China, Beijing - Hanoi, Vietnam

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16th September

China well what a crazy place that is!!!No facebook and everyone acts like they have never seen a white person in their life. Madness - every time we get to a train station it is packed full of millions of people and they are all looking at us with their camera phones pointed in our direction! We have our suspicions that they are filming or taking sneaky photos of us. This is then confirmed when the extra crazy people come over to us to have their photo taken with us or even ask for an autograph!

Departing Beijing on an overnight train with only a seat was hard work but I somehow managed to streach my leg over the chairs in front of me and kick to guy in the head haha! Livia got pretty drunk on this trip as she had more than one beer lol. We knew, when we heard her rambling to people that did not understand her and started pointing at her pointer!

17th September

Got picked up from Xian train station and taken to our lovely Youth hostel. We were all pretty shattered so got a few hours sleep before we caught the bus to see the Terracotta Army! Again we figured out how to get their on local transport which cost a few pounds and not 20+pounds like the tours cost! It was a stupidly hot day! The Army was very interesting if not a little strange but not what i expected at all. The whole area has been turned into a mini holiday village!

The bus ride home was probably the worst bus journey of my life! There are no rules on the roads and everyone just goes for it. Honking your horn is just a way to say im here and no one gets road rage! Apart from the crazy driving it was the heat that nearly killed me, packed like sardines and stuck in the city for what seemed like forever i thought i was going to pass out! But i didnt and we all got home safely to our first Bacardi of the trip mmmmmmm!


18th September

This was the train ride from hell! The train was packed and everyone on the train stunk, but that was not the worst of it! Most men in China wrench phlegm and then spit it out - this is disgusting enough on the street but when it is happening all night long on the train it kinda turns your stomach!

19th - 21st September

Arrive in Chengdu to see the pandas and decide to do the tour instead of getting the bus their as their is little difference in the cost and we want to get their early! OMG they are amazing - they are sooooooo cute it is untrue! The only thing that is a bit wierd is that people can get their photo taken with one for about 200pound - this is mostly for stupid Americans! The panda's were mostly inside because we had a massive storm while we were their which was really nice as it cleared the air a bit!

Later that day we walked into the town and visited Peoples Park and a tea house - something that Chengdu is also famous for! Then in the evening myself and Nat did a safari bike ride round the city with people from the youth hostel and the crazy manager! She was an amazing person and managed to fall off her bike about 4 times - she was hilarious! I wanted to put her in my bag and take her with us for comedy value!

On our overnight train to Yangshoe we sat in the restaurant cart and played our usual card games rummy and shit head! We made friends with some crazy Germans and Americans (who were actually Canadian)!

22nd - 25th September

OMG Yangshoe what an amazing place and our youth hostel was just perfectly placed of West Street (which is a buzzing market street) right inbetween crazy mountains! Our roof top bar is brilliant - the views are amazing! 23rd is my birthday and it is a brilliant day - we wonder round town and get a boat ride down the river! Then after the most amazing meal we head up to the roof top bar which is the beggining of a very messy night indeed! We start off by playing a bit of pool and a few people know it is my birthday - my first shot of many was brought by the Canadian who we named Chad because he was soooo American! After kicking some ass on the pool table and a lot of shots we head to Monkey Janes - the other rooftop bar! Here they have beer pong and i make Nat play with me - though she really does not want too as this is her game and im just not good enough haha! O well its my birthday haha! Monkey Jane is very very drunk and takes a liking to Nat and keeps stroking her face - i get given a beer pong t-shirt (which I lose) and Nat gets told to come back tomorrow so that she can give her one haha! We have already made friends with a lovely girl called Kirsty who lives in China and is on her holibobs. It is at monkey Janes that we make friends (after i get more and more shots) with the most random group of people ever! We then drag them to a nearby club for dancing and more drinks! Well i say dancing, this just consisted of everyone pole dancing! The evening ends around 5am and Chad the American decides that i am too drunk to feed myself so he feeds me, a little wierd me thinks but as long as im getting food i don't care haha! The next day we was meant to get up and go biking - but as this was our first proper drinking night out of the trip we are all more than hung over (except for Laura) who gets us drink and food all day long bless her!

That night we have a typical hangover day and watch some DVDS in the lounge with a Chinese take away haha!

26th September

Arrive Han oi, Vietnam - yipeee im excited for the amazing beaches, been in one place for more than 3 days and football on the beach. We arrived here at 5am and cant get in our room until 12pm grrrr, which is why i have some time to kill and update for you lovely people. The train journey here was fairly painless and the customs people were actually nice, quick and efficient! Once we get our rooms we will have a nap and then decide which beach we are going to tomorrow - yipeeeee! Until the next chapter peoples!

I hope to up-load some pictures a bit later as their is now a massive que for the pc!

xxxxxx

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