Through passport control and across the border into Hong Kong for our last few days in Asia.

China has been more than anything a place of huge contrasts. It isn't what I expected. The distances between the towns and cities is immense and I have found China to be at once fascinating, bewildering, exhausting, welcoming, inhospitable, beautiful, wild, over populated and almost deserted all in one go.

The high light of China for me has to be walking on The Great Wall. It was as amazing as I expected and a wonderful experience to share with the kids. Lunch at Maggie's house was lovely, an example of the fantastic welcoming attitude that we met in many places we stayed. The opera at Xian was beautiful, a magical night that I will always remember whenever I think of China. The town of Lijiang was very different; the Naxi people demonstrated to us a tough spirit, determined to maintain their customs despite a massive influx of Han Chinese to the area. Lastly gorgeous Yangshuo, it must be one of the top photography sites of the world with the awesome scenery and friendly people. I loved it there despite the rain!

We have learnt some wonderful history during our time here but felt like we only scraped the surface. There is so much to learn, from the ancient history of the fantastic Imperial dynasties to the more recent history of Chairman Mao, the communists and the Cultural Revolution, The Opium Wars with the British and the old practice of foot binding. The Chinese people can be seemingly overwhelming in their sheer numbers, pushing and shoving, with little regard for antiques, animal life or each other and yet at times I have almost cried as people have been so so kind when I have felt at the end of my tether here.

The food has been central to lots of conversation we have had. In the north of China we found the dishes to be very greasy but the southern food is nothing short of inspired, from the spicy, chilli dishes of Sichuan to the exotic creatures we have seen on the menu in Guilin. Despite the fact that I have never been a lover of Chinese food we never went hungry and have had some great meals out.

On more than one occasion I have thought that I would never return to China. I decided it has been my least favourite destination during our trip with none of the charm of the South East Asian countries we visited like Cambodia or Vietnam. Yet as we leave now for Hong Kong, the city they describe as an amazing fusion of East meets West, I'm not so sure. In hindsight maybe we did too much, many other travellers we met were journeying around either the north or the southwest/south central areas. I can't really sum up a place like China too well. Simon and Ali have loved it here, like me Maisie is a bit more ambivalent. One thing for sure we will never forget our time here it has been an awesome experience and I will treasure the memory.

We have had a fairly quiet day today as once again the weather is rainy. In the end we got up slowly, had breakfast and wandered around buying a few souvenirs. I got a set of Chinese placemats and table runner thing and a few cushion covers for just under a tenner. Probably not all that cheap but I felt happy with them anyway.

As we were leaving in the afternoon a fella chased us up the street. He turned about to be someone Simon went to school and played rugby with and they had a quick 10 minutes chat and catch up. He told us he has been living in Yangshuo for 9 months teaching English. It seems to be a popular occupation for Brits here. It's strange to see people you know but not entirely unexpected I suppose.

We catch the bus back to Guilin which takes around an hour an a half, not a very comfortable ride but cheap. Luckily it drops us right outside the train station and we find the waiting area for train T40 to Guangzhou. This is fairly close to the border of Hong Kong and we plan to then catch another train across the border in the morning. The journey should take 10 hours and our train is scheduled to leave at 10pm.

We soon realise that the train actually goes right to the border town of Shenzhen and once we get on the train Simon alters our tickets and pays the extra so we can go all the way. We settle down for the night, the couple we are sharing our hard sleeper compartment are quiet and friendly and soon its lights out for everyone.

We have our breakfast, it's so good to have a few more western choices and they have Vegemite. (Not quite as good as Marmite but it does the job). We walk up the road to the bike hire place and select 4 bikes. They actually are all really crap with broken gears and chains and we take ages trying to pick 4 decent ones. Once we get slightly out of town it becomes quite quiet and we don't want to end up stranded in the middle of nowhere. Also we have heard of other travellers accused of returning the bikes broken and being unable to get their deposits back.

In the end I'm the only one who ends up with a mountain bike and we set off along the road. Cycling is definitely one of the best ways to get around Yangshuo, it's very flat and it gives us the opportunity to look at our surroundings. The paddy fields stretch for miles and framing Yangshuo are the amazing tree covered limestone peaks. It is said by the Chinese people that Yangshuo is the most beautiful place in the world. The world of course being China!

We cycle for an hour or so eventually reaching a small village. It's interesting seeing the market stalls and we stop and buy some water and a large fruit that looks like a giant pear but tastes like a grapefruit. We carry on for a while and Simon stops and takes some photographs of Water buffalo lying in the river with just their heads out. It's really hot now and the kids are exhausted, cycling on their ancient bikes is very hard work and I swap bikes with Ali. As we reach the village again we decide to get a "van taxi" back and pile in with the bikes for the most uncomfortable, jolting ride home ever.

We have a shower and spend the afternoon doing some maths with the kids. Ali restrings his guitar and we sort out some laundry. In the evening we go out for food and see a restaurant advertising fajitas. As we haven't had any Mexican food for ages we decide to go for that. Big mistake! The strips of chicken and beef came accompanied with sweet pancakes, Thousand Island dressing and squirty cream. Horrible and at 20 quid also very expensive. What a waste of money, none of us ate much.

I have enjoyed it here but can't wait to get to Hong Kong now. There are loads of mosquito's here and we have been bitten a lot. We stopped taking our malaria tablets a week ago which is good but have had to buy some extra repellent. The weather has also been very unpredictable which has made it hard when packing our rucksacks.

Off to bed now, we are thinking of catching a local bus to Xingping tomorrow, a local beauty spot where the mountain scenery is described as breathtaking. Will see what the weathers doing first though. Really can't face getting soaked again.

We get up fairly early and taking advantage of a few dry hours repack quickly and head off in a taxi for nearby Yangshuo .As we arrive (of course) it starts to rain but by now our expectations of the weather in southern China are so low that we take it on the chin and gamely plod along the road to our guesthouse. The Water Buffalo Guesthouse and Bar is a good choice and we're so pleased to see an excellent menu.

We have some food and then head off out for a walk. We are staying on West Street and it reminds me of Th Khao San Road in Bangkok. Full of tourist shops selling all sorts of souvenirs from wooden carvings, to stamps proclaiming to "make your name more Chinese". There are also loads of bars and restaurants and we soon get settled in a fantastic spot over looking the lake and the stunning limestone scenery that is all around. It's like being in a film and we have a lovely afternoon sat drinking Tsingtao beer and chatting to the kids. There is a man on a raft on the lake using cormorants to fish with. Simon said it was a tourist gimmick but it looked cool anyway!

It's very easy to while the afternoon away here as there is so much to see and by 8pm we're feeling hungry and order dinner. As in other restaurants in the south of China we find the menu is quite exotic with choices of braised turtle, roasted dog and bamboo rat. We're a bit scared to try any of those though and have duck, twice roasted pork and lemon chicken with fried mixed vegetables.

On the way back we telephone the kids Grandfather Blobby Bob and wish him a Happy Birthday for yesterday. Maisie has a good chat but Ali is busy in the bar next door half way up the climbing wall. The Chinese fella's all have their shirts off, showing of their muscles. Grrrrrr! one of the most interesting sights in China!

Off to bed now we are going to hire bikes tomorrow and do some cycling.

We were going to move on today to the nearby backpacker village of Yangshuo but have decided to stay put as it is still raining constantly. This hostel is comfortable, with friendly and helpful staff and a reasonable collection of film to slob out in front of.

Computer and internet access has been a real pain in China, the connections are unbelievably slow and every hostel we have stayed in only has a few terminals. Added to this is the fact that our laptop remains critically if not terminally sick. The result being that uploading photographs to the website is a painstaking process that I would never have the patience to complete. After investigating this Simon thinks there is a small problem with the hard drive (This means nothing to me) and is going to try and sort it out with Dell. He admits that Dell are notoriously crap at customer service but then they have never come up against him before and he is the most persistent person I have ever met!

Its midday now and we have done nothing more than eat breakfast, we decide to go for a walk and amble aimlessly around in the wet for an hour before heading to the sushi bar for lunch. We buy the kids a DVD each and some new schoolbooks and pens. When we get back they spend over an hour writing a story of their choice. Not surprisingly they both choose an action theme but the stories are quite good. I worry that Ali's handwriting is actually worse now than before we left and Maisie's spelling certainly hasn't improved but it isn't through lack of trying on our part. We have found teaching them both satisfying and at times infuriatingly difficult and I hope their natural ability will be enough to ensure they maintain their high levels of achievement that we saw before the trip. If not private tuition here they come.

Its nearly 10pm now and we skipped dinner as we ate sushi late and spent the afternoon watching DVD's and eating ice cream, chocolate, macadamia nuts and sweets. Simon and the kids have just come up to the room complaining of hunger. The only option open now is KFC so Simon and Ali go off to get that. Another healthy option meal.

Guilin in the south central province of Guangxi is reputed to be one of the most beautiful places in the whole of China. Today we are heading slightly further north to the town of Longsheng to see the rice terraces and to visit the minority village of the Red Yao people.

The day starts ok and we are up by 7. We get on a tour bus at 8 and things unfortunately deteriorate slightly from that point, as first I then Simon both bang our heads really hard on the roof of the bus. We have a row and it starts to rain in a big way.

Two hours later, tensions have improved slightly and we arrive at The Red Yao minority village. I have read that in this mountainous province of China there used to be more tribes but eventually they have been integrated into the majority Chinese Han society. The Red Yao are also known as the Long Hair Yao and we learn that the women do not cut their hair. We watch them perform some singing and dancing and taste their tea. It¡¯s a bit like weak gravy with rice crispies floating in it.

Their voices are very high and sweet and they are dressed in black and pink traditional dress. The guide explains that their hair is tied in different ways dependent on whether they are married. have children etc. They also stretch their ears with weights which is quite a sight to see!

Back on the bus, we journey for around another hour and eventually reach the base of the mountains where the rice terraces start. This is what we have really come to see. The Longji Terraces were first cultivated in the 13th century Yuan dynasty. The tribes of mountain people who have lived here for many generations ask the mountains for food and have created the terraces over hundreds of years in almost every available spot.

I spend some time reading some local information and although it takes a while to decipher the "Chinglish" there are some wonderful descriptions in there of the terraces in all seasons - At the start of spring the terraces are full of water, reflecting the skylight as layers of silver ribbons folded together. Then greasy green seedlings, the breeze rolls green waves. Summer, the colour is spilled, golden stairs and golden storeys. In deep winter silver and plain clothing implants terraces and villages into a fairy world of ice and jade statues.

How beautiful, I don't think anything I can write can do the terraces justice and as we start to climb up the steps the glimpses that we get behind the rolling mists are nothing short of spectacular. We climb and climb and get steadily more and more soaked! In retrospect we must have been mad to even attempt to get to the top but despite the now torrential rain we figure we have paid our money and we're here now so might as well get on with it! We buy 4 umbrellas and long rain macs. My transition into a Chinese tourist is almost complete as we gamely follow "Nick" our guide up and up with the rest of our tour group.

At last we are there and by this point the mist is so thick we can hardly see each other let alone the rice terraces. We dance around in the rain a bit, get a woman to take a few photos of us and start the long swim back down. (We actually did see a fish on the path!) In reality it is like making our way back down through a fast flowing stream as the water pours down the mountains and over the paths.

Finally we arrive safely at the bottom and back onto the bus, 3 hours later and we are dropped outside the hostel. I'm convinced I have trenchfoot by this point and can't wait for a shower and some coffee. Despite the rain, lack of photo opportunities, head injuries and arguments we've had a good day and I'm glad we went. So glad we're not going tomorrow though, there is something to be said for lazing in bed until late, doing jack shit all day and warmth and dryness. Bring it on.

Oh no, I can't believe it; we wake up to the sound of torrential rain. What a nightmare. It seems like crappy weather is following us around China. We have breakfast in bed and spend the morning checking a few emails and generally catching up on stuff on the internet. By midday the rain has stopped and we set off along the Li River for Xiangbi Shan Park. (Elephant Trunk Hill Park) It's lovely in there, with lots of cute and picturesque bridges over the river and some gorgeous flowers in the gardens.

As expected the kids aren't too impressed, but that all changes when we reach the giant water bubbles. Perfect, we didn't have a go in Happy Valley in Beijing due to the combination of cost and long queues but there isn't anyone waiting and its only Y20 each. What a laugh, this has to be one of the more bizarre things we have seen in China and the kids love it. Scarily though when they are pulled in from the water they both said they were starting to have trouble breathing in their bubbles. I guess the health and safety law in England wouldn't allow these! Probably for good reason!

We walk all along the river, I see a sign saying the river is called The Peach Blossom River which is really pretty but actually although fairly scenic it's not as wonderful as all that. There are some great little floating restaurants though, the crabsticks here are whole small crabs speared onto skewers and barbequed rather than the pink and white rubbery things we get in England.

We have seen and experienced some strange and interesting sights whilst in China. One thing we have noticed is that babies don't seem to wear nappies. Instead their trousers are split from bum to crutch with all their bits on display and ready to pee wherever the mood takes them! So strange! Next is the Chinese obsession with photography, many of the Chinese people we have met have asked us if they can take our photograph. On occasion we have felt like tourist attractions ourselves and it is a bit hard to understand why they are so interested in us when after all, wherever we have been in China we have seen quite a few other Westerners. (We're not that rare!)

It seems that the prostitution rates are high here. Simon has been approached by pimps touting for business much more frequently in China than in the other Asian countries we have visited. It also turns out that the "wrong number" telephone calls we have received in our hotel rooms are in fact sex workers and this is very common here.

We climbed Elephant Trunk Hill and had our photo taken in the curve of the trunk. In the afternoon we did some science revision with the kids. We have almost covered the entire science curriculum for the year now which is good.

In the evening we go out for dinner and have some great food. The food in the south has undoubtedly been more to our tastes than in the Northern provinces. Much less greasy and more vegetables available. The kids are so good and will more or less give anything a go although they draw the line at duck heads on sticks.
Off to bed now, we are going on a trip tomorrow joining a Chinese tour group. God help us.

We all slept well and waking up naturally at 7.45 was definitely preferable to the alarm. By the time we have had a wash and Simon, Ali and Maisie have had their noodles for breakfast we only have another hour or so to go. It has actually been a restful enough way to travel and I feel quite refreshed and ready to see Guilin. The train arrives just ahead of time at 11.50 and we get a taxi to The Backstreet Hostel. It turns out to be a really good choice. Fairly quiet and in a great location close to the river and lots of shops, bars and restaurants.

The kids are busy checking out the DVD collection and we get talking to an English girl called Tracey. Her parents were both born in Hong Kong and she explains that she has been on a trip around China. Despite her Chinese heritage she has found China very difficult to travel through and has cut her time in China short to spend more time in Australia. She gives us some good advice on places to visit and the area in which to stay whilst in Hong Kong.

Its 7pm and I'm sat on the bed writing this. The kids wanted to watch a film but I felt that they have spent too much time recently watching DVD's and so Ali is practising his guitar instead and Maisie is writing a story. We spent an hour doing maths this afternoon. Maisie and I concentrated on rounding up numbers and how to use a calculator. I'm not sure what Simon and Ali did but it seemed to end in the usual row anyway. We went out for some food and despite the surly service the duck, fried broad beans and rice was very good. On the way back we saw a sushi bar. I'm sure we'll try that over the next few days.

The main reason for visiting Guilin is for the awesome scenery. We have seen lots of pictures of the huge karst limestone cliffs and they look amazing. After our week of racing through China I feel like we need a bit of relaxation time before we head off to Hong Kong in a weeks time.

10pm -just got in from sushi bar. It was excellent and very cheap our bill came to Y120
(8 quid). We stopped off on the way back at a shop and bought some beer and a bottle of red wine. The lady in the shop was explaining China's one child policy to us. In the countryside it is ok to have 2 kids providing the first is a girl. Although many people have more they don't register them which means they don't get an education. In the cities if you have more than one child you have to pay the government for the privilege. She explained the cost to her family for her second child is the equivalent of 20,000 pounds.

It is completely different again here in Guilin. We are staying very close to the market area and the pedestrianised road makes a welcome change from the huge highways that run through the centres of most Chinese cities. The streets are lined with trees and Guilin certainly is a prettier place than the northern cities we visited.

Sat in bed drinking wine, we want to make some plans for the next few days but not rushing anything, feeling tired after travelling and looking forward to spending a night in a bed. We put the aircon on; we've gone from air con to electric blanket and back to aircon in 3 days. I guess that just emphasises the huge diversity that is China and I hardly feel we have scratched the surface.

As planned we caught the sleeper bus last night at 6pm to Kunming. These buses are unlike any others we have travelled on elsewhere and an experience I'm not in a hurry to repeat. The first impression of the bus was quite good. Brand new and clean and tidy I guess our expectations for the journey were quite high.

The beds were low down and so so narrow. Luckily we were on the bottom all next to one another. Although we have got used to close proximity living in Asia and feel perfectly comfortable with it, the fact that many Chinese men in particular, smoke constantly and think nothing of spitting on the floor made me glad to be in between Simon and the window.

The endless films and karaoke also are a problem for some travellers we have spoken to but I like it and the noise didn't bother me. In the end the night, although pretty uncomfortable passed uneventfully and we arrived at 4.30am but stayed on the bus until around 6am. We stopped off a hotel and grabbed a coffee, whilst Simon went to the train station to get our tickets to Guilin. At 100 quid for 4 soft sleeper tickets they aren't cheap but as we will be leaving at 5.30 this afternoon for our longest journey yet of 22 hours we decided the extra expense was worth it.

We checked into Cloudland Hostel and basically crashed out for the day. I spent most of it asleep and Simon and the kids watch a few films. We send a few emails and update the website. (Our daily jobs) Our warm clothes are all fairly grubby and stink of cigarette smoke. For 2 previous nicotine lovers we have become a bit intolerant of fags in China but I think this is because so many people smoke and everywhere.

It's now 8pm and we have been on the train for just over 2 hours. We have passed some of the most amazing scenery on the way. The most interesting thing we see are the so called "Stone forests" of Shilin. As far as the eye can see, the land is covered with stone "stalagmites", a massive collection of grey limestone pillars eroded by the wind and rain. It is very green with red sandstone earth, miles of flat rice paddy fields and imposing mountain ranges. Really so beautiful, in a dramatic, wild and windswept way.

We have a long talk on the way and discuss our trip so far. Between the four of us we remember everywhere we have stayed and have a great time remembering the highlights. Simon says his favourite place was Khao Sok National Park in Thailand. The kids agree on the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia and I'm torn between Varanasi in India and Siem Reap in Cambodia. We all loved Langkawi and will treasure the memory of our time spent there.

Well we have had a few beers now, we started on Tsingtao but then found giant Budweisers for Y8. (Around 50 pence) hehe! Gotta find some way of passing the 22 hour journey and a few Buds seems as a good as any

When we woke up this morning we thought our laptop had completely snuffed it as it wouldn't even turn on. It has been playing up a bit recently and the dreaded blue screen of death has been appearing fairly regularly. Anyway Simon decided it might just be too cold and although I laughed at this idea after half an hour warming in the bed with the electric blanket and a few sweet nothings whispered in its ear it worked like a charm! Hurray!

We decided to get up and go and find a hearty breakfast to warm us up and like a miracle just as we finished eating the relentless rain of the past two days stopped. We take advantage and head off for Black Dragon Lake Pool. It is a lovely park and has some really gorgeous walks through it. We are most interested in trying to see the snow capped mountains and march enthusiastically to the key photography point. Anyway when we get there they are completely hidden from sight by clouds and the fantastic image we have seen of the lake, with a bridge across it and the Snow Mountains in the background is completely out of the question.

Still it¡¯s a beautiful spot and we get some great shots anyway. The walk around the lake takes us past Taoist pagodas and there are some pretty trees and plants to look at. Despite the cold we all enjoyed the walk and the fresh air as we have been cooped up for a few days. We manage to spend a couple of hours wandering around before its starts to drizzle again and decide to head back to the old town for hot chocolates and homemade cakes. We want to buy a few souvenirs and settle for a wooden pig (It¡¯s the year of the pig in China), a silk pashmina, some Yunnan coffee, green tea and a Tibetan cushion cover. We will add this small collection of stuff to the terracotta warrior we already have in our rucksack. I wanted to get a furry yak as well, but Simon said no.

We do some school work and it goes well, definitely an improvement on yesterday. We revise what we have already learnt about China's ancient history and tackle the huge subject of Chairman Mao and The Cultural Revolution. I will try and explain what we learnt as best as I can. It is very complicated and I apologise to our new Chinese friends if I have made any mistakes.

Following the end of the last Imperial dynasty, by 1930 China was laden with social problems including child slave labour, domestic slavery, prostitution and starvation. The communist party led by Mao Zedong advocated rural based revolt against the government. Years of instability followed for China. They were invaded by the Japanese who carried out one of the most brutal occupations of the 20th century with a policy of "burn all, loot all, kill all". But by the end of WWII the Japanese had been defeated and thrown out and the communists were in power.

Due to this, The Peoples Republic of China (1949) began its life as a bankrupt nation. Drastic measures were needed and Mao decided to "weed out" right wing intellectuals for a start. They were sent to labour camps for re education and thought reform. The road and rail networks were in a massive state of disrepair and every household was told to build blast furnaces in their backyards to increase steel production. This was called "The Great Leap Forward". Farm tools, pots and pans and door knobs were all melted down. In Mao's view, any obstacle could be overcome providing everyone worked together. The upshot of this actually being that with so many farmers involved in the steel production project an estimated 30-60 million Chinese people died from starvation through a lack of grain.

The enormous failure of The Great Leap Forward led to Mao resigning as head of state but he remained Chairman of the communist party. He was becoming increasingly isolated within the party and in order to regain some of his previous popularity many of his thoughts were compiled into what became known as the "little red book". This was introduced into the general education system and was to become one of the symbols of the era.

In 1966 a play was released that criticised Mao. A huge purge of the arts followed. University students were issued with red arm bands and soon Mao was overseeing mass parades of students in Tiananmen Square, chanting and waving copies of the "little red book". The Red Guards had been born. The Red Guards then went on a brutal rampage throughout the country. Schools were closed; academics, writers and artists were killed or sent to labour camps. Any cultural publications were destroyed and temples and monasteries were disbanded.

Physical reminders of China's" feudal, exploitative and capitalist" past were destroyed and the four olds were banned. (Old customs, old thinking, old habits and old culture.) Family relationships were split up and sex and romance frowned upon. The people wore the blue Mao suit.

In September 1976 Mao died following a long illness and the communist grip on China has been slowly released over the past 3 decades. Mao remains at present pickled and on display in Tiananmen Square. Whether he will remain there as China heads towards 2008 and the Olympics remains to be seen. In China he is remembered as 70% right and 30% wrong in his leadership of the country. Having learnt about the history of places like Cambodia, for us it is obvious there are comparisons to be drawn but I think some of the Chinese people would probably disagree with that and the feeling we have got is that Mao is fondly remembered here.

A massive topic and full marks to the kids for sitting and taking it all in. They have learnt stuff on our trip that I never even dreamed existed when I was younger.

Its 6pm now and we are off out for some food. We are leaving Lijiang at 8pm on the sleeper bus (8 hours) and then hope to get straight on a train for the 22 hour journey to Guilin. Certainly need to be tough for travel in China.

I woke up at 7am to the sound of the rain, a relentless drip drip drip. Not good as we came here with the plan of hiking through "Tiger Leaping Gorge" for a day or so. The gorge is very dangerous in the wet season but even a bit of rain can make it almost impossible to negotiate the steep paths and we're hardly prepared for wet weather trekking.

If we have to change our plans though that¡¯s ok as there are other things to do here and we want to see some of the Tibetan monasteries in the area. Providing the rain slows a bit we also want to photograph some of the "out of this world" scenery that we have already seen here. The Black Dragon Pool Lake, offers the most stunning views with snow capped mountains in the background. Wow!

Its 4pm and we have spent the day fairly quietly, it is pissing down and very cold and has been all day. I have had a sharp reminder of why I hate the wintry weather so much. We bought woolly gloves and hats today and really tried to wrap up. The old town of Lijiang where we are staying is great, the streets are very narrow and cobbled and the houses all traditional one story "Naxi" style wooden constructions with sloped tiling roofs. Most of the houses are open at the front and sell many traditional Tibetan goods such as fur clothing, brightly patterned cloth, wooden and horn decorative items, yak meat and Chinese tea. Some of the women dress in brightly coloured clothing with lots of large ornamental hair combs and pieces.

The cafes here are very nice, internet is available but very hit and miss but the hot chocolates and English muffins made up for that. We spent a few hours doing some schoolwork with the kids. My good friend Nicky pointed out that we haven't mentioned it much recently but it still continues painful though it is at times! We have been doing the properties of metals today and again it went ok. Slightly more effort on Maisie's part than Ali's but we got there in the end!

We rang my mum it's her birthday today and had a long chat. Happy Birthday Mum! I'll have a nice Corona for you tonight if it warms up if not maybe a Jack Daniels and coffee. Cheers!! Or as they say in China gan bei (The only thing I have learnt to say other than hello, thank you and toilet in Mandarin)

Tonight we are going to see the Naxi Orchestra, it's quite expensive and something we may have given a miss but as the weather is so bad we haven't got too many plans for outdoor stuff and don't worry about the cost. We spend an hour huddled around a few barbeque coals swapping travellers tales with a couple from Holland and a Japanese guy. On his RTW trip he is taking in England, Spain, France and Italy. Not heard of too often from the other travellers we have met.

Went for dinner and had some fantastic food I think I enjoyed it more than any other meal I have eaten in China. I think we were quite adventurous with our choice of deep fried yak, roasted pork strips, green cabbage and ham rice and spicy beef dishes and it paid off, the food was delicious. As we were leaving a fella came in with a guitar and asked if we wanted to hear a traditional Naxi song. Ali did, so we paid up and were subjected to5 minutes of the worst singing and guitar playing I have ever heard. Ali's face was a picture and I couldn't look at the fella for giggling. In the end we were glad to escape and declined when he asked if wanted to hear another one!

Just got back after an hour of Naxi orchestra, during the Cultural Revolution musical instruments were banned and destroyed. Fortunately some of the very old instruments were saved by the Naxi people who buried them, it also helped that Lijiang is very isolated and therefore the destruction of the music wasn't as strictly enforced as in other provinces of China. The music was beautiful and hearing the Naxi women sing was lovely. Their high pitched sweet voices are very distinctive and evoked images of rural China that I have seen on the TV in the past.

Despite this though we left early, it is so cold here the temperature seems to have dropped dramatically this evening and we froze our arses off in the drafty building until none of us could stand it any longer. I am sat in bed now, fully dressed with my woolly hat, 2 quilts, 2 thick blankets and the electric blanket on and I'm still shaking with cold. We checked the five day forecast earlier and have decided to move on to Kunming. Slightly further south and at a lower elevation we're hoping it will be warmer and dry.

After what I can only describe as an arduous (22 hour) journey that we all deserve a medal for we have finally arrived in Lijiang, in the South West province of Yunnan. Close to The Himalayas and not far from the Tibetan border our first impressions are of a cold, misty and rainy if stunningly beautiful place.

Well we left Chengdu on time and were pleased to meet some lovely people on the train in our compartment. The compartment sleeps six and the old Chinese couple we shared with were very kind and shared their meal with us. Although we managed ok with our phrasebook we were pleased when a young teacher who spoke excellent English appeared and we enjoyed quizzing each other on Chinese/English customs and culture. In fact when a wizened ancient work colleague also arrived to have a look at us we had quite a little party going on.

When they asked what we thought of the Chinese people I explained that in England Chinese people are often found in casino's gambling away and smoking loads of fags and they found this funny and explained it is an important part of Chinese culture. For their part they said they think of English people as being very rich and very serious and we put them straight on both counts in our case anyway!

Now the next huge issue to be discussed about this particular journey has to be the toilets. So if anyone has a weak stomach stop reading right now. I have given this some thought over the past few days and in fact dedicated at least an hour to it when I lay awake for an hour last night around 3am. I really thought that some of the toilets in India were the most rancid, evil places I have ever come across but have realised that the simple holes in the ground have a certain honest quality about them that these Chinese hellholes just cannot compare with.

The problem lies in a number of factors, firstly the hole has a sort of metal shutter across and bless Ali with all my heart, I honestly think he was the only person on the train to bother pressing the lever that releases the huge pile of crap, urine, blood, toilet paper, sanitary towels and cigarette butts that accumulates on the shutter. Secondly many toilets don't have any doors and all squatting together in the stalls chatting and having a smoke seems to be the norm and lastly there is very often no washing facilities at all within 3 miles of the above toilets. Yee ha !!

I guess the fact that when we reached the halfway point on our 8 hour bus ride and stopped off for a pee, the shed with a donkey, a dog, a pile of straw and a pit in it actually seemed really pleasant perhaps says it all. My answer to this was not to drink anything at all today and subsequently ended up a little dry and dehydrated, One of us ( I won't say who to save the blushes) unfortunately ignored the call of nature and ended up having a crouchy by the side of the bus with 30 or so interested Chinese having a good look. On a final two notes the Chinese love to spit and snort snot like their lives depend on it and the young fella sat behind us spent half the journey vomiting out of the bus window. Oh god, after this trip I honestly think we will all be so tough we will be capable of achieving literally anything in the future.

The guesthouse we have ended up in is very nice. Actually a family home there are only about 5 rooms here and it seems strange to need the thick quilts and blankets provided. The elevation here is around 3500 metres and Lijiang is a large town set in a deep valley. Throughout the entire journey through the mountains our ears have been popping as we got higher and higher.

Its 8pm now and just got back from dinner. This place is absolutely awesome, so gorgeous and completely unlike anywhere else we have been. Lijiang is the base for nearly 300,000 Naxi people. They are descendents of ethnically Tibetan tribes and the Naxi women are everywhere in the narrow streets, easily distinguished by their dress of blue blouses and trousers with blue or black aprons. It is like steeping back in time and amazing experience just walking around people watching.

Just got into bed and delighted to find the electric blanket fairy lives here. Snuggling down now, really need a decent nights sleep.

Slept in until 9am. Maisie I shared a room and Ali and Simon the other room. Our rooms are on separate floors and although we have done this lots of times there are loads of people in this hostel, some whom look a bit dodgy and as the security of the rooms is really crap I feel more comfortable being in with the kids. Had some breakfast and then spent a bit of time chatting to the 3 English girls we met here yesterday. They're really great, only 18 and have been volunteering teaching English in South East Asia. I admire their enthusiasm and confidence about it all and hope that Ali and Maisie choose to do something like that also in a few years.

We went for lunch at Wenshu temple just around the corner. This Tang dynasty monastery is Chengdu's largest and best preserved Buddhist temple and despite having visited many temples in South East Asia we were impressed. Very ornate and with elaborate carvings, it is a beautiful and serene place away from the bustle of the surrounding streets. Best of all though was the food. Described as a vegetarian restaurant, we were surprised to see sliced ear on the menu but hey. When in China etc. I have been struggling with the greasy Chinese dishes, lack of vegetables and sweetened drinks but our simple meal of rice, sweetcorn, celery, broccoli and water lilies was excellent.

Back at the hostel, we are leaving in an hour to catch the train at 6pm. I feeling quite nervous about this journey but I guess it will be ok. (Hoping) I will let you know

Oh my god, its only midday and I'm feeling sick and exhausted. We arrived at Chengdu bang on 5.30 as expected and were met by a friendly Chinese fella from The Mix Hostel who I initially liked. Got to the hostel and unfortunately our rooms weren't ready but as we were half expecting this we weren't too concerned and happily waited for 2 hours chatting to 3 English girls.

Had some breakfast, plain porridge again, the diet obviously isn't working too well. The "nice" Chinese fella asked me if I was expecting!! Oh my god the humiliation!( I blame it on the bread) As we have now been waiting for our room for nearly 4 hours and I've been up since the middle of the night I think I answered that question with extremely good grace if a bit of embarrassment and politely informed him that I didn't think so!

We had planned to visit the worlds largest Buddha today and sort it out with the hostel staff to share a minibus with an American couple. Unfortunately though it seems to take ages to sort all 6 of us out and as it reaches 12 o'clock I finally lose my patience. It will take us 2 hours to get there and after a bit of a family discussion we decide to give it a miss for today at least. I think the kids were relieved really, they look pretty tired and we decide that Simon will head off to the station to try and sort out on onward tickets. In the meantime I'm going to spend an hour doing stomach crunches (Kidding!)

Just had some lunch, tomato, noodle and egg soup and have returned to slob out the bed for the afternoon. All the hostels in China are very similar and have a laid back traveller air about them. With lots of dark corners, endless cups of coffee and cigarettes, a great choice of books and DVDs, comfy sofas, people from at least around 20 different nationalities all comparing travel tales and always someone strumming a guitar they are the sort of places where you could happily crash out for weeks. We have spoken to a few people who have done that and I think it would be easy to get caught up with hanging out and lose sight of why we came to China.

That said there is no point feeling guilty about losing a day here, Simon has returned with our tickets to Panzhihua and we will be leaving tomorrow night and then onto Lijiang. It seems very adventurous our trusty lonely planet doesn't even mention Panzihua and I posted on the Thorn Tree forum asking for some accommodation advice there earlier. If our plan works out though, we will be heading straight off on a bus from Panzhihua to Lijiang.

Its 10pm now off to bed. Want to get plenty of sleep credits as I guess the next few days will be tiring.

Its 4pm now and we have been on the train to Chengdu for nearly 3 hours. We arrived at the station to find the usual scrabble to get onto the platform and after a bit of pushing and shoving find our carriage and get on the train. For this journey we have booked soft sleeper as we will be awake for at least half of it but our compartment isn't as nice as I had hoped. It reminds me a bit of an old grannies parlour with nets, lacy things on the seats and a sad looking filthy plastic rose in a vase.

Still its safe as the door has a very sturdy lock on it and although the floor needs cleaning the sheets and pillows look clean enough. In some ways its good because we are on our own in here and can spread out, do as we please etc but on the other hand Simon pointed out that we won't meet anyone which is a shame as we have found out some good information on train journeys and met some lovely people.

We seem to have stopped at lots of stations already and eye up the station snacks on offer with interest. Chicken heads and feet on skewers seem to be one of the most popular things but we have had some noodles, Oreo's and coffee made with lemon flavoured milk. (Surprisingly not too bad) As we continue on our journey we start to go through a series of tunnels. As we come out of the tunnels for a few seconds we get tantalising glimpses of the stunning scenery. We realise this train actually cuts right through a mountain range and wow is the only word to describe the amazing views, brief though they are.

I have to brave the train toilets soon and think back to our first train journey in India. I feel like we are squat toilet veterans now but have noticed some differences in China to the rest of Asia. Some of the Chinese girls don't seem to be too shy and we have ventured into several toilets to find the doors all open and everyone crouching down having a good chat and a cigarette! Very friendly!

A lady comes round with a food trolley and we order some non descript looking pieces of fat and gristle with green chillies and rice, a few beers and a bottle of red wine that tastes like strawberry cordial. At 10pm I insist on lights out. Our train will be arriving at 5.30am and I'm not looking forward to the early start. Listen to my beloved MP3 player for half an hour. Pink Floyd across the mountains of China -yeh this is the life!

We have had a great day. We set off at 1000am for the hour long journey out to the site of The Terracotta Warriors. The warriors were discovered in 1974 by a small group of local men digging a well. Ranked with The Great Wall as one of China's top historical sights, the life size army of 6000 figures are stunningly well preserved and probably the most important archaeological discovery of the 20th century.

The army dates from 210bc and the documentary we watched in Vietnam explained that they stand watch over an ancient imperial city. The first emperor of China (Qin Shi Huang) had the army built to protect him in death. The majority of the site has not yet been excavated due to the huge costs involved and it is thought that a larger army may lie around the emperor's tomb which is 1.5km away. The mausoleum itself also remains at the moment undisturbed. Probably containing many treasures, historical reports describe how the workers were all buried alive in the tomb to protect its secrets.

We stop off on the way at a massive factory selling reproduction warriors and some beautiful Chinese carpets, furniture and wall hangings. We're not really too interested though and just have a quick scout around before jumping back into the car. Soon we are
on "The Terracotta Army Motorway" (Very impressive) and before long arrive at the site.

There are 3 pits to see and we head straight for pit 1. The largest pit containing 6000 warriors, it's really impressive. I had heard that the warriors aren't as big as expected but we were all awed by them. They looked big enough to me and I definitely wasn't expecting the detail on them to be so fine. However we were surprised to see that many of the warriors were broken. Simon read that they were unfortunately destroyed by subsequent imperial dynasties when the Qin dynasty was over.

Pits 2 and 3 have only been partially excavated and we tell the kids they will have to return in 50 years time when the full extent of the site is known. We walk around all three pits, they are all covered and we can just make out some of the warriors underneath the earth. It's an amazing sight and we felt one of the top things to see on our wish list for our trip. We take lots of photos and after a couple of hours head back to the car.

We are going to stop off at Huaqing Pool on the way back for some lunch and to see the hot springs. I have read that the naturally occurring springs were a favourite place for relaxation for the emperors of The Tang Dynasty and their favourite concubines. When we get there I can see why. The backdrop to the pools is a beautiful mountain range and the whole area is very pretty with some carefully restored palace buildings from the Tang era. We wanted to try The Imperial Toilet but got too intimidated by a fella who told Maisie off for putting her fingers on the side of a fish tank and all scuttled out

Its 9pm now and I'm feeling quite tired, we got back to our lovely hostel and I spent an hour chatting to a fella from Holland. His 8 month overland trip through the Middle East sounds very interesting and he assures us that Iran, Afghanistan and The Lebanon were beautiful places with friendly people. At the moment though I think I'll take his word for it and don't have any plans to visit any of those places in the future.

Just got back from shopping I bought some new sunglasses and a few other bits and pieces. Simon and I were saying on the way back how great it is to be able to nip to the shops at 10pm here. Also how we were surprised how big Xian is. (6.5 million people)

We are leaving Xian tomorrow for Chengdu and I will be sorry to leave. Xian is a lovely city with much more to offer than just the warriors. Unlike Beijing I felt very comfortable here and it's been a pleasure to be able to buy the things that I want, see some of the lovely sights and chill out a bit. Can't wait to get further south though. Everyone describes southern China as fantastic and as the thought of travelling to Tibet is firmly in our minds now we want to investigate that a little more. Better buy some warm stuff if we go there or maybe hire a llama/yak to cuddle up to, we shall see.

We got up around 8.30 and one by one braved the smelly bathroom. We have worked out that it's the water that stinks but although I'm reluctant to shower in it we force ourselves in.. We have decided to make our way into town to a traveller's hostel that was recommended but unfortunately full and arrange our trip to see the Terracotta Army from there. The hostel turns out to be great with very friendly staff and loads of information. We can't resist asking for a price and when we find out they now have rooms available for 9 pounds each we decide to sod the expense and move.

We have some breakfast in their café and then head back to The Fenghe International Youth Hostel. We pack up our gear, pay them half of the cost of tonight's bed and check out. The kids are pleased, there were no facilities there for travellers and when I braved the local laundry I was a bit upset to see our clothes return dyed yellow.

We arrive back at The Han Tang Inn Hostel and to the kid's dismay tell them we have to do some schoolwork. Since the middle of our holiday in Vietnam we have been very slack and I explain to them that we have to crack on with it. They actually do ok and I break them in gently with some literacy (Their favourite lesson). They write out the answers to some questions I set them about China and then write the introduction to a story about the train journey from Xian to Chengdu in the style of a horror writer.

Maisie and I go shopping. We buy a few things and I discard some of our clothes that are now knackered. In all honesty I wasn't that upset to see them returned ruined, it has given us an excuse to buy some new things! We have a great time practising our Chinese with our trusty phrasebook.

We arrange a night out at the theatre tonight, a huge expense but it looks really great and we're all excited about going. The Tang Dynasty (610-907 AD) was one of the most splendid periods in Chinese history symbolising China and its vitality and I have read this performance is unforgettable. At 8pm we leave for the theatre and are soon settled at our table eating popcorn and drinking wine-hurray!

The opera is described as an over the top spectacle of traditional dance, music and singing and its absolutely wonderful. I've only been to the opera once in England and walked out at half time but this is lovely. So beautiful, graceful and elegant that I cried during some of the dances. My favourite pieces were the masked warrior dance where the fearsome warriors scare off ghosts and demons, the dance of the girls in the spring fields and The Feather Dance. The English announcement explained that the first emperor of The Tang Dynasty was very musical and following a dream of celestial beauties he composed this piece of music and then gave it to his favourite concubine who created The Feather Dance for him.

We all loved it and Simon and I were so pleased that Ali and Maisie also enjoyed it so much. It seemed to me to be, the most Chinese of everything we have done here so far and a completely memorable experience.

Back at our hostel. Sweet smelling bathroom. We arrange to visit the warriors tomorrow, unfortunately the bus turns out to be full and we are informed that we can hire the hostel car for the day instead at a cost of Y300. This may turn out for the best as we don't like being part of a tour group anyway and it will be more flexible this way. It is slightly cheaper anyway, definitely a winner.

Off to bed now. Feeling very excited about tomorrow. Tonight I feel at last I am beginning to fall in love with China. It has taken a while but I am feeling a lot more comfortable now and looking forward to the rest of our China adventure.

Our train journey went without a hitch and I'm pleased to say we have arrived safely in Xian. We got to the train station early and sat on the floor for an hour until we were allowed onto the platform. There are so many people here and everyone is pushing and shoving. It is a bit intimidating. We find our train carriage and I glad it looks clean although so tiny. Our beds are the 4 top bunks in two separate compartments and we decide Ali and I will stay in one and Maisie and Simon in the other. This works out very well for Maisie as there is a 12 year old girl in their compartment who speaks excellent English.

We chat to an interesting and informative Swiss fella who seems to have travelled everywhere. This train goes all the way to Lhasa in Tibet crossing the Qinghai Plateau and takes over 40 hours. I can remember watching a TV programme about this train. As the elevation is 5000 metres oxygen is piped into the carriages to combat acute mountain sickness and a comprehensive health declaration must first be completed. It's fascinating and we immediately add that "once in a lifetime" trip to our list of future places to go.

The lights are turned out early and I go straight to sleep and sleep like a log. Good job really as the space we have is so restricted I wouldn't have wanted to be awake for any length of time. Ali spends an hour listening to his German lessons on his PSP. Without any encouragement either. (Very good Ali, a gold star for him) Wake up at 7.30 and it's nearly time to get off.

Its 6pm now and we have had an exhausting day. We found our hostel ok and were pleased to see we have a massive room. The bathroom absolutely stinks but for 12 quid a night we are just going to put up with it.

We head off into town and try and get some western food for breakfast, unfortunately the only thing we can find is a fast food place and I'm worried as my diet is so hard to stick to here. We decide to visit The Bell Tower; it's a large and ornate building dating from the 14th century and restored in 1739 during The Qing dynasty. We have a wander around and admire the beautifully carved ceiling. The Chinese really know how to decorate in style and we have seen some fantastic examples of fine architecture already.

Next on our agenda is to return to the train station and book our onward tickets. We do some shopping first; I buy a new t-shirt (I am so sick of wearing the same clothes all the time) and we get Ali some jeans. We get a taxi to the station and are slightly alarmed to see massive queues but when we ask at the information desk a lady ushers us into a side room and sorts it all out for us. How kind - she gives us a discount and no queuing hurray! We have decided not to visit Shanghai as all the reports we have heard are of a huge and very polluted city. Instead, on the 8th we will be heading further south to a place called Chengdu in the province of Sichuan.

We get yet another taxi to the Shaanxi History Museum. The Shaanxi Province is described as the centre of Chinese history and loaded with important archaeological sites mostly around Xian including the very famous Terracotta Army.

The museum is really good and has explanations in English as well as Mandarin. We have learnt that there were 15 Chinese dynasties and take our time examining pottery from the Ming and Qing times. The kids are great; they must be tired of looking at old pots but seem quite enthusiastic especially when we discover that some of the oldest remains of prehistoric man were found in this province. (Over 1,150,000 years old). One seriously ancient skull!

I'm really knackered now and we head back to the hostel. I'm finding China exhausting and think this is due to a combination of the difficulties we have trying to make ourselves understood; (Easier now we have a Mandarin phrasebook) and the distances between places. Really enjoying it though and looking forward to planning our trip out to see the warriors.

We have had so many plans for Beijing but in the end have only managed to achieve a few of them. Whether this has been due to the difficulties in getting around as it is Chinese" Golden Week" (Labour day Celebration) or more due to laziness on our part I'm not too sure!

We set our alarm for 7 and are up packing our gear away by 7.30. We have managed to secure train tickets to Xian for tonight and I'm feeling quite anxious about the journey. It will take over 12 hours and we could only get "hard sleeper" seats. Our seats are also in separate compartments but are in pairs which should be ok. (I hope) We have a quick breakfast and at 1030 set off in a taxi to Maggie's house. As we are leaving Beijing tonight we had to change our plans for dinner and have arranged to visit for lunch instead.

After half an hour we reach our destination and Maggie and some of her students are waiting at the roadside for us. We walk to her house and she explains on the way that she teaches around 14 students. Two of them live with her as their family homes are far from Beijing and she also shares her house with her mum. We arrive at her apartment and are shown inside having first spoken with some relatives who are sitting on the floor outside. Maggie explains that they are very curious about us but would not normally speak to us as they are slightly shy and reserved.

The students are also a bit shy at first and so are Ali and Maisie but that doesn't last. Soon they are all feeling more comfortable with each other and when Ali gets out his PSP that helps to break the ice. We are offered coffee, wine and rice wine to drink and accept all three. The table is laden with lots of interesting looking dishes, some of which don't seem to resemble anything I have eaten before.

Maggie explains she has prepared some dishes for us and the students will be staying for lunch also. We are offered the first taste and cautiously dig in. I was quite worried about the correct etiquette but it seems very informal and our gift of wine and sweets is accepted graciously. We try salted vegetables, fish, chicken, traditional Beijing noodles, Shanghai dumplings and lastly soup with vegetables and the stomach of a cow. The food is strong tasting and very different to any Chinese food I have tasted in England and the whole experience was excellent.

The Chinese people seem to have a great sense of humour and there is a lot of teasing and joking throughout the meal. I think we did ok and joined in the conversation without committing any social gaffes! Although Maisie did knock some chopsticks off the table (Bad luck) it didn't seem to cause too much alarm.

After lunch we show them some photographs of our trip and Ali plays his guitar for a while. He then goes off with the boys and Maisie joins the girls. Simon, Maggie and I spend an hour or so chatting about England, China and some of the differences and similarities in our respective cultures. We all agreed at the end that we are after all, all the same.

We have had a wonderful time and enjoyed fantastic hospitality. When the time comes to leave Maisie complains that she would like to stay longer and has had a lovely time here with her new Chinese friends. They all give her small gifts of bracelets and charms and Maggie gives her a pretty necklace.

We swap email addresses and promise to stay in touch. Maggie asks the kids if they would like to come to China next year for a vacation and asks us to send them saying they can share bedrooms with her two students and that she will collect them from the airport. I'm not too sure about that but they seem keen and readily agree!

Back at The Far East Hotel we pack up our remaining stuff. It has taken me nearly all week to feel comfortable and at home in China and Beijing has certainly been a culture shock for me. I'm feeling a lot more confident now though and far from the inhospitable place I felt China was in our first few days here I have realised that the people are in fact warm and welcoming if naturally a little reserved around us. I've had a great time today and am now feeling very excited about moving on to Xian to see The Terracotta Warriors.

Our alarm went off at 6am and we jumped up quite quickly considering the early hour. We have arranged to meet the taxi at 7.30 and set off for The Great Wall. We're all very excited about today and have been looking forward to this a lot. We did some research on the net and decided not to visit the wall at Badaling. It is the closest place to Beijing but the pictures on the web showed the wall completely rammed with tourists and we both felt it was important that we had the space to enjoy such a hugely anticipated experience.

Instead we are visiting the wall at Simatai 110km northeast of Beijing. Our guidebook describes it as a more exhilarating wall experience and not for the faint hearted as this section of the wall is very steep. The original wall was begun over 2000 years ago and linked separate walls that had been constructed to keep desert nomads out. During the Ming dynasty the wall was rebuilt and strengthened, taking over 100 years to complete and a tremendous cost in effort and resources.

The journey takes around 3 hours and we are entertained by our taxi driver along the way. He has got a quick sense of humour and makes us laugh as he catches on to English expressions with lightening speed. The happy grin is unfortunately wiped off his face though, as Simon points something out to me, he looks too and we drive up the back of the car in front. He jumps out to inspect the damage and gets back in looking very unhappy. The grill is all caved in. It must have been his lucky day though as 5 minutes later whilst stuck in a traffic jam the car in front reverses into us with a crunch. He is out of the car in a flash and pointing out the damage, makes a huge fuss until the family agree to pay him the full amount for a new grill!

We arrive at Simatai and decide to eat lunch first; the view from the cafe is outstanding. The Great Wall snakes off across the steepest mountain tops and into the distance and looks absolutely awesome. We finish lunch and make our way to the entrance where we pay for tickets to the cable car. As the mountains here are so steep we are going to take the cable car for the first part, then a miniature train and walk the last (extremely steep) 200 metres to the wall. The cable car is a bit of a problem for me as I'm so scared of heights but there is no way I'm walking all the way up to the wall and I want to try and be a bit braver anyway.

The views are amazing over the mountains and although my legs feel like jelly all the way I don't cry. The mountain range goes on as far as the eye can see and although it's not the misty vision I have seen in books it's very beautiful in the hot afternoon sun. Then at last, after an arduous hike up the steepest steps we're there.

There are lots of towers along the length of the wall and we are standing at tower 8. We are going to walk to tower 12, the wall itself has been partially restored here and is fairly safe although very steep. We make our way along the wall and stop frequently to take photographs. It feels almost unreal to be here and amazing. What a fantastic experience for us all, I feel so lucky to be doing this with my family and it’s a memory that I will always treasure.

We stop at a small stall (The hawkers make it everywhere!) and buy a book of photographs of the wall, 2 brass plates for the kids with their names and the date they climbed the wall on ( Tacky but irresistible!) and some ice lollies. Maisie gets her tongue well and truly welded to her ice lolly and that causes a bit of a stir whilst the delicate operation to unstick it is carried out!

We make our way back down the mountains and head back for the car. It has been a wonderful day out and exceeded all our expectations. The kids loved it and said it was one of the best things we have done since we started our trip. No one could fail to be impressed and I would recommend it to anyone who was considering a trip to China.

We get back to the hotel and head straight out again, we are now very short of time and are rushing to get everything sorted whilst in Beijing. We walk around to the guitar shop and after some haggling and bargaining agree on a price for Ali's guitar. We are buying him a second hand Takamine guitar, a good make and at a decent price. He is thrilled with it but sorry to say goodbye to his present guitar. He has had it for 2 years and really learnt to play well on it.

We finish the day with a visit to KFC, absolutely massive over 3 floors and for a junk food addict like me a little bit of Kentucky heaven.

I set the clock for 8.30 and we get up slowly, after our showers we have our breakfast in the courtyard traveller's café across the road. It's cool in there with loads of interesting things to look at such as arty photos of Chinese people and a traveller's comments board but so smoky we decide we will try somewhere else tomorrow.

We wander up to the ATM and Ali tries out a few guitars on the way. We are thinking of buying him a new guitar and he likes having a practice on a few! We get some cash (Seems to be disappearing fast here) the currency is the Yuan and there are 15 Y to the pound. The hotel we are staying in is costing us Y522 per night (34 quid) and I will be glad to move out from Beijing and hopefully try and save a bit of money. At the moment though that seems unlikely, due to the week long Mayday celebrations train tickets are like gold dust and Saturday will be the earliest we can leave. Still, there's loads to do here and I'm pleased we will see a lot of the sights.

We get in a taxi and ask for Beijing Zoo. All the reviews we have read of the zoo are quite awful but we really want to see the Giant Panda's whilst we are in China. We did think about visiting the Panda Research Centre at Chengdu but as we don't think we will have time to go there this may be our only opportunity. When we arrive, after sitting in solid traffic for half an hour we are again, astounded by the sheer numbers of people here. Getting around any of the sights of Beijing seems to be so hard and although we are getting used to all the pushing and shoving it is quite tough.

We pay up and head straight for the Giant Panda enclosure. When we finally see the panda's we're really pleased we have made the effort. Its great seeing them, chewing on their bamboo and despite the hundreds crowding in front of the glass, shouting, taking pictures and waving their children in the air, the panda's seem completely oblivious to it all.

I read somewhere that the best examples of China's "Little Emperors" can be seen here. Due to China's One Child Policy children are often spoilt rotten and I had to resist the urge to tell one little boy to stop pushing me else I would push him back. (And hard!) We decide to give the rest of the zoo a complete miss and after getting a few photos head for the gates.

Getting a taxi is going to be an impossibility and we cross to the other side using the subway. Luckily we manage to grab a cab as the driver is dropping someone off and it turns out to be very fortuitous for us. The cabbie is, like many other people in Beijing frantically trying to learn some English in preparation for next years Olympic Games and is very friendly. We chat to him all the way back and eventually arrange for him to take us to The Great Wall tomorrow.

We have a quick drink at our hotel and then set off on foot to The Laoshe Teahouse. The Teahouse is very old and traditional and we are shown inside to a raised room, beautifully decorated with dark wood furniture and cosy sofas. We settle down and study the price list for tea ceremony. The girl encourages us to chose an oolong tea at around Y1250 but we realise this is over 80 quid and explain that we're not paying that for a cup of tea no matter how delicate the taste. (I don't even drink tea) We eventually settle for the cheap version for 20 quid and it's worth every Yuan.

The tea ceremony is complex and intricate and it lovely hearing the explanation of the ceremony first in Mandarin and then in halting English. We learn how the tea is smelled and poured and how precisely to hold the tiny delicate tea cups. It takes around an hour in total and we agree we have had a great time.Ali the tea demon especially loved it!

We're hungry now and chose a small local restaurant for dinner, hoping to save a bit of money as we have spent so much in the past few days. We have beef with ginger and onion, corns with pine nuts and pork strips with bamboo. Scrummy!

I read that China may bemuse or beguile you and so far I think for me it has done both. Although I knew Beijing would be busy I don't think I was at all prepared for the thousands of people everywhere and it is taking a bit of getting used to. Simon and the kids seem to be thriving here though and perhaps like it more than me.

Its 9pm now and we're all excited about visiting The Great Wall tomorrow, I'm off for a shower and then to bed.

Today has been a much happier day all round. I was woken at 7am by an unwanted alarm call and Simon and the kids got up around 9. We have our breakfast, porridge and water for me (The diet has begun) and make some plans for the day. We decide to visit Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City and are joining the rest of Beijing's population and hiring bikes. We have been singing Katie Melua's song since we arrived although Maisie makes the point that there may be 4 fewer bicycles in Beijing by the end of the day.

My first impressions of Beijing are how huge it is. Everything seems big, from the sheer numbers of people to the massive apartment blocks. In some ways different to what I expected and I said to Simon and the kids I'm not too sure how I feel about Beijing yet. It is very early days but I have been struck by the ugliness of some of the buildings and that is a shock for me.

The traditional alleyways are called hutong and we are staying down one of these. The narrow alleys are lined with shops and small houses. Very pretty, with gated courtyards guarded by dragons and drums .I read how they are being razed to the ground at a rate of 10,000 per year and unfortunately the successful 2008 Olympic bid has been the final nail in the coffin for them.

We set off on our bikes through the hutong, it’s a great way to get around, Beijing is as flat as a pancake and we pass lots of interesting sights on the way. I look at the tea shops selling jasmine, green, black, oolong, white and Chinese tea, groups of men sat playing marjong and kids running up and down with kites. It all appears very sociable and we have learnt that Mayday is China's most celebrated holiday after Chinese New Year.

We don't get too far before we reach the main road and use the cycle path to ride towards Tiananmen Square. Chairman Mao conceived the square to project the enormity of the communist party and it is massive. We lock up our bikes, negotiate 3 subways and around a million people and walk across the square. It's very hot and we take some photographs of the red flags fluttering from The Great Hall of the People. We seem to be a tourist attraction and lots of people stop us and ask if will pose for photographs with them. The kids are very patient and don't complain.

On the way we discuss with the kids some of the history and events that have taken place here .The square is the symbolic centre of the Chinese universe and echoes the layout of The Forbidden City. In the mid 1960's Chairman Mao oversaw parades of a million Red Guard soldiers and a further million gathered here to pay their last respects to Mao in 1976. In 1989 a peaceful protest by pro-democracy demonstrators turned into a massacre, and to the horror of the Western world thousands of students were killed by tanks. This was the year I started my nurse training and Simon and I talk to the kids about the pictures shown on the news at the time of a single demonstrator standing in front of a row of tanks. It seems strange to stand here in the peace and warmth of the sun imagining the chaos of 18 years ago.

We head off towards The Forbidden City, trying to learn anything other than the basics of Chinese history is proving hard. The Forbidden City was so called because it was off limits for 500 years. Built at the start of the 15th century it is the largest and best preserved group of ancient buildings in China. It was home to two dynasties of Emperors, the Ming and the Qing and they didn't stray out of the walled city unless they absolutely had to. There are many halls, palaces and other buildings with beautiful elaborate names such as The Palace of Heavenly Purity, The Hall of Supreme Harmony and The Earthly Palace of Tranquillity. (Sounds like our house)

We make our way through slowly, I feel a bit overwhelmed by the volume of people here and for someone as impatient as me queuing for several hours to get inside the buildings isn't really an option. We do make it inside one of the smaller palace buildings though but disappointingly find the building has not been preserved inside and contains a few cases with metal artefacts inside instead. We felt that although the buildings are quite impressive we have perhaps been spoilt a little after seeing the amazing and lovely Grand Palace of Bangkok.

At last we reach The Imperial Garden. There are some gorgeous ancient twisted trees here and we are surprised to see many people encouraging their small children to clamber on them to have their photographs taken. It is a shock for us as we are far more used to precious treasures being completely out of bounds for all.

We return to our hotel and I ring my Dad. It's his birthday today and we have a good long chat about what we have been up to. Happy birthday Dad!

In the evening we go downstairs at our hotel to an exhibition of traditional Chinese crafts. The kids have a go at dough modelling, paper cutting, kite making and Chinese writing and seem to have a great time. Simon and I spend ages talking to a Chinese girl called Maggie who teaches English to young students. She invites us to her house and we make arrangements to visit for supper on Friday evening. I'm a bit worried about etiquette but she seems very friendly and tells us it will be a good opportunity for her young students to talk English. She asks me what we like to eat and when I say we will give anything go she suggests "Would we like the wing of a bird?!" Oh my god! I just smile and nod and tell her that sounds lovely.

Off to bed now we are going to the zoo tomorrow to see the Giant Panda's - Hurray!!

Today has been a vile day and started badly with a huge family row. I think we are all getting a bit travel weary and it shows. We discuss our plans for the next few months and even talk about going home after China. In the end I don't feel like things have been properly resolved but we reach an uneasy truce. It leaves us all upset and I worry that this isn't the end of it but we try and get on with the day and set off for "Happy Valley" in the hope of brightening the day.

We had planned to visit Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City but that’s not really an option today and Happy Valley Amusement Park, Beijing's answer to Disney seems to be a better choice. It's about half an hour taxi ride from the centre of town and we arrive mid afternoon. Its quite expensive, it costs us 11 quid each and despite the fact that we try and convince the ticket seller that Maisie is under 1.4m ( she isn't) we have to pay full price for her also.

There are so many people here it is amazing, many people seem to be part of school or college groups and are wearing matching tracksuits. It seems to be the trend for young couples to wear matching clothes also and that makes us laugh. I can't imagine that ever catching on at home. At first there seems to be an extraordinary amount of people on mobility scooters but we realise when we see kids jumping off them and running around that they are in fact little golf carts for getting around on. How lazy is that!

We check out some of the rides, we like the look of giant plastic bubbles which float across the lake with you scrabbling around inside and queue up for the Disco, a kind of spinning version of the pirate ship. Maisie is scared but we persuade her to go on and it turns out to be much faster than we thought, she likes it though.

Ali and Simon then queue for "Nemisis", Maisie just won't go on it and as she became hysterical when we tried to get her to go on during a trip to Alton Towers last year I stay with her. We have a lovely time wandering around, posing with the giant ants in Antworld, having a go on the teacups ride which makes me feel sick and chatting about her friends at school.

According to Ali the ride was really good, faster than Nemesis and as everything is starting to close we head for the gates. (Two rides each- 11 quid - not bad we feel, excellent budgeting). I look up at the sky and I'm not pleased to see it has suddenly become black. There are around 3 million people outside the gates waiting for a cab and we realise we aren't going to get one.

We walk along the road and suddenly China starts to feel very inhospitable. Its very ugly here, massive roads, with absolutely nothing to shelter under and it becomes really cold and windy and starts to throw it down. We are surrounded by huge blocks of flats and little else and Maisie says it's so cold she can see Russia.

We get soaked, we're freezing, it's getting dark and we are nowhere nearer getting a taxi. A few have gone past but they won't stop and I am feeling a bit panicky. We walk the 2 miles back to "Happy Valley" gates (Simon says it’s a spelling mistake and it's actually called Crappy Valley) and huddle together under a motorway bridge trying to think what to do. Suddenly we remember passing a Tesco on the way and decide that is our best option, at least we may be able to buy an umbrella, coffee, waterproof jacket etc there. We dodge the traffic to the other side (A little like trying to cross the M1 in the dark while it's pissing down) and trudge off up the road.

Silly us for thinking we might get any of the above it's not to be and instead we are forced to wander around looking at stuff in an attempt to dry out. After half an hour we decide to venture out again and we shelter in the doorway while Simon braves the wet. I don't know how he managed it amongst all these people desperate for a cab but he soon appears and we run after him to the waiting taxi.

What a relief. At last we get back to the hotel and we shower and change into warm stuff. The kids don't want to eat and we leave them snuggled up in bed. I decide to change into trousers and it's at this point that my misery of today is complete. My baggy trousers that used to hang off me are so tight I can hardly breathe. Oh my god how can I have put on so much weight and not even noticed. That’s it, diet tomorrow.

At last we arrived at Beijing International airport and it was the easiest immigration procedure that we have experienced since we started the trip. We were all through in around 20 minutes and soon got in a cab. Beijing is absolutely massive and our trip from the airport took around half an hour. It was now around midnight and the poor kids were shattered, I was panicking that the hostel we had booked would be closed, filthy etc and was so pleased when we arrived to find a little oasis in a somewhat dodgy looking area.


We didn't wake up until 10am today, although we are now another hour ahead (7 hour time difference). By the time I have had a coffee and about a gallon of water I feel ok, Ali seems to be completely improved and Maisie is now the one suffering. Poor Maisie she is absolutely burning up and complaining of headaches and "feeling tender" (her words bless her!)

We spend the day quietly, go across the road for some lunch, get the laundry sorted and try and make some plans for the next few days. In the afternoon Simon and Ali go and check out the string of guitar shops around here and Maisie and I watch some DVD's on the laptop to try and help plan our China route. We watch Destination China and Arthur's Travels in China. I join Simon and Ali for a beer downstairs (Corona- yeh!) and unfortunately when I slam our room door closed the ceiling tiles in our room fall down on Maisie. Poor Maisie she isn't hurt but not very impressed!

In the evening we walk 5 minutes up the road to a recommended restaurant. Its slightly intimidating walking in, the place is absolutely huge, we are the only westerners and it's packed with families. No one seems to speak much English but eventually we order the house speciality Crispy Peking Duck. (How cool is that, eating the real deal in Peking!) The amount of food on people's tables is amazing and it all looks beautiful. Very ornate, huge fish with teeth piled high with tiger prawns, plates of steamed vegetables, (we have celery and water lily), and lots of Chinese tea and "Snow" beer. (We have a few of them)

We sit there reading the Lonely Planet for a crash course in dinner etiquette. Most things we already know but we learn that we must point the spout of our teapot away from the table and not turn a fish over to get at the flesh underneath. (This may cause the next boat we see to capsize)

We wander back to the hotel and I decide to start taking a course of antibiotics as my throat is so painful. Previous experience tells me it probably won't clear up otherwise and I don't want to feel unwell for our time here. We call the kids grandparents Bob and Jude on skype and all have a good chat, then off to bed. Hope we are all feeling better tomorrow, can't wait to get out there and explore Beijing.

I'm writing this diary entry from 37,000 feet. Today has been a very difficult day for us. I slept with Ali last night as he went to bed immediately when we returned from the airport and I was also feeling unwell.

When I woke up this morning I can honestly say I don't ever remember feeling so ill. My head was splitting and my bones and joints felt like someone was tearing them apart. If it wasn't absolutely essential to travel I would have stayed in bed all day and did in fact virtually beg Simon to change our travel plans. I thought we could perhaps stay in Vietnam in HCMC until I feel better and then get a flight to Hanoi and cross into China overland. The main flaws in this plan are that our visas expire tomorrow and if we miss our flight to Beijing our future flights may be cancelled.

In the end with a lot of help from Simon I drag my sorry arse out of bed. For the first time ever as an adult I have to have some help to shower and feel so ill I can't even cry. I feel sorry for Simon, the kids aren't too well either and it must be very hard trying to carry all the gear and look after us all. He's so great and I thank my lucky stars that I have such a good travelling companion. This illness has just come at the wrong time. We are all feeling a bit low from Mum and Paul leaving and I'm very apprehensive about our visit to China. For the first time since we left I consider going home.

I feel like the day has passed in a haze of paracetamol, ibruprofen, caffeine and sugar. In an effort to relieve the headache and nerve pains I have been gobbling analgesia down like M&M's and happily they do seem to have worked a bit. We flew from HCMC to Singapore where I bought some Clarins moisturiser, drenched myself in my favourite Vera Wang perfume and sat in a massage chair for two minutes ( had to get out - too painful).

8.30pm- at 5pm we boarded our flight to Beijing. The six hours seems to be going painfully slowly, I have watched a film with Will Smith called The Pursuit of Happiness, listened to a bit of music and now writing this. I read my diary entry for 17th Nov earlier (The last time I wrote this on board a flight). It seems such a long time ago and so many things have changed since then. I did cry as we took off, when we left Singapore last time we had our whole SE Asia adventure ahead of us, now we are almost halfway through.

Despite my complete and abject misery today I realise that I'm not ready to go home at all, just feeling unbelievably sorry for myself and hoping we're all better tomorrow. If not then a few days in bed will do the trick I guess.

Our estimated flight arrival time is 11pm, its 9 now feeling really ill again so putting this down now. Only positive thing I can think is that Ali is slightly better today and therefore I guess this evil illness may be fairly short lived.