Yangshuo

On ferry on Li River to Yangshuo. This is a four hour journey on a 3 level ferry probably about 30 m long. Lots of large rocky outcrops many 100 s of metres high. At about 9am 7 ferries leave and head up the river. Half an hour later more ferries. All along river are little temporary  shops set up on riverside and boats.
Got some more credit on my phone today from China unicom but had to get girl in shop to put it on my phone because all the instructions in Chinese.
Went to an open air  show  which has about 500 performers. Produced by the person who did Olympic opening ceremony. It was a very spectacular show but very slow. Raining so.had to.wear plastic ponchos.
Sleep in tomorrow as we have a bike ride at 10 and that is all that is planned.
Go the Swans.

River li

I think you might be interested in this track: https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=204517252043754662191.0004ca1ab661474b4afc0 Created by My Tracks on Android. Name: Li River Activity type: - Description: - Total distance: 54.57 km (33.9 mi) Total time: 4:04:43 Moving time: 4:04:30 Average speed: 13.38 km/h (8.3 mi/h) Average moving speed: 13.39 km/h (8.3 mi/h) Max speed: 19.80 km/h (12.3 mi/h) Average pace: 4.48 min/km (7.2 min/mi) Average moving pace: 4.48 min/km (7.2 min/mi) Fastest pace: 3.03 min/km (4.9 min/mi) Max elevation: 153 m (502 ft) Min elevation: 70 m (230 ft) Elevation gain: 726 m (2383 ft) Max grade: 13 % Min grade: -14 % Recorded: 19/09/2012 9:33am

Longshen

Drove to Longshen and looked at some amazing scenery. Saw all types of people including minority groups that look quite different in appearance. Some of the women have hair over 2 m long. Had to change buses half way up the hill to a smaller bus for the remainder of the trip up a narrow winding road. It felt a little.unsafe as the driver raced up the road blowing his horn madly at every corner.

Guilin

Because internet is a bit hit and miss the posts get out of order as far as publishing and because of censorship I can't view blog. For some reason the app on my phone allows posting. Unable to post pictures at this stage.
Flew to Gulin. Guilin is very pretty city with limestone peaks sticking up all through the area and lots of trees. Wandered around town most of the afternoon and climbed Fubo Hill which was about 300 steps. The city is relatively new as the majority was destroyed by Japanese in WW 2.
Had a foot massage which lasted about an hour then went  out to dinner.

Overnight train Beijing to Xian

Caught the train at Beijing West Station. Waited in a pay lounge for the train to depart. Cabin is 4 berth and we travelled throughout the night. Space/ is very cosy with  4  bags and assorted backpacks. Ate a lot of rubish on the train. Buying food in China can be a bit of a lucky dip as you are not quite sure what you are buying. The other night we managed to buy aluminium foil instead of small ziplock bags.
Have just woken up and train is heading in opposite direction but we are still travelling southwest. So I guess we are going to the correct place.

Day 3 Beijing

Temple of Heaven.
Lots of people relaxing playing cards, dominoes and marjon. In one part of the park grandparents were sitting around with little signs telling about their grand children. Signs contained info like age, height, salary, car type and apartment size. The purpose was to get dates for their grand children,  mostly male.
Planning Centre.
Olympic Stadium including the Birdsnest and icecube.
Pearl Shop
Could have bought 5 Rolex for 100 yua  ($17).
Summer Palace
17 arches bridge, the long corridor and the marble boat.

Xian Day 3

Up early to depart at 5:45 am for airport.  Breakfast box this morning was interesting. Flying Hainan Air to Guilin. Flight meal was choice of noodles or rice and coffee came only one way, milk and sugar. 

Xian Day 2

Went for a walk to see the damage from last night. Most of the hotels that were damaged have been boarded up and the burnt cars removed. Very few police around.
Terracotta Warrior
Drove approximately an hour into countryside. Whole area of tombs is 56 square kilometres. In one building there are many thousand  of warriors uncovered and repaired. This emperor  certainly had delusions of grandeur.
Muslim Mosque
Muslim Markets
Walked back from the mosque and bought some items in the market. Lots of troups in one particular part of the city and some streets are blocked to cars.
Dumpling Dinner
Went out for dinner but roads were blocked in centre of city. Our guide Julia had to take us through lots of back Syureets to get us to restaurant. For dinner we ate 18 varieties of dumplings including walnut and dumplings shaped like ducks.

Xian Day 1

Wow is this exciting. Guide has cancelled activities because of demonstrations. Japanese cars overturned, hotels trashed and busineses attacked. All this is happening all around us. Decided to go out again once it had quieted down a bit but ran into lots of police, army and riot squad. Lots of cleaning up going on, we were not allowed to go to some areas and we were being moved on by police. Will add more when I get a chance.