Beijing

Although Beijing has buckets of culture to offer, our first stop in the capital was to the markets. Three markets later and Heath had perfected his haggling skills and we were getting bargains left right and centre. In fact, we bought so much we had to send two boxes home, which pretty much cost more than we paid for the items in the first place, but it was still loads cheaper than what you would pay at home.
Beijing is also considered a mecca for “foodies” and so we spent a fair amount of time sampling the local goods. We went to a food market where they had pretty much anything you could think of, and more, on a stick; including seahorse, small birds and sheep’s penis. We weren’t that adventurous in the end and settled with some more familiar noodles and a dry ice drink.
Finally we did fulfil our quota of culture and climbed the Great Wall of China. Although it was spectacular, it was unfortunately another really misty day and you couldn’t see very far into the distance. As a result our photos are all of us and the 50m of wall ahead.

Tunxi

After 5 hours on the vomit bus we arrived in Tunxi. Our accommodation was amazing and only £5 per person, Heath was obviously very impressed with the bargain. We went to some ancient villages, Hongcu and Xidi, and met the village people. Sadly they were not dressed in their traditional native American/policeman/builder attire. We wondered around, got sunburnt and enjoyed the serenity of what seemed like a little Venice in China.
We also climbed Mount. Haungshan – “China’s most beautiful mountain”. After some dispute over whether to climb or take the cable car, Abi decided it would be wise to climb. Two and a half hours and 6km of steep steps later we reached the summit. Unfortunately it was incredibly misty and was hard to see 20m ahead of yourself and so we did not see any of the scenery. On the way down it started to rain which made the 9km hike on the westface a nightmare. We were soaked to the bone and exhausted, and struggled to keep stepping downwards. 7hours after we first set off we finally reached the bottom and got a bus home (where someone else vomited, nice). Overall a bit shit but at least we can tick the box even if we didn’t see anything.

Shanghai

Apologies for the delay between blogs, but turns out China bans blogging and facebooking. So entries are being posted by Jimmy James on our behalf via the authorised medium of email – thanks JD.
Shanghai was rocking it. We sweated in 90% humidity, 33 degree days, and a still smog that settled in your lungs preventing you from breathing. The first night was a bit of a disaster – we struggled to order food, couldn’t get a taxi home and then Heath got food poisoning. The following days were much better; food stayed down and we remembered to write down the Chinese name of our hostel so we could get home. We went to the aquarium, did some shopping, and thought about expo, but didn’t quite make it because we heard queues were two hours per pavilion. The last night was particularly memorable with hotpot and a Holland victory.