Well having boarded our Hydro-jet back to Hong Kong we were informed that signal Flag 1 for a Tornado had been raised and the water was likely to be a bit choppy. While we had no idea what that meant we knew it wasn't good news. The journey back was rough and we bounced across the water more than we skimmed but was still fine. Once safely back on dry land we got a subway to Hong Kong Island. Causeway bay lies beside Central Hong Kong and is a really nice area. Once again the reception of our hostel was in [View Full Entry]

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We got a very sleek Hydro-jet from Honk Kong ferry terminal to Macau which took around an hour. Macau was a Portuguese colony handed back to the Chinese in 1999 and is ran like Hong Kong, as a Special Administrative Area i.e. Not really communist. Macau sells itself as the "Las Vegas of the Orient" and while thats is a bit of an overstatement it is full of major Casinos and 5 star hotels. Its mainly visited by incredibily wealthy Asian businessmen and believe it or not there is more money spent here on gambling than in Vegas. History lesson over, [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Hong Kong after a lovely bus journey, which even stopped half way at a nice hotel for a full Chinese meal, probably our most authentic meal as we sat at a table with the other passengers all of whom were Chinese. Not bad for 13euro! On arrival in the city we got the subway to Nathan Road where we had booked a hostel in Mirador Mansions. We managed to locate our hostel which was one of many situated in the building. We were then informed that they didn't have any room for us, despite the fact we had [View Full Entry]

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After a very comfortable flight we arrived safely in Xiamen and grabbed a bus to the harbour. The hostel we booked was actually located on Gulangyu Island, so we had to take a 5 minute ferry accross to it. The island is less than 2km squared with a population of about 20,000 so it wasn't too difficult to find the hostel. The island is very scenic, all the buildings including our hostel are old colonial buildings, many of which are state protected. Our first evening there we spent wandering through the small streets and lanes of the island. A very relaxing [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Shanghai by bus, it was only afterwards we read in our guide book that this may be a bad idea, as you can never be sure where you will be dropped off. But it was actually great coming in on huge motorways and elevaed roads, we got a nice first view of the city skyscrapers. Unfortunately, after a short subway journey it took us nearly two hours to find our hostel which was only a few minutes from the subway station! Thankfully the hostel was worth it. After a much needed shower we decided to have a quick [View Full Entry]

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After getting on board the bus to Huang Shan we noticed something was different with this bus. Called a sleeper bus it was made up of three rows of bunk beds. Designed for chinese poeple we did our best to squeeze our size twelve feet into the gap at the end of the beds. We made do and got some sleep. The driver woke us up at 4am in a place called Tangkou. We are assuming a relative of his owned the motel he dropped us at. Bleary eyed we were handed a phone with an english speaker at the end [View Full Entry]

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We got straight off the boat and onto a bus to Yichang, which we were told would take 3 hours, but much to our delight only took about 45 minutes. We decided to keep moving and got on another bus straight away to Wuhan. We arrived that evening in Wuhan. We found a motel (3 stars apparently) just a few hundred metres from the bus station. This was the first time we hadn't booked our accomodation in advance. We spent that evening wandering around the city centre and we visited a street market. Certainly not the most exciting place we have [View Full Entry]

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Once we had found our ship, (No easy task) we were directed to our cabin. The cabin was a four berth and grand. This was our first encounter with the toliet/shower and we decided fairly quickly we would forgo showers for a few days. We had the cabin to ourselves the first night apart from a busy little mouse. Unfortunately the weather was against us and thick fog settled from the second we got on the boat to pretty much when we got off it. Thus our view of some of the most spectacular gorges in China amounted to the odd [View Full Entry]

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Well we arrived in Chongqing in the very very early hours of the morning. After some negotiation with taxi drivers we were whisked away to our motel. After 5 minutes of checking in and some confusion we were informed that we were at the wrong hotel. This was to be a recurring theme for our stay. After wandering around for a while we found the right place and checked in. We headed into the city centre and were amazed by the development that seems to be happening. The whole city is cranes and skyscrapers. Chongqing as many of you know........ is [View Full Entry]

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After another overnight train journey we arrived in Chengdu at 5am, and got a taxi to our hostel. We stayed in a 15 bed dormitory which was effectively in the attic of the hostel, but at 1.50euro a night we weren't complaining. After a few hours sleep we were woken by Justin who was ready to do some sightseeing. We walked into the city centre visited Renmin (People) Park and Wangiang Lou Park. We then stopped in an Irish bar for a few drinks and met a crazy Dutch guy, who told us some great stories about PSV and about a [View Full Entry]

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