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Japan pt 1: Tokyo and Kyoto

We arrived later than expected into Japan as our first flight was delayed and we missed our connection. So we grabbed some food in the Shanghai airport while we waited for our new flight, but it wasn't long until we were touching down in Tokyo! On day one we went to a little cafe for breakfast that did veggie plates and rice balls, and then it was into the city to explore. We went to Akihabra, or electric town, which has tons of tech, video game and anime stores. We bought some fun headphones and a crepe and looked around some of the shops.  We also went to visit a bunny cafe! On day two, we went to the Shibuya scramble, one of the busiest crossings in the world. It was mainly busy with tourists taking photos, but all the light up billboards around the place were pretty iconic. We also went to visit the Hachiko statue of the most loyal dog who waited for his owner outside the station for nine years.  We then went to the Pokemon centre to look at all the Pokemon and other Ninte...
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China Pt 2: Chengdu and Guilin

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We arrived in Chengdu early in the afternoon and our hotel was just minutes from the highspeed railway station. We checked in, and then immediately went back to the station for a little day trip. We were on the train to Chongqing to explore the weird and wonderful city.   Up on the 27th floor! From the station in Chongqing, we caught the metro and headed to the city centre to find some of the sights which best encapsulate the oddity of the city.  Our first stop was Hongyadong Cave. It was a higgldy piggldy building full of shops built on the side of a cliff which meant that we entered from the road (on ground level) but when we looked over the balcony towards the river, we were actually on the 9th floor!  We then walked along the road overlooking the river for a little while until we got to the Kuixing building. This was another illusion building. Once again we went just one flight of stairs up from ground level to reach a lovely plaza with Chinese style buildings su...
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China Pt 1: Beijing and Xi'an

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We arrived into Beijing airport from Hong Kong in the evening. They fed us very well on the plane, and we still had food to eat for dinner. We went out to explore the area, but our phones hadn't set up properly yet, so we couldn't buy anything at the street market. Luckily, Mitchell's phone works in China (and only China) so for once we have two phones to help us get around.  It seems WhatsApp/Facebook etc only work on data, but they do work. The hotel wifi in Beijing was very restrictive, so we couldn't access lots of sites and couldn't download anything like podcasts or movies.  They also gave us a room upgrade for free! I'd booked the cheapest room at the hotel, just a small one with no window as we'd be out during all daylight hours anyway, but they gave us a huge one with a sofa and the bed in a whole different room!  This was our hotel This was at the end of our street Breakfast was ordered online which made things easy for us, and we got some soupy po...
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Hong Kong

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  We flew straight from Phuket to Hong Kong and arrived in the late afternoon. The subway was easy to use, but our apartment was not! Luckily someone had put a picture on Google Maps of the entrance to a small shopping mall, so we headed in, passing small independent spice shops and minimarts. From there, the only directions we had was 2F/11F, so we tried the second floor. Nothing looked like a guesthouse, so we were wandering around a little lost when someone who must live in the building took a look at the address and sent us towards an elevator which I hadn't seen before.  We went up to the 11th floor and found the right door. We called the buzzer and after a while, a guy came down from the floor above to let us in and grab our key. He then took us down to the 8th floor and let us into a guesthouse with a completely different name out front. But he was very nice and once we were in it, our room was very pleasant with a private bathroom and a kettle and microwave in the comm...
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