Day 2 Hangzhou (sunday) After having a slight lay in we were ready by 11am and wanted to explore the West lake and "according" to the lonely planet you can do this by bike. So we hired a bike from the hostel and headed to the lake only to keep finding walking paths only with big signs saying no bikes!! We carried on biking thinking we would eventually come across a cycle path but no such luck, so we had to risk our lives on the roads of china with no r...

Hiya to you all and very sorry for no enteries over the past week but with nights in Shanghai spent drinking and chatting and the 2 nights in Hangzhou with very poor internet it just hasn't been possible. Anyway so since we last updated we spent another 4 and a half days in Shanghai and then 2 and a half in Hangzhou. were now back in Shanghai, but hopfully for only a night as wanting to head to Hong Kong tomorrow. Depending on trains. Day 2 in Shanghai (Tuesday ...

Day 1 Continued. Ok so having arrived here nice and early this morning, negociating the local public transport, getting lost and getting wet we eventually arrived at the hostel. Tempted by a free breakfast (cereal,toast and dumplings), we opted for the conventional with coffee and juice. Then after the internet and freshening up we headed out about 2pm. We had decided to try and find the Bund, so back on the metro we went. (Not as easy to use as Beijing and also...

Day 3 Xian We booked a tour to go and see the Panda's on the outskirts of Xian at a animal research centre/animal hospital. Typically the day we pick it decides to rain heavly we were worried that the pandas would be inside and we wouldn't get to see any, but luckily for us pandas seem to like rain!! One came really close as the guide had some bamboo to feed it with, so we've got some smahing pictures. We also got to see red pandas (they look similar to cats, bu...

Well we've now been in Xian for two days. We arrived at 05:30 yesterday morning into a train station that was as busy as some of ours at morning rush hour. There were also several groups of people and bags just sleeping on the street outside the station. We were also watched by a group just because I was writing something down! Obviously don't see English writing very much! Getting to the hostel was a bit of a nightmare, we were too early for the free pick up so ...