Survived our first flight on a Chinese airline. China Eastern Airlines got us to Xi'an home of the Terracotta Warriors on time and all in one piece. We organised a guide from recommendations on the net and her helpers helpers brother met us at the arrival hall. He introduced us to "Miracles" helpers helper who spoke virtually no English but took us to our hotel. Prior to setting off we got a call from Miracles otherwise known as Jane - not her real name its actually an inconvenient Chinese name. Well Jane suggested we go via the recently discovered(1998) tomb of Emperor Jin something. Quite an amazing site, the whole tomb and pits are enclosed and form a museum with glass floors over the 2100 year old artifacts. From there we arrived at our hotel the ... read more

Our first full day in Yangshuo. Hired bikes ($3 each for all day) and rode into town from the Li River Retreat. Climbed a karst called Green Lotus Hill and found one of the oldest geocaches in China. WOW the view! This place is worth comming to China for all on it's own! Tonight we went to the Impressions production on the Li River. This massive production plays everynight of the year and has a cast of over 500. There would have been 5000 people watching tonight and it wasn't busy! This production like the surrounding country side is truely spectacular and worth evey cent. In fact several of the huge Karsts are lit and form the backdrop of the production about the life of the people in this region of China. ... read more

4 days at this hotel was not enough. The Empire Hotel is beyond doubt the best hotel I have stayed in from all points of view. From the 2 doormen on the massive front glass doors to the staff in the Empire Club service was exceptional. Partly due to getting a cold that put me in bed for 2 days I feel like I didn't get a chance to fully appreciate the hotel. However if you have to get sick away from home this is the place to do it! Our view from the huge balcony overlooking the pool and the sea was fantastic. We met such wonderful and kind people who went out of their way to make our stay special. Dilah especially is a great guy who became our friend. We hope to go ... read more

Mr Aji took us to Kinabanatan River. He prides himself on offering a little extra and the 3 hours we spent on the river was very memorable. Snakes, lizards, kingfishers, silver tailed monkeys and proboscis monkeys everywhere!... read more