One of the things that immediately pop into your mind when anyone mentions China is the Great Wall and today we were lucky enough to get ourselves up and on it. We booked a trip through the hostel and after a slightly uncomfortable 2-hour mini-bus ride (seats weren't too soft and the air con was questionable) we were there. Even before you get up to the wall, you can't help but be impressed with the sheer scale of it. It's not just a bit of wall you see, no, it goes on for hundreds and hundreds of miles. The place we [View Full Entry]

---

---

Time for some long overdue photos of our brilliant trip to the Great Wall in Mutianyu, 2 hours' drive from beijing... [View Full Entry]

---

---

The last couple of days have been at times exhilirating and at times trying. Beijing is quite a city and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. Let me explain... Yesterday we took a long walk across Tian'anmen Square. It was a huge, wide-open space where the people of the city come to relax, sell their wares and generally mooch around. However, thoughts of 1989 echo through your mind as you picture the lone student standing firm against the tank that just wouldn't let him pass but also wouldn't kill him. I felt a real mixture of emotions being [View Full Entry]

---

---

I don't like to be negative in my blogs, especially not at the beginning of an entry but we didn't exactly have the best of starts to our time in Beijing. Are you sitting comfortably? Let me begin... First off, our flight out of Hong Kong wasn't until nearly 5pm but we had to check out of the hostel by 10am. We were both quite happy to go as we'd spent enough time looking at the inside our our room while I was recovering from my bout of flu. Thankfully the medicine was doing it's thing and I was feeling far [View Full Entry]

---

---

Greetings! Thanks to everyone for all the get well soon messages. I'm pleased to report that my cocktail of drugs is doing the trick and I am, as of 10.30 pm feeling almost back to normal, barring a bit of breathing trouble and some irrational sweating. . Glynn took me out this evening after another day's rest in the hostel for a romatic stroll along the cheesy Avenue of Stars - it's like the Hollywood Walk of Fame I think, only featuring a Chinese cast - to watch the cheesy light and sound show over the bay. Actually it was nicer [View Full Entry]

---

---

There's not much to report about today as I have been knocked out with a bout of gastric flu :-(( I spent all night yesterday burning up with a high fever and I've hardly eaten for 3 days, so I thought I ought to see a doctor before leaving for Beijing on Friday. At first I had thought I was just suffering from some kind of heat exhaustion (it's hot and about 90% humidity here) but the doctor said different. I'm glad to have a diagnosis and I now have a colourful array of pills to take. You have to pay [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well, seeing as we are hanging around the hostel in Beijing waiting for our train to Xi'an (it doesn't leave for another 5 hours) and the internet is free, I thought I should pull my finger out and upload some more photos for you to enjoy. There aren't as many HK pics as we would have liked but then I did spend a lot of time recovering from my little bout of flu! Hope you like them.... [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today's adventure took us to Hong Kong Island which is the bit you tend to see and hear about whenever anyone mentions the city. It was an easy ride by underground and very cheap too. When we arrived, we were awestruck by the scale and sheer quantity of the skyscrapers around. The word skyscraper has never seemed more appropriate! A short walk later and we were bundled in with the other tourists for a ride on the Peak Tram, a funicular railway running at about a 29 degree angle up the side of one of the mountain peaks. It was a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hong Kong feels like a world away from Japan - things are certainly very different here. As I still wasn't feeling too well despite my marathon sleep session, we decided to stay local in the Mong Kok area where we're staying. We left at around 10am and were attempting to browse the many, many shops and markets in the area only to find that the party doesn't really get started until midday! We wandered around marvelling at the bizarre food stalls gradually opening up for the day and discovered a couple of bargain computer shopping plazas. Glynn was in gadget heaven, [View Full Entry]

---

---

Sorry there hasn't been a blog for a couple of days but it's been a bit of a quiet time for us. Saturday, our last day in Japan, was a complete washout again with heavy rains limiting what we could get up to. As a result we headed back to the covered shopping arcade in Temma in search of a Hello Kitty umbrella (yes, I am developing an obsession!). We found one but didn't have enough local currency left to buy it and it seemed silly to get more money out when we would be leaving at the crack of dawn [View Full Entry]

---

---