22 OCT 2009 We travelled to Bangkok in style, on what we both still unanimously agree is the best airline we have ever flown with - Singapore Airlines. We had a one hour wait at Singapore airport (nowhere near long enough in the world's best airport but we return to Singapore at start of Dec so had to be content with a short shop this time)! The flight landed in Bangkok at 5pm. WOW!! How much had Bangkok changed since I was here last (nearly 10years ago)??? A brand new terminal building. A direct bus transfer to all the major locations [View Full Entry]

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21 OCTOBER 2009 Arrive Shenzhen! We had to catch our last public bus in China to reach the railway station where border crossing is and guess what ... how is this for our last experience in China; the bus driver tried to charge us double for the room which our backpacks took up, even though we were wearing them and even though bus was empty! Does that not just totally summarise it?! So in a final stand of defiance I did as the Chinese do ... pretended didn't have a clue what he was talking about even though it was blatantly [View Full Entry]

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After a totally mammoth journey including half an hour on a bus, followed by 31hrs on a train to Guilin, immediately followed by another 2hrs on a bus (70km South) then a 2km walk with our packs and whilst during this time managing to read two entire books as well as playing cards, talking and sleeping!!! Although, without showering or washing for fear of legionnaires or worse!! We arrived tired and very smelly at West Lily Hotel in Yangshuo at 11pm on SUN 18 OCT 2009 MON 19 OCT 2009 Yangshou meaning 'bright moon' is home to China's most spectacular [View Full Entry]

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TUES 13 OCT 2009 We set off from Luoyang on the 9am train, bound back to Xi'an to then transfer to Chengdu. We are well into the Chinese way off life now, which predominantly consists of being blatantly rude in order to be able to achieve anything. I forgot to mention on my previous mails that there is no such thing as queuing in China, if you want to get on a train or you want to buy a ticket from a stall etc, it is quite the ordeal! This has probably been the hardest thing for me to grasp as [View Full Entry]

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SUN 11 OCT 2009 Just to put all your minds at ease, I'll start by confirming that Paul was much better by the morning and just woke with a headache, probably down to dehydration so he will definitely be back to his usual mischievous ways in no time!! AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR! Leaving Stuart and Jamie behind till South East Asia; Derek, Leanne, Paul and I donned our packs and started the long trudge to the station without so much as a morsel to eat as breakie was not served at the hostel till aft 7.30am. By the time we [View Full Entry]

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THURS 8 OCT 09 Another night train but this time not first class! We were travelling with Derek, Leanne and an Australian couple from our hostel in Beijing - Stuart and Jamie couldn't get on our train so were following on a later and much slower one. We left Beijing at 21.18. The train, although nowhere near the quality of the first train was still passable and the great thing about utilising night trains are that they save time and money as you do not waste any exploration time during the day and it saves on the price of accommodation for [View Full Entry]

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WED 7 OCT 09 THE FORBIDDEN CITY The name refers to its exclusivity as for over 500 years the emperors of China would reside in the complex with their staff of eunuchs and their harems of concubines. The people of China were forbidden to even approach the walls of the Palace. The scale of the complex is staggering and totally incomprehensible. The complex is totally hidden, obscured from the outside city by imposing walls and a surrounding moat. It covers an area of over a hundred hectares with eight hundred buildings and a maze of nine thousand chambers. When within [View Full Entry]

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SUN 4 OCT 2009 The start of our second day in Beijing and we changed our planned itinerary deciding to leave the most visited sight the Forbidden City until later in our stay (hopefully after Chinese National Week came to an end on 7 Oct) simply due to the sheer volume of people we had encountered the previous day. Instead we thought we would visit THE SUMMER PALACE - located a good two hours away, we would need to negotiate the metro including three changes and then a bus to reach the designated destination. The metro over here is well [View Full Entry]

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THE NIGHT TRAIN After a rather prolonged waiting period in the train station (not due to the train being delayed as would be the case in the UK but to the the fact we had given ourselves an extra hour or so to navigate and tackle the train station and it was so easy we walked straight into the relevant section in just a couple of minutes, leaving us with a substantial waiting time!) our train was called and a rush for the newly revealed platform number ensued! WOW! Our train was incredible, brilliant, gleaming white and stretching further than you [View Full Entry]

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TUES 29 SEPT 09 Brimming with excitement but with a little pinch of apprehension we headed for our next major flight - Shanghai, China! WED 30 SEPT 09 At 7am local time (midnight UK time) we landed in a rather wet, cloudy, rainy, grey Shanghai. As we left the airport I realised rainy and wet may have been a minor understatement ... it was a monsoon, absolutely chucking it down and getting heavier by the minute!! We took the Worlds only commercial Maglev train to the city. The train is suspended above the track and propelled by the forces of magnetism. [View Full Entry]

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