spaghetti with pesto, it was nice to have something recognisable washed down with a lager. After a relaxing feed we went back to the hostel via the supermarket for supplies (tea-stained egg and sausage for Neil and chocolate for me!). Today was another good day with a nice relaxed holiday feel to it.

Another poor night's sleep, we got up to cold showers and started out for the day stopping at the bakery again for some fresh breakfast delights! We chose lovely soft sweet rolls today - delicious - and munched on these as we walked to the Yuantong Temple. We paid and went into the temple noticing that it was in a severe state of disrepair immediately. This was however being worked on with people busying around hammering, sawing and banging away. The temple was still full of people - monks, worshippers and people lighting candles, not many tourists at all. It is a beautiful bright coloured temple set in stunning grounds and it will be amazing when the work is done.

After this we made our way to the East and West Pagodas of the city which we were a little disappointed with. They are nice enough pagodas but there was nothing going on in the areas immediately surrounding them. We had a good old nosey along some of the back streets and little market near Jimbali Square and this is where we ended up with some lunch - a bowl of noodle broth and a meat pie which was chosen and bought with a lot of nodding, pointing and smiling from both customer and vendor. After lunch I spotted a Ferrero Rocher ice cream (only my favourite chocolates EVER!) so treated myself and it was a big treat costing more than lunch!

It was a hot day today so we went back to the hostel for an hour's respite and Neil took this opportunity to have a hot shower before we went back out to get our passports from the Vietnamese embassy. We went to get the bus but had to wait for what felt like an age - I was worried the embassy would shut! As it happens (and not surprisingly) we got the bus and found the embassy again with no problems and loads of spare time. We handed in our slips and were given back our passports containing two Vietnamese visas. Fingers crossed the border crossing is as easy as getting the visas!

We walked to the train station, but as there didn't appear to be an English speaking counter we came back to the less busy rail office near the hostel to buy our tickets. We felt fully prepared as we had all the information written down in Mandarin, but stumbled across a problem as all the upper berths were full. Neil used his phrase book and increasing (if frustrating) knowledge of Mandarin to secure two middle berth sleeper train tickets for the correct date. We were very pleased with ourselves for managing to get our visa done as well as getting some train tickets at short notice.

After a little sit down to rest our feet we headed towards the busy uni street for some food. Neil got some meat skewers from an elderly Chinese man who insisted on talking Mandarin to us even though we couldn't understand what he was saying, and I had some delicious bread with chutney for 15p! We then went to the same street noodle man we had been to before where we were greeted as old friends and offered a seat and a meal before paying - it is normally money first with street food.

We both enjoyed our food but Neil has a small cake shaped space left in his tummy so we visited the bakery once again where he chose a delicious slice of cake for 80p! We felt like we had spent a lot of money today but still have just under half our budget left! Bonus! We came back to the hostel and while Neil devoured his cake I had a long awaited hot shower! Fingers crossed we have a better night's sleep tonight.

After a better (but still not great) night's sleep we got ready and left the hostel. We went to the bus stop opposite the temple (via the bakery of course!) to try and catch the bus to Grand View Park. After a munch on our breakfast - a very thick and chewy fig roll type thing that took ages to eat because it was a tad dry - we realised that we needed to walk a little further to get the bus.

We got on the number 4, and after counting out our money not knowing how much it was, a local helped us and explained it was just 1 Yuan (10p!). We enjoyed looking out of the window as we passed places we recognised but these were soon replaced with new streets and sights as we got further out of town. We were not 100% sure we were on the right bus as we were going from our 2009 Lonely Planet guide. Slowly more and more people got off until there was just a few of us left when the bus pulled into the terminal where everyone got off - so we followed. We still were not sure we were in the right place but as we turned a corner, just a stone's throw away was the park entrance. We were very smug and pleased with ourselves.

We paid our 20 Yuan entrance fee (expensive for a park in China) and went into the park. It is a stunning park on the northern tip of the Dian Lake. We first walked through the Bonsai garden (who knew Bonsai trees could get so big??) which was being tended by lots of keepers. We walked along the lake's tip, over bridges and through pagodas. We saw boats taking people from one side of the river to the other, the same distance as to cross a road, and we saw people fishing.

There must also have been a school trip to the park because we saw lots and lots of classes of children all in uniform. As they walked past us they shouted 'laowai' meaning foreigner, "hello" and some of the older children asked where we were going. I was impressed by their English. We waved, smiled, said hello and told them we were walking around the park, but the latter had to be translated by their teacher for them to understand. The children were not the only ones happy to see us, as we crossed a bridge and elderly Chinese man smiled and waved frantically at us to which we responded by doing the same.

We came across a theme park area and after watching some scary roller coaster we opted for the more serene Ferris wheel which offered great views of the park and further into the lake. By the look on Neil's face as we rocked from side to side on the climb up, I am not so sure he enjoyed it as much as me! We got off and after marvelling at how high we had been we got some potatoes off a lady in the park. I paid her with a note after not being too sure how much she was asking for, she gave me some change and we started to walk off, but she shouted us back as she hadn't given me enough. A straightforward way for her to rip us off, or more simply gain from our lack of understanding, but she didn't - another example of the Chinese mentality and kindness.

We explored more pagodas and pretty jutting rocks which we could climb up into and as we were doing so we came across a western family with two small children, one was in a pushchair. As soon as one Chinese person had taken an interest, poor mum was completely mobbed by people taking photos and shouting hello. She took this excellent opportunity to get a photo with her child and a Chinese child, as well as other photos of the group. It was nice to see that when the baby got upset that the Chinese people backed off and gave them space. And we thought we were popular!?

After 3 hours in the park we made our way back to the bus stop, jumping on a waiting bus and easily getting a seat - a rarity in China. We made our way back to the hostel easy peasy. After some internet use and South East Asia research we went back out for some food. I had some more of the previously mentioned delicious bread with chutney and Neil had a spring roll.

We decided to venture somewhere new and followed some university students down some train tracks - not the most sensible thing to do (sorry Mums!!) but they were all doing it! There were many students feasting in the track side café type places and as we ventured even further we came across an intersection of road and train track (the road headed into the uni campus) where there were about 7 or 8 street food vendors selling noodles, fruit, chips and skewers. We decided to try some skewers - 3 pork, 1 courgette and 1 tofu all for 80p! They were delicious, the tofu was a little boring but the courgette was amazing!

We walked through the busy, noisy and lovely lively campus as we ate our snacks - there was some kind of band playing and students were dancing around and having picnics on the grass - it was a really nice atmosphere. We wandered along the streets back to the hostel via the bakery for a cake for Neil. A lovely relaxed day today and we catch the train for the last time in China tomorrow. I am excited about Vietnam but also nervous as it's all new again - we kind of know what we are doing in China now and it's all about to change. I suppose that's what travel is all about, learning, adapting, improvising and experiencing :o) .

We got up and managed to get hot showers this morning so we were happy. We started to pack up our rucksacks when the phone rang. It was someone from reception asking when we would be checking out, 2 hours early and the person at the other end of the phone didn't understand English! We finished packing our bags, checked out at reception and leaving our bags behind we went to the park via the bakery - I'll miss that bakery (but not as much as Neil!).

We both felt lethargic today so spent a lot of time just sitting people watching before a short walk and more of the same. We used the internet at the hotel - frustrating slow and unreliable - got some supplies for the supermarket and then headed for the last Chinese train.

We walked to the bus stop, it was a hot day and we were sweating, pleased to get on the bus and get a seat. We got off at the station and headed for some shade to take off our packs and have a drink. As we sat there we saw an elderly Chinese lady selling hard-boiled eggs to passengers waiting for the train - Neil was salivating. We went through the security check and aimed for the correct waiting area before check-in started and the huge rush to get on the train. It appears we have just got the hang of the Chinese trains, confidently getting from A to B, just as it's time to leave. Another symptom of fairly fast-paced travel I guess. I will be sad to leave behind the organised chaos of Chinese transport - trains and buses are very reliable.

We got on the train with no problems and stowed our bags on the overhead shelf. At this point I thought the cheery attendant was waving at me, but what he wanted was for us to flip our bags over to make them more secure. A funny moment when I waved back at him! We have middle berths this time which are surprisingly much harder to get onto than the upper berths.

There are two girls of about 20/25 below us and a boy of about 4 who has been relishing in our attention - smiling every time we caught his eye. He came over to us as we were sat at the tiny table in the carriage walkway and gave us first a cup full of sunflower seeds which the Chinese people constantly munch on the centre of, and this was followed by another cup full of some kind of nuts. Both delicious and such a kind gesture from the child's mum.

There are more westerners on this train than we have seen on the other trains, maybe doing the same through journey, Nanning to Hanoi, as us.

Lots of love - Miss you all millions xxxx