Entry No. 4 by Clare

So we went to visit the famous Peak & had a beer at the top, there were binoculars to see across the city, later that day we had arranged to meet a gent called Alasdair (brother of a friend) and we went to a lovely little Tapas Restaurant called 'Uno Mas' and it was delightful, he was so generous and treated us for the whole evening, after the delish food we went a few bars in the area which had live bands playing really good music. The Following day, Josh treated me to a day at Disney Land Hong Kong (Christmas Present & my first time) it was such a good day, the rides were really fun, definitely not just for kids and we saw a really good Lion king all singing all dancing show, fire eaters the lots. to finish the evening there were some fireworks and light displays. the whole park was Halloween themed and at night time was quite scary. The next day we went off to visit 'The Big Buddha' which was really lovely. we trekked up a mountain with amazing views and all the food was Veggie and so much selection, altogether a really nice day. We left Hong Kong the following morning, we caught a train to Guangzhou to get a flight to Hanoi, this took about 12 hours, the whole day. we arrived in Hanoi about 12am, our flight had been delayed apparently because of a local Typhoon. we got a Minibus from the airport and were just dropped off on a street in the centre of Hanoi, we had no idea where we were with no map or Hostel to stay. After walking around for a while, seeing a few rats & cockroaches i felt a little uncomfortable, luckily a nice Irish stranger stopped his Motorbike and helped us get a taxi that wouldn't rip us off to the famous old quarter, full of hostels. we found one which looked open and we took a room straight away, we isn't mind paying a little more as it was 1am and we just wanted a bed. The following day we explored the Lake & Temple nearby. In the evening we went off to the Market area, found a cool Jamaican Bar & a few others. We wanted to go to a waterpark the next day, it was hopeless trying to get there so we ended up going to a really nice pool connected to a posh hotel, it was really nice to relax and have a swim. in the evening we went to a really good veggie restaurant called something i can't remember, really good cheap food, Josh loved it. we found a few bars after and had some nice cheap beers with some other people who were staying in and around the area. Today, we have been to Hoa Lo, a prison from 1890's to 1993 and is now a museum. it mainly held political prisoners and also had American POW's. We also booked our trip to Sapa leaving Saturday evening for 5 days of trekking. now the time is 18.30 (GMT +7) and were going to head out into the market.

Entry No. 3 by Josh

The Terracotta Warriors were really cool, there are three pits overall, the biggest one containing 6000 lifesize warriors, some horseback and they all have completely unique faces. We got a discount with our student cards anyway so we saved quite a bit. That night we went back and drank at the hostel which is really good socially, took part in a pub quiz and Clare's team came last. The next day we tried to get to a Zoo but on our way got distracted by the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, which had some amazing water features which the Chinese love, then we went to Tang Paradise which is like a huge park with restaurants, shows and activities all surrounding a huge lake. It was really good but we can't put pictures up yet, when we get a chance we will put a few up. That night, I think because it was a Saturday they put on a huge fireworks display in the park and also have the World's largest visual water show where they project lasers through a huge water display so the screen is like its made of water. After a dodgy Tuk-tuk journey back to the centre of the city near where we were staying we walked back. Then we realised Clare had her purse pickpocketed out of her bag on the way home, apparently the area is renowned for it. Bloody hassle sorting out all the card replacements and stuff which we still haven't got. She lost about 100 quid (that she ironically withdrew that morning) but it could have been worse, she still has her passport and stuff. Thieving bastards!
We checked out the bar street in town and stopped for a drink then got some food and sorted out our transport  to Hong Kong. Unfortunately it was a bit of a mess and there isn't a direct train to Hong Kong so we would have had to get a train to Gunagzhou about 3 hours north of Hong Kong or fly there. But instead we decided it would be a lot cheaper to fly to Shenzhen and get a coach to Hong Kong so it cost us about 80 quid each (about 20 pounds more than a train journey but about 24 hours quicker and nicer). We had one more day before the flight by which time we were a bit bored of Xi'an and had done pretty much all there was to do. So doing a bit of research we found that we couldn't get to the Panda rescue centre because they need a certain amount of people to go which we didn't have so we thought we would go to a Zoo we found online which was about 20/30 minutes outside of the City Walls. We managed to get cheap buses to get there but as soon as we got off the bus it didn't seem right. It turns out that the zoo had been shut down at some point and now it is just left as a derelict park. The ticket offices and animal homes are still there its just that there are no animals and very few people. However it was actually quite nice and interesting to still see the whole structure of the zoo. They have left the maps up and the rides that obviously would have made up the kids section so we got some quite good photos. The small aquarium in the zoo was still open so we went there for 10 yuan each (1 pound). It had quite a good variety of fish and stuff but the conditions were terrible. The giant Turtles had no water or any rocks or anything, just sitting on tiled flooring of a small plastic container. All the animals seemed to look depressed. There were leaks all over the floor and it wasn't hard to see why we were the only ones there. On the way out of the old zoo we saw a man with a stall with loads of clay moulds, which for 10 yuan you can paint and take home. So we spent about an hour and a half painting clay models in the sun. I did a baby that was apparently supposed to be a cat and Clare did two bears in stupid clothes. I don't think the worker was that impressed with them. Anyway they were too big to take around with us so we just left them there. That night we found a good street restaurant and ordered a few dishes to share. Was really good and quite cheap and for the first time in my life I enjoyed Aubergine. It was deep-fried and in a sweet and sour sauce, it tasted amazing. Back at the hostel I challenged the Chef 'Tiger' to a game of pool, who had already beaten me once every day we had been there. It says on the wall that if you beat him you get a free breakfast and if you lose you have to buy him a beer. He has worked there for 5 years and only lost to two guests ever, who havetheir photos on a mini wall of fame. So he beat me the first time so I didn't get the breakfast, but he wanted to play me again and I beat him three times in a row after that and agreed that I could have my name put on the wall. So I am now proudly the first English person to have beaten Tiger and now have my name and photo on the wall in the Han Tang Inn Hostel. My winning streak didn't finish there though and that night there was a chopstick competition where on a timer you had to pick up things like stones and marbles. There were 8 teams of two and my partner was a bit of a cretin but we got to the final and the last four people had to play by themselves now and somehow I won the prize of a set of mini-Teracotta Warriors.
We got the early flight which left Xi'an at 8.15 and arrived in Shenzhen at 10.45 and then got a coach to Hong Kong, which was a bit of a pain in the arse with customs but eventually got to Hong Kong central at about 2pm. It seems much nicer than China in terms of Cleanliness, the people seems nicer but everything is quite expensive here. In a way its just like London but cleaner and with an Asian twist. We found our hostel which is in the dodgiest building we have seen. It is surrounded by black men and Indian men selling you talioring services and watches and they can all 'promise you cheap accomodation'. Our room is on the 3rd floor and its a private room which is nice but its about as big as a bathroom in a normal hotel. It barely fits a bed in it and the bed itself is more like a single than a double. But it will do and its one of the cheapest in an expensive City. We found a street full of bars and restaurants in the evening called Wan Chai which was nice where we went to 'Hong Kong's Great British Pub' and a Mexican bar that had nearly 200 different types of Tequilas, the biggest selection in Asia. We are using the Underground system to get around which is brilliant, cheap and easy to use. Today we are just going to explore a bit, need to get something to eat and probably need to stop using the free interent in this coffee shop, we have well passed the 15 minute limit and everyone is staring at us so time to go.

Entry No. 2 by Josh

We are now in Xi'an which is more central in China than Beijing. The original plan was to go to Shanghai but we did a bit of research and the expo going on there has made prices a bit too high for us so we came here instead and will probably go straight to Hong Kong from here. We made it on to the Great Wall in the end, after 4 hours each way on a coach but it was definitely worth it. We will upload some photos when we can. We spent about 4 hours walking along the Badaling section of the wall which was a lot more tiring than you would imagine given that some of the steps are at ridiculous heights and angles. However, we were put to shame when we saw some old people doing a run on the wall. The next day we managed to find a vegetarian restaurant, which is really rare in a place like Beijing. It took us ages to walk there but it was worth it, we ate loads of different types of veg and mock meat (spare ribs, chicken etc) and racked up a bill of about 25 quid, which is pretty hefty for China. The following day we walked about an hour and a half to the train station to get our ticket to Xi'an then we went for some Japanese food which was some of the worst food we have ever had. We tried for the safe vegetarian bet called 'the vegetable set' and 'the tofu set' but between us we were served crab, beef, bacon and fish. So we drowned our sorrows in a cool bar we found in central Beijing (with Draft Beer). For our last day in Beijing we found out that our train station wasn't as close as we thought so we had a bit of a trek ahead. So we spent the morning looking at all the disgusting foods in a market (including Centipede, Crab and Cockroach). We went for a more cultural lunch of McDonald's, the only food we trust in China. So that evening we walked for about 4 hours to get to the station and then had to wait for another 4 hours for our 11 hour train journey, in which Chinese men still do not find it inappropriate to spit on the floor of and openly take photos of Clare on their phones. We arrived in the pouring rain in Xi'an at 9am and were escorted to our 4 pounds a night hostel for free. Its a really nice hostel though. Our Dorm is clean, with an en suite, and there is a good menu, pool table, Wi-Fi etc (and Draft Beer). For lunch today we saw that the Lonely planet recommended a restaurant that has a good vege menu so we embarked on another huge walk there only to find a menu containing things like deep fried turtle. We ordered a fried egg on rice, but can't really complain when it costs about 60p. Tomorrow we are going to go and see the Terracotta Warriors and hopefully the following day we can go to a centre that houses Pandas and other endangered species.

Entry No. 1 by Josh

Sorry about not being able to keep this up to date as much as we would like， China has stupid Internet laws so you can‘t get onto Blogs etc。We are currently still in Beijing and so far we have seen the Forbidden City （Palace Museum）， missed our bus to the Great Wall and have just found somewhere to stay for the next couple of nights。We spent the first three nights in a nice hotel just to relax and sort out our sleep we missed on the flight and stuff and now we are in a small hostel but still fairly central in Beijing。 We have spent the last few days walking a lot looking for things that the maps promise and that we can never find。We found a small market where they were surprised to find that Clare and I didn't want to try live Scorpion or a Starfish, Tarantula or Gecko on a stick. Clare is very popular with the locals and they all seem to hate littering but are more than happy just to hock and spit on the floor whenever they feel like. Unfortunately, there is a lack of Draft Beer so when we found somewhere that did serve it we took full advantage. Today we are going to try to book another Great Wall trip from tomorrow and possibly tonight we will go to see a Kung Fu show at a big Theatre. We will update this again next time we get a chance.