Spent a lovely five days in Tokushima, the festival was really great, very relaxed and good vibes all round. Mind you that could be something to do with the 7% lemon and lime soda drink we have discovered which is not only sold in every shop but in vending machines on the street!! We went to watch the dancing for three nights and did even dance like obligatory fools on one occasion in an impromptu tourist dance off. We also caught the local train to a beach a...

Konnichi wa! O-genki desu ka? We are still in one piece after braving a two night crossing from China to Japan on the ferry. It was very calm apart from one night which sent all us Westerners heading for our bunks around 9pm! The ferry was great and virtually half empty so it felt a little like a ghost ship, spent most of our time playing cards with the others travellers and competing in Tim's ping pong tournament! (Not so easy during rough seas) Now we are ...

Hi all Finally arrived back into civilisation 12 hours later than we expected, after getting a train that stood still in random platfroms for most of the journey....a gruelling 31 hours on a hard sleeper, dryed noodles the staple of the jouney, yay! We'd booked our hostel, but overlooked to write down the address, so couldn't find it, finally got lucky around midnight, when a lady at the Captian Hostel, took pity on us and cancelled someones reservation to let...

Another train to Xian to see the Terracotta warriors and another walled city. Spent the first day mouching around with Simon and Magalie and had a huge Mongolian feast called fondue which is basically a bowl cooking on the table with a spicy and a mild side and you chuck in your favourite ingredients. Hmmm well tasty. Afterwards we stumbled across a beer festival in the park and spent the evening tasting the beers out of 2 litre glasses and constantly toasting wi...

Travelled here on the overnight train after leaving Beijing and Sam flew back to Blighty. It is one of China's last walled cities and it very pretty with lots of courtyards, winding alleys and flagstone streets. One problem though....no one told us that there were no banks in Pingyao for foreigners! After a few hours wandering round trying to find a bank, we bumped into another couple from Quebec in a bank with the same problem and amazingly Simon spoke fluent Ch...