Time is flying

Hello everyone,

Thought we should catch up while it is easy in Hong Kong (not as restrictive as Mainland China - I still don't get this split). Unfortunately, no way to post any China photos yet.

We finished up in Beijing by having a wicked afternoon at the Summer Palace with some friends we met at the Great Wall who made us a lovely picnic. The sunset over the lakes was a real "moment" - you can really understand where the inspiration for certain styles of Chinese painting comes from. The bridges and the lines of Willows were stunning.

Unfortunately, we had to leave Beijing so after a day of drifting around the Hutongs - the narrow streets (we were staying in one) and buying postcards, we reluctantly got on the sleeper train to Xi'an, home of the Terracotta Army.

The train was a lot more modern than the majority of those we'd travelled on so far. Unfortunately, our language skills were not up to much and we failed to entertain our co-traveller such that she was in bed 20 mins later.

We woke up to Xi'an and MAnchester weather (which lasted 2 days). The hostel was gorgeous if grubby but we instantly missed how easy everything (apart from food) was in Beijing. We walked the city walls in the drizzle and it was actually pretty romantic (for a change). The city appears to be mostly about shopping so we looked forward to our Terracotta Army tour the following day. Unfortunately, the tour also seemed to be more about shopping than culture. The soldiers were pretty impressive but the 2 hours we got was not worth the additional 4 1/2 we spent on the tour.

We decided to move on quickly as the weather was not getting any better. Next stop, Hong Kong...

30 hours of train to Shenzhen and a border crossing later we've seen a lot of the countryside through a train window and things have changed. A lot. Gone are the plantations of crops and the dusty atmosphere and in their place are lush tropical foliage everywhere and humidity - lots of humidity.

Hong Kong is amazing. Within the first day we knew this is somewhere we could live (if you could afford it). We've seen the skyline against the lush peaks and a city that just keeps going and going into the haze, but still allows you to be on a beach in half an hour. We've been up on Victoria Peak, taken the Star and many other ferries, walked Avenue of the Stars, been tempted by "too good to be true" phone offers, eaten great food in Soho and drank beers at Scandi(lously)navian prices. We've hit St Stephen's Beach at Stanley on the South of Hong Kong Island, and are now holidaying it up on Lantau Island. Our first day off tomorrow - no thinking involved!!

We've still got a week or more back on the mainland before heading into Vietnam where we're looking forward to hooking up with the Aussie Crew for a while - woohoo!

Talk later!!