Sooooooooooooo HOT! Had brekkie on Khao San Road, got a cab to a wholesale market later that day. Big mistake as the cab took forever to get back as the road blocks had expanded. Meter still runs even if you are not moving. Bought a nice summery dress for well cheap. Riot police hanging around everywhere but all pretty relaxed where we were as it was quite far away. Went out for beers with Ellie and met some English guys to have beers with. They were being stalked by a crazy thai lady who decided that squeezing my breast was acceptable as she wanted to compare Thai with Farang. It was not acceptable. Soon got rid of her as she chased her next victim. English guys were pretty helpful with Thai phrases as they basically lived ... read more

Dear All, Thanks for keeping up with the blog, it's so nice hearing you're messages... I can't believe you're still reading. I'm still a bit behind as I have spent the day uploading my photos onto facebook. For those not on facebook below are the public view links. Not sure what the photos will look like from there but should be OK. Can I also ask if you leave me a message or comment that you let me know who its from - most of the time I can guess (Nicky!!) but sometimes I can't which is a bit sad :( Anyway, here are the links... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2535131&id=197805346&l=32e5b8d92b http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2535132&id=197805346&l=8f1c91943b http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2535133&id=197805346&l=81817eae75 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2535134&id=197805346&l=17bdf37c2c http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2535135&id... read more

Woke up early and felt fine but decided to just lounge around in my comfy hostel bed. I then got up and headed off to the post office to send the last of my winter stuff home!!! Hurrah! I then had breakfast in the Starbucks in the JP Morgan and Stanley building... cheeky but nice Wondered around in the central area and then found what I really needed!! A Marks and Spencers!!! I was so excited. Lost a bit of weight while I've been away and my jeans were falling off me constantly but in Asia, the women have no hips and are very short. The biggest jeans i had found so far had been a 28 inch! Found a perfect pair and discovered I had dropped a dress size. I also stocked up on other ... read more

Woke early to go on my river boat tour to Yangshuo. I was really pleased that it looked like it was going to be a dry day but it was still cold outside. As we waited for the main bus to take us to the boat jetty, I noticed there were some swimmers in the river that runs around Guilin! Not just one crazy person but several... it was making me cold just watching them but I guess its just another crazy Chinese exercise craze. Not quite sure how shivering in a freezing river is healthy but maybe I am just now enlightened. Nearly crashed into an army truck driving on the wrong side of the road. Emergency brakes at the ready! Aparantly they do that quite a lot just because they can. Got on the ... read more

Woke early to brave the showers. Water was nice and hot and it was generally a good shower but as soon as the water went off it was freezing while you were getting dry. Brrr! Still wasn't raining outside so I was a happy lady. Set off to find the bus to the Reed Flute Caves and found it. It was a really nice journey out of the city and I started to realised why people love Guilin. Caves were really impressive and although I went in with a big group I managed to go off on my own quite a lot and I really enjoyed it. Half way through there was a room off to the side which all I could work out was that you had to pay 5 yuan extra to go in ... read more