Chris's Section We left Yangshuo with much sadness. We really enjoyed our stay and met some great people. We got the bus to Guilin and a slight panic ensued. The bus took 1 hour to get to Yangshou, but the return journey took almost two hours. Luckily we'd given ourselves plenty of time to get to Guilin train station. We made it with 10 mins to spare. The sleeper train was really good. We were in a compartment with six bunks. We'd paid 240 yuan (£24 each) for middle bunks. I got s decent sleep and we were soon in Shenzhen and ready to cross the border into Hong Kong. Yes, I said border. Although they are technically one country, China and HK still has a border crossing. Anyway, we sailed through without a hitch and ... read more

Chris's Section We love Yangshuo. Apart from being a beautiful place, it's got a really cool, relaxed vibe. We've really enjoyed ourselves here so far. Made a few friends in the hostel too. A great bunch of guys. The hostel staff are super friendly. We've definitely gone into holiday mode - getting up late morning/lunch time. Sitting in the bar all evening. Not bad price wise - it's 70p for a massive bottle of local beer so we're not breaking the bank. Yesterday we went on a chinese cookery course (150 yuan - £15). We started by going around the market which was, erm, interesting to say the least. Slightly off-putting when you can hear dogs barking. I could also see one skinned and hanging up on a spike. Not pleasant. We stayed away from that ... read more

Chris's Section We're currently in Guilin having flown from Xi'an earlier today. Yesterday we visited the Terracotta Warriors, which are located just outside Xi'an. We didn't take a tour this time as we wanted to save a few quid and do it at our own speed. We got a bus to the train/bus station (1 yuan - 10p) and looked for the green Terracotta minibus - as listed in the Lonely Planet (or 'the book' as we call it). We found the minibus easily enough and it only cost 7 yuan (70p). Not bad for an hour's journey. Everything seemed to be going fine until the driver stopped after 45 mins and asked us where we were going. The fact that this was a Terracotta Warrior bus should have made this a redundant question! Through dodgy ... read more

Day three Chris's Section My comment yesterday about getting over jet lag was a little premature. I went to bed at 11pm last night. Got to sleep some time after 4am. Up at 6.30. Nice. Red bull time! Anyway, today was a fab day. We set off on our trip to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. This is one of the best preserved (or restored) sections of the wall. The views were spectacular. I hope the pics do it justice. This section of the wall winds it's way through the peaks. We had to walk for 15 minutes, up hundreds of steps, just to get to the wall. Then we walked about 2k along the wall, then back. It was extremely steep in places and our legs were completely destroyed by the end. Some ... read more

Day one Chris's Section At last, after volcano related delays, we're in Beijing. The flight was pretty good, but our arse cheeks had died a death by the time we arrived. We landed at 6am local time (11pm UK) and we were shattered. No sleep for me on the plane as always. Lou managed a few hours - as always. We made our way through the airport with no problems, got on the airport shuttle (25 yuan - £2.50) then onto Beijing's excellent underground system. It's very simple to navigate (English signs - yay!). It's also only 2 yuan per journey (20p!!!). An excellent way to get around. By the way, I will be mentioning the cost of things quite often. When I was researching this trip I found it very useful when people mentioned prices/costs ... read more