Arrived back in beijing, tired and weary, Shanghai was amazing and the train ride back was at least 1st class.....though we had to share our 4 berth cabin with a chinese medical salesman selling orthopeadic equipment !! we needed Sarah... his english was very good and we had a great time chatting to him and his colleagues who thought we were hilarious! not sure why..Alex is off home tomorrow and we begin our journey to the south west Chengdu and pandas here we co...

We left Xian and the terracotta warriors on another overnight train to Suzhou and arrived in the midst of a torrential rainstorm! and we were going to send out raincoats back! here we were in the garden centre of south east china..... spent most of it in the back seat of taxis or standing at the side of the road trying to get into the back seat of taxis!!! and of course the next morning as we are leaving the sun was shining managed to convince our tour guide to l...

We arrived in Xian after a very interesting train ride, as you can see from the photo - We travelled by chinese 2nd class which meant we had beds that were open to the corridor very unusual way to travel! although it wasnt as bad as it sounds we all had quite a giggle it was a bit like being kids again..... Arriving in Xian we had a great free day which we spent cycling along the city wall and shopping in antique market,, lots of fake stuff what fun we had... sha...

Ni Hao , well Alex arrived safely this morning how lovely to see him its been such a long time we now seem to have the only very tall red head in Beijing. We are very popular and although there are millions of people here we dont lose each other in the crowds! alex has shown us how to use this site better, but we are using a pc that must have been new in 1980!!! very, very slow so will update with more beijing pics in a few days, love to all xxx

Finally after an interesting six day experience on board the Trans Siberian Express (not sure why its called express!!!) we arrived in Beijing, our first view of the Great Wall has made it worthwhile. The train ride has definately got to be one of the most amazing things we have ever done, we are going to have some great stories for dinner parties! so all of our friends keep your diaries free in the summer! Alex is arriving tomorrow and as he has lots of knowledg...