Hi, We arrived in Lijian four days ago, travelling over on the bus with our Chinese-speaking pal Chad (brill person to know out here). After spending almost two hours searching for a (seemingly non-existent) guesthouse which we had had recommended to us (always great fun in the blazing sun with a 20kg bag on your back!) we finally settled for one of the more overpriced rooms (at a scandalous 4 pounds a night!). We are staying in the old town of Lijian which ...

It rained all day on Friday so we hid in our room and read books. Exciting stuff. It was actually really good to do nothing for once...there's always seems to be temples to visit and waterfalls to hike to (it's a hard life this travelling lark!) Yesterday we went to the lake to watch a demonstration of Comorant fishing. Comorants are large birds which have been specially trained by the local fishermen to catch and bring back fish. The fishermen prevent the ...

Hello again, There's free internet at the hostel (hence the daily enteries). Well today I had a lie in for the first time in ages (though still only til 9am; i've gone all native) In the afternoon we took a ride on a horse drawn cart, though it's not as romantic as it sounds; very bumpy and those animals smell! We also went for a ride in a cable car (Which looked more like a ski lift; the ones where your feet dangle out, though i'm sure they're quite s...

Hello, Well I think we have gotten over the initial culture shock of China, though there are a few things which are difficult to adjust to: 1) Being starred at. Some people literally stop in their tracks to stare at us, while some children (who are clearly learning English at school) shout hello, which is quite sweet. We've even had some children run over to take our photo (no chance to pose!) celebrity status for us! 2) The toilets. Most public t...

Well, we arrived in China, but i'm still not entirely sure that this is a good thing!! We walked across the boarder from Vietnam, had our passports examined for about half an hour by Chinese officials, then walked the short distance to the bus station to catch our overnight bus to Kunming. At the bus station we were approached by a man who told us that we needed to pay him money since we intended to take our bags on the bus. We were skeptical since none...