Day 39 (Mon 15thOct) Today I had planned on going to a national park north east of Daegu for a bit of a hike and to see a few temples around there but due to waking up with an incredibly sore abdomen which is down to the sunmudo martial arts I was doing at the temple stay I’m in way too much discomfort for that. I was just pottering around the hostel when the girl (Sookie) who works here asked if I fancied going with her to watch the national volleyball finals week. It seems Daegu is hosting the national sports festival this week so there’s a lot of sport going on. As I had no other plans it made sense to go plus it’s a new sport that I’d not seen before. We got the ... read more

Day 32 (Sun 7thOct) So my time has come to leave behind Beijing and China, a place that I have enjoyed very much. Next on the agenda is South Korea, and firstly Busan. The day started with a 5:30am start after getting in at half 1 so I was slightly tired. I tried to make as little noise as possible leaving the hostel room. Seems there’s 3 Siberians in 2 beds which means they’re multiplying as there were 2 the previous day. Made it to the airport and went through the usual procedures. Boarded the flight and away from China. The flight lasted around 2 hours to Busan Gimhae airport. Off the plane and through the painful customs processes, filling in questionnaires for health and illness, reason of visit and so on. This all takes longer ... read more

Day 26 (Mon 1stOct) Another night train took me from Shanghai to Beijing although this one far more successful. A soft sleeper and not a hard sleeper meant a bigger bed and more space, 4 in a room not 6 and the luxury of a door. It was spot on. On arriving in Beijing the girl on the opposite side to my bed decided to let on she spoke English, shame she didn’t do it 11 hours earlier as those trains do get pretty boring. We got chatting and headed off the train and into the Subway. We exchanged details as is happening a lot more now with people, as I’m getting more used to the travelling thing. Arrived at the correct Subway and made my way to the hostel after going the wrong way initially. ... read more

Day 16 (Fri 21stSept) First call of today was to get my onward train ticket to Shanghai. Walked to train station, took about 45 mins. Queued up at the foreign counter which was full of Chinese. Got to front and asked for a ticket on Sunday, was told they only had seats and no sleepers, not good as it was due to be a 15 hour trip, then she asked for my passport, didn’t have it so went back to hostel, 45 more mins. Quickly checked online and showed they did have sleepers so I got reception to print of the exact train I wanted, went back, this time on the bus. Got to front of queue, passed piece of paper over and amazingly had sleepers now. I have this feeling they just shove people on ... read more

Day 8 (Thurs 13thSept) Today is the day I have left Hong Kong and headed north into mainland China. I woke up early as I had to be out of my room by 11am and be all packed up and ready to go. Around 12 o’clock I fetched my bag from the hostel and headed to the MTR, which I was to get from Causeway Bay all the way to Lo Wu, which is the last stop before the border into China. This took around an hour or so and at the other end greeted by customs. Once through customs you’re in Luo Ho, Shenzhen. I stopped for a bit of lunch in the metro station on the Chinese side of the border for my first attempt at duck while I’ve been here. Ordered and sat ... read more