We got up early this morning so that we could fit as much into our last full day as possible... We first had breakfast and went to get a taxi to go to the Tunnel which runs under the Huangpu River. The concierge told us it was just a 10-15min walk so we decided why not. Generally this has meant it is probably only 5 minutes but not today. It was at least half an hour and as there is so much construction work going on, we couldnt find or see the tunnel. We asked a police man who told us where to go in Chinese and luckily we found our way. The tunnel runs from the Bund, under the Huangpu River and across to Pudong. You catch a mini version of a train carriage which ... read more

We have had a very busy day today and packed as much in as possible. We started with breakfast in our hotel in Shanghai after a great nights sleep and a little sleep in. Breakfast was good but still nothing has lived up to the fantastic breakfast we had in Beijing - we were truly spoilt. After breakfast we headed off to see the streets surrounding our hotel. We are in a great spot and right in the mix of the old town shops, tea house & bridge an Yuyuan Gardens. We first went along the bridge at the tea house which is beautiful. Then headed into the Yuyuan Gardens which is like a maze of little buildings and beautiful gardens, lakes and rock walls. It was a beautiful place and we got some great photo's. ... read more

Today we sailed across the boarder from Chongqing to Wushan. We didn't get up as early this morning, deciding to skip the early morning tea but were woken by a ship announcement over loud speaker at 7am to say we were entering into the first gorge, the 'Qutang Gorge'. It is 8km long and took 20-30 minutes to pass through. Tam and I jumped out of bed and raced up the stairs to the deck area to watch and take photo's. It was freezing, especially as we were not prepared and put on minimal clothing. We then headed straight to breakfast! After breaky, a quick shower and we were off to another shore excursion. We got onto a smaller cruise boat and cruised through the 'Lesser Gorge' along the Daning River. It was beautiful and along ... read more

This morning we stuffed around for a while after breakfast, spoke to our families on skype and packed everything for our flight to Chongqing where we are going on a cruise. We weren't sure what the internet/phone situation would be like but we have managed to pay for internet and our mobile phones don't work so I called Daniel for about $6 for 40 seconds when we got on the boat just to communicate we were safe and onboard. Won't be making any more of these calls for that price. We went to the airport at 11am to catch our 1pm flight. Of course it was delayed so we arrived a little late in Chongqing, not that it mattered as we werent sure what we were going to do while we waited to board the boat ... read more

We have arrived in Kunming today... This morning we had breaky at the hotel as usual, had a wander around the hotel and found the pool. It is huge and to me looks finished, just missing water. There were also 2 spa's a big one and smaller one, I guess they will be different temperatures. It's a pity we won't get to use them ever as we don't think we will be going back to Lijiang in the future. It was hard to get around and see things as no-one really speaks English and it is very remote. On the plus side, the Crowne Plaza hotel is awesome and if more staff spoke English and they had services to book tours - it would be perfect!!! We took our time getting organised, had long showers and ... read more