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.

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 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 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.

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.

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