Spent two days in Datong visiting the famous Hanging Monastry and Yungang Caves of more than 50,000 Buddha statues after a four hour bus ride from Beijing.The monastry is more than 1400 years old and there used to be around 15 monks living there at any one time, so we were a tad concerned when we joined around 100 Chinese tourists all clambering over the place which is just held up by thin spindly sticks! Had a tasty dinner of kebabs, rice, noodles and some unide...

Had a wicked time in Beijing especially with the very glamorous Miss Collins! In between necking cheap Mojitos for 25 yuan(£1.50!) and stuffing our faces with Chinese food at least twice a day, the three of us managed to squeeze in most of the big sights! We spent an afternoon getting lost in the Forbidden City, which is China's largest load of ancient buildings and where the Ming and Qing dynasty emperors hung out with their thousands of concubines. Shamefully ...

Hello all, Just a quickie, having a great time in Beijing, we are all in a really nice hostel with a traditional courtyard on one of Beijings hotongs (winding lanes). Its really humid and hot so have been taking it very easy, we were due to do the wall, but the weather was miserable on the day so will head there next week instead. Checking out the Forbidden city and an old part of town with hundred year old medicine shops and antiques tomorrow, hopefully work...

Hi all, Well so far Mongolia has been the highlight of our trip....it is an amazing place and we are gutted we only had a few days here. The people are soooo friendly compared to their Russian neighbours, the scenery is fab and we are loving all the mutton. Spent the first day mouching around the capital and country's only city Ulaan Baatar, before heading two hours into the Mongolian steppe to our Ger camp. It was properly in the middle of nowhere, just...

Hey all... Hope you're all well..we've finally arrived in Siberia, Western Russia after a four days and three nights in a small 4 berth cabin. We shared with two Russians, Vladim, who spoke hardly any English but still insisted on chatting to us and trying to teach us mind boggling Russian card games and Tanya, who spoke really good English and explained that he was cheating in the mind boggling card games! The journey was really great fun and totally relaxing...