Day 4. We met Pokman and Kenny in the hotel foyer this morning. Pokman is Lu's partner, and both are coming to Tibet with us. We went to Du Fu's thatched cottage, which is in much bigger grounds containing pagodas, temples and gardens, etc. Du Fu was a poet who wrote about the poor farmers and their plight. After walking around the extensive grounds we headed back to meet Lu. We all went for a "hotpot" dinner. Delicious! I tried the offal of cow and duck for the first time. Celine would have been at home! Then off to a bar for night beer. For all the Englanders, it's 11.30pm and 26 degrees!! Ha Ha.......... Zai jian... read more

Hi all, Another fun packed day. Today we met up with Lance. He's been here for 6 years studying Chinese. He took us to a temple, a bonsai exhibition, and to see his calligraphy teacher. His teacher was in a very good mood today so we got 2 calligraphies each!!! He decided that Jerry was a big ox and I was a smaller ox! It also happens that we were born in the year of the Ox. So there was a definite theme! We then went for dinner in Lance's university campus. Lovely food cooked for you on the spot BBQ style. Enjoy the pics... read more

Day 1, No problem getting from Sheffield to Manchester and flight to London. Then London to Chengdu with super plane with intelligent glass windows! Cool! Arrived mid morning and met Lu's dad and sister, and 33 degrees heat!!! Lubblyjubbly!!! They took us to our hotel where I thought I'd lost my wallet, cards and all.....mild panic.......While Jerry tried to find BA lost property I rechecked and found it!! Phew. I then put on my sandals and Jerry, Yungian and I headed off to DownTown Chengdu. For no apparent reason my sandals decided to disintegrate beneath my feet! A bizarre experience! First priority was therefore new sandals. After which went to Sichuan Skytower for amazing views over the City, 280m up! After gingerly stepping on glass floor to view ants below we headed off to a historic ... read more

After a wonderful week spent in Rio, welcomed by the whole Tada family (including Kenji!), superb guides Ricardo and sons (English Kings Ricardo Jr and Enrique) and hosted in style by Luiz and Bia, it was time to leave the wonderfully gregarious coastal Rio to head inland to the falls of Iguacu which borders Argentina and Paraguay. The falls are the biggest in South America and can be viewed from both the Brazilian and Argentinian sides. We got equally soaked from both sides! We got to meet some of the locals: the quati are unfortunately discovering a liking for human junk food and you can see whole groups of them crossing roads near settlements to jump in the bins bin; they are natural climbers though and we saw them hiking up palm trees to fight over ... read more

Following our last aiki training session in Brasil, we headed out to the beach to watch Brasil versus Cameroon. What a cracker! Literally so, as fireworks flew for every brasilian goals - there were 4! I dont think Ill ever watch a game of football in better style - feet on the sand, tropical ocean lapping at my toes and gorgeous sunset in the background...... read more