Day 1 We arrived in Tai’an (the town at the foot of Tai Shan) at about half six in the morning, bought tickets for our onward journey to Beijing (still no sleeper’s available, but we managed to book seats this time) and headed off in a taxi to find a hotel, we were taken to a hotel too far out of town but using my phrasebook I managed to talk the driver into taking us to a hotel nearer the centre of town and nearer the start of the trail head for climbing the mountain. Our plans were to climb the mountain today and then see what was about in the town tomorrow before the train left late at night, but as we got absolutely no sleep on the train we decided to leave the climb ... read more

…or so the guide book claims! Day 1. So here we are, China. After an eleven hour flight (short because of a strong tailwind apparently) we arrived in Shanghai on Wednesday morning. First things first, we need to get from the airport into the city, find a hotel and stash our stuff so we can get exploring. Luckily for us, the fastest train on earth does just that… or not! The Maglev train only takes you halfway to the city but does terminate at a Metro station which will take you the rest of the way… handy that! It’s only an 8 minute ride but it does top out at 430 km/h (our speedo said 431 km/h; our driver must have been late for his breakfast). It’s modern, clean, efficient (German designed and built) and very ... read more