Dair

"From there we are looking into entering Guizhou province the hard way (fancy that!) - how this actually pans out, remains to be seen!" ...well, it didn't!! That's not entirely true. We started out in the right direction, we just didn't get very far! There were early signs that things were not going to go to plan. North of Yangshuo, we arrived in Longsheng in the dark and brandishing a youth hostel flyer at all and sundry. Eventually we were ushered into a taxi mini-van which took off into the night at a terrifying pace. It soon became clear that our agreed 6 Yuan taxi fare was most definitely a 60 Yuan one after all. Longsheng Youth Hostel clearly had a bit of the Ryanair airport about it - i.e. it was nowhere near its namesake! ... read more

We have arrived back into mainland China after a few days in Hong Kong, and we have extremely mixed feelings at this point: on the one hand we are sorry to say good bye to the luxuries and ease of living that Hong Kong afforded us (see later), but on the other hand we are excited about getting our travelling boots back on and exploring some more of this amazing country. We arrived into Hong Kong from Kunming, and before that, Dali. Dali is another traveller's Mecca in the Yunnan province, but has a completely different vibe from Lijiang. Whereas Lijiang was the highly polished, finished article, favoured by wealthy Chinese tourists, Dali was a much more laid back and homely place to unwind. The surrounding landscape was so lush - lakes, mountains, rice paddies, and ... read more

So here we are in Chengdu - home of the panda, the hotpot and the beautiful Sichuan girls that Alasdair has been promised ever since our arrival in China! But first, back to Xian. We spent a really enjoyable few days in this city. It struck a good balance between the hectic, modern capital of Beijing and the deliberately small-town Pingyao. As an ancient capital itself and the Eastern terminus of the Silk Road, Xian has its own rich cultural and historical appeal. Within the city walls, we climbed the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower and looked at ... bells ... and ... drums! We went up the Drum Tower at night which seems to be the time to experience Xian, and the evening is most definitely the time when the city comes to life. ... read more

We've taken a little bit of time out from the scorching heat of Xi'an to update you with our progress since leaving Beijing on Thursday night... We took the 'hard sleeper' option overnight to Pingyao, southwest and inland from Beijing. We booked our tickets easily the day before from the ticket office inside Beijing Central Station (the lady at the far right booth spoke English :-)), and got onto the train without any real fuss. The West station (where we travelled from) is very well organised and felt more like an airport with baggage scanners, ticket checks etc... Don't be put off by the crowds in the gate waiting area - ticket checks are thorough and no-one will nick your seat! The sleeper berths are interesting - 2 beds wide and 3 beds high, they are ... read more

Dair: We've been in Beijing for going on five days now, and I know this sounds cliched, but it seems like an absolute lifetime has passed since we left Aberdeen. It has been an unsettling past few days, mainly because of every traveller's (or any airline passenger's, for that matter) worst nightmare - lost luggage. We arrived pretty much on time in Beijing after an extremely comfortable flight, but all good feeling toward Qatar Airways quickly evaporated with each bagless rotation of the carousel. To make matters worse, it wasn't a mutual seen of desperation... my bag arrived, only Alison's failed to make it out of Doha. Nerves hanging by a thread, we summoned up the energy to go through the necessary reporting procedures and board a bus into central Beijing. It was horribly overcast, and ... read more