We survived the flight and we survived the first day and we are still friends. LOL What a day, we are 3 hours behind here so we left the hotel at 7.30am and headed down the Bund. What a wacky place in the morning. People in groups doing Tai Chi and soooo many people walking backwards. Not only walking backwards but doing some elaborate clapping routines. We were accosted by a guy wanting a photo with us and other random strangers. The bund is like an esplanade along the river leading to the port, lots of barges to and fro on the waterway. We used the hop on and hop off bus system and ended up exploring lots of places, actually temples, yes sue loves temples. Sharon, Noelene and Judi got some retail therapy at a ... read more

Well, well, well! The experience for booking a trip to China continues to have it's ups and downs. This last week, more so than others. This week our hotel in Chengdu cancelled on us saying that the renovations were not finished. So I needed to find and book something new. Then our hotel in Guilin did the same. So 2 cancellations and 2 rebookings and notifying anyone and everyone who needs to know has been done (I hope). On the upside, the Panda Volunteer Program that we were going to work with is still not open due to the outbreak of distemper and the death of some pandas (this is not the upside) but (this is the upside). The personal guide that we have booked has managed to secure a volunteer day at a smaller Panda ... read more