The start of my journey in japan was an extremely long day of traveling. I left my hostel in Chengdu at 5am set off for the airport, first i flew to Hong Kong where i had 2 hours to kill then i found out that the second leg of my journey had a another stop that I hadn't realised so next i stopped in Taipei for an hour then finally i arrived in Osaka feeling very weary. I made my way by train to the centre of the city and then with some difficulty found my hostel i can say the directions from the hostel were not the best 'walk for 10 minutes from the station' ok I know that I'm expected to be a mind reader half the time but c'mon walk which way for ... read more

Of course you cannot come to Chengdu and not visit their iconic panda sanctuary. Those big lazy fur balls are super cute!! Nice early start to the day not quite as early as id planned but couldn't get myself out of bed. 2 trains and bus later i was arriving at the city sanctuary along with a few hundred other people. As i made my way around the park i started off by seeing the recognisable giant panda and they really are huge bear size which i think is easy to forget when you look at cute little pictures or teddy bears of them. They strut their stuff around their large enclosures shaking their bottoms as they go like a girl trying to get a guys attention quite amusing really. For the majority though they just ... read more

I finally made my way to the west central China after wanting to start on this side and i was right i love this city so vibrant and lively. I checked in to my hostel which is cool good cheap food and beers, good company happy with my choice there seeing as i will be spending a fair bit of time in this hostel. They also have the cutest little family of cats that mill around all day seeking attention adorable until they are trying to climb all over me. For the first few days i didnt do a great deal just enjoyed having my time to myself and being able to relax without worrying that i didnt have enough time to do everything. I managed to buy some decent walking shoes as my trainers bless ... read more

Time for an update, so I haven't been doing much traveling around lately as there have been no school holidays but i have been planning eagerly for the biggest trip of my life when i finish in Yantai in January. So for lack of pictures at the top of mountains and landmarks i thought i would give you a little bit about general daily life here in Eastern China. As I've mentioned before I'm working at an international school here in Yantai Shangdong province. Its a nice little town of around a million people but you wouldn't think it as come 9pm everywhere is closed and everyone is home and ready for bed bit of a change from good ole Liverpool that comes alive when it goes dark. I have adapted to this and celebrate my ... read more

Arrival at the airport all went fine went out side to get the recommended shuttle bus stood in the queue for 20 minutes bus arrives and told I should have a ticket good start ran back inside got the ticket and came back luckily enough the lady controlling the buses had saved me a seat on the coach lifesaver I'm exhausted climbed a mountain today ya know :) after an hour on the bus we were all dropped of outside a hotel were a swarm of men decided to approach me talking Chinese well this is uncomfortable! I translated I have no idea what you want leave me alone please. I seen a taxi pull up showed him the address to wish he said 400 I told him swiftly to get lost ended up agreeing a ... read more