This morning we got up early and headed off to Leshan to see a 1300 year old statue of Buddha and 10,000 little ones at a town about two hours coach ride down the road. Leshan is on the banks of three rivers converging and was suprisingly humid. It was a plesant hike through the park, through caves, up and over hills and some very steep stairs to see the many carved ststues and buildings that make up this place. Honestly Buddha doesn't do it for me but I really appreciated the scale and detail of everything there. At about 1.30 we headed back to Chengdu to try and catch the end of the International Motor Show that has been on here for 5 days but unfortunately we were too late. We then headed into town, ... read more

So if you have seen any photos of the lakes at Jiuzhaigou you would be forgiven for thinking that the colours have been photoshopped. I can assure you they are real. Today we spent the whole day travelling the 70 km of narrow valleys filled with bubbling streams, cascading waterfalls and incredible coloured lakes. The park is incredibly accessible, with boardwalks linking all the pools and waterfalls which keep the 2.8 million visitors per year from impacting the site. Busses run up and down the valleys all day and you can get on and off wherever youy please. It realy is a brilliant setup making such a large park accessible. We walked around 20kms and it wasn't to hard really. Some highlights were - arrow bamboo lake - where the water fight scene from 'Hero' was ... read more

A fantastic last day in Xian before we head south into Sichuan province to see some amazing natural scenery. WALLS - Today we travelled around the entire length of the city wall. It is a massive structure and apparently is the most complete ancient fortification anywhere in the world. It really is massive - a 12 metre high, 12 metre wide masonry wall, 4km on the north and south side and 3 east and west. We hired bikes for 20yuan and had a awesome bumpy hour and half workout seeing the city. There are gates, towers and buildings all over the wall as well as some seige engines on display. DRUMS - For a late lunch we went to the Drum Tower, had a quick look and then found a little street side dinner. Again the ... read more

Went to the Terracotta Warriors today and the Qin Tomb and it is simply staggering. I'm a sucker for history but this really is amazing. It's the oldest man made thing I have ever seen with my own eyes and it is just a fraction of what is there to be uncovered. It is an amazing and extravagent attmpt at defeating death (fail). I will try and find a book that gives me the whole history of the Qin empire if I can. Did some shopping which is fun. The shop assistants follow you around the store - it feels like they are making sure you aren't stealing but it is actually chinese service, very hands on. You can buy stuff really cheap or pay the same as what it costs at home depending on the ... read more

Arrived in China last night after two good flights. We met some Shanghai girls who are studying nursing in Adelaide - Jing (candy), Rong and Jing, they were very nice, and though Jack was Korean (ha ha) Today we went all over Beijing with Jack's father (ba ba). We went to the fish markets and picked up some fresh fish that we ate later that night at their Japanese restaurant (hen xian). We visited Olympic Park, Tianimen square and the Forbidden City (Closed - we will go back later). We counted so many cameras in Tianimen square and caught the Beijing subway which is so much cleaner than Sydney's. My thoughts on China so far - the people are friendly and Beijing people have a good level of basic English (better than my mandarin). Their driving ... read more