Well, well ,well. We left Tianshui on Monday afternoon after washing and packing up again. We got to Xi'an early evening after a pretty eventful 5 hour train ride in which i taught a small baby how to stick out its tongue which it now never stops doing...oh dear!

We met Kate and Peter in the hostel in Xi'an. Kathy had booked us in earlier as Kathy, Kate, Peter, JJ and Brad had all been in Xi'an for a few days before hand. We dumped our bags and headed to get food (pizza!) nearby which was delicious! Kathy, JJ and Brad returned from seeing  Harry Potter 6 in the cinema and managed to give away no spoilers apart from that it was AMAZING! Suse and i had decided to stay and extra day in Xi'an in order to go and see HArry Potter at the cinema and i was EXTREMELY excited!!!!!! That night we stayed up chatting with some other travellers and catching up with each other. Brad headed off to Kunming late at night and the rest of us had loads to chat about as we hadn't seen each other since Spring Festival as they all come from Xinjiang.

Tuesday. Was the day of all days. The day we saw HArry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. And it was soooooooooooooo good! We got popcorn and everything and went to see the english version. It was FAB! The best Harry Potter film i think because it was actually funny the whole way through. It was sooo good!

But anyhoo AFTER we saw HP6 Kate, Suse and i (who had gone together to see it and eaten spagehtti bolognaise! I thi nk i actually prefer noodles to spagehtti shock horror!) we went to meet a calligraphy on brush street near the hostel that Kate had met before. We were taken to his studio and he drew us some calligraphy and talked about his paintings a bit. There was also a 17 year old from Hong Kong and another man who spoke english and told us all about his life and family and his dream to go and live in Canada, plus a woman and the tiniest dog i have ever seen which liked to jump up at the hem of my skirt! It was really interesting seeing his studio and his drawings were beautiful. Actually Kate and i bought 1 each - me of bamboo and Kate of Pink flower branch - but Suse went the whole hog and bought 4 paintings of the seasons which were really pretty. After this we went for dinner and Pete chummed me to get a sandwhich from Subway....And it was good! (Tuna mayo in case you were wondering!). That night again i stayed up chatting for ages with Kathy and JJ until the early hours....

...which wasn't great as Suse and i had to get up early on Wednesday in order to catch a 9 o clock train to Yichang in Hebei province down south but hey ho! Oh i forgot about the weather in Xi'an: It was absolutely boiling and humid until Tuesday night when it started Torrential rain,it seems to follow us!

The train to Yichang took 15 hours, hard seat and was a double decker train which was quite cool. Thankfully it was not full so we had room to stretch out a lot but it was still very long and although Suse is pretty good at these journey's managing to zone out i'm rather more fidgety so get rather bored. The only highlight of this journey was when a little girl sitting behind us took a fancy to Suse and started dropping seeds (which she would suck first) onto Suse's lap and pulling her hair. It amused not only me and the little girl but many other passengers on the train although i'm not sure Suse was quite so amused at the damp, sticky pile of seeds she got out of it! The only other event was when the train was late and instead of arriving at 10pm arrived at 12. The hotel we'd had to book had said we wouldn't be allowed in after 12am. We tried to phone and explain our predicament but they would just hang up on us. So we got a fellow chinese passenger to phone and they hung up on her too. Finally we just gave up and hoped for the best. When we tried to get a taxi they charged us 20 Y for a 6Y journey but after all that we still managed to get there and get a room so no harm done!

Thursday morning we were awoken by the phone in our room ringing. The taxi driver who had taken us to the hotel the night before was back and waiting to take us to the station again as we'd told him we were off to Jishou today. We kindly refused his offer and got a train at 1pm instead of 10am in order for a lie in. The train from Yichang to Jishou was 8 hours long and again hard seat. Unfortunately it was also a slow train and full to bursting point and i didn't actually have a seat. Thankfully this is when being a foreigner really helps as if you sit down people will just assume you have a seat so i didn't get moved at all which was great! It was a hot stuffy journey with no Air-con only open windows which made your ears ring as we went in and out of soo many tunnels. We arrived in Jishou, Hunan province and managed to hop straight on a bus to Feng Huang arriving in Feng Huang (which is where we were originally headed) at 10pm. It took us an hour or soo trudging around the river of Feng Huang and being accosted by boy touts for other hotels to finally find the YHA hostel. It was a pretty dank hostel but adequate enough and cheap which was the main incentive! After a shower we hit the hay but even though i was hot and bothered i still thought that Feng Huang looked a lovely town- if VERY chinese touristy!

The next morning we were up for a look around Feng Huang. After a breakfast of Niu Rou cien (like beef noodles except beef rice noodles) we went for a wander up the river. It was a really pretty town with many of the houses clustered on the river bank many held up by stilts. We crossed the river on stepping stones which Suse afterwards admitted scared her a lot but which i loved! Then we wandered back up the other side and through the town a bit. It was lovely but totally orientated towards tourists and chinese tourists at that. All the same i still loved all the stalls selling jewellry and scarfs and the shops where you could watch people making ginger sugar- which seemed to be a specialty in Feng Huang. In the afternoon we chilled and caught up on diarys and stuff and then you'll never guess what. It started to rain. No sorry not just any rain, torrential rain. With a bit of thunder and lightning added in for effect. Thats right folks for the 3rd time on our journey we were absolutely POURED on. Again. The storm passed but the rain continued for the next 2 days we were staying in Feng Huang, which was a shame but never mind it meant it was a lot cooler as before it'd been really warm and humid- as in you just didn't stop sweating, ever!

The day after the storm we went shopping buying soveigners and things (don't get your hopes up!) and just generally wandered round getting pretty darm soaked despite wearing cagoules! In the evening we got kebabs for dinner which were delicious. Earlier on in the day Suse had also been brave enough to have a Crab Kebab or "Crabab" which they sell every where in Feng Huang along with LOADS of other sea food. I tried a pincer but declined joining Suse in eating 4 crabs. They were very crunchy!

Today we got the bus from Feng Huang to Huai Hua in order to get a train to Guilin tomorrow morn at 6am. Thankfully we have hard sleep not seat (actually by accident but i'm pleased all the same!) and it should take around 11 hours. On the bus from Feng Huang we had to sit on stools in the aisle because it was soo full. Doing this for 2 and a half hours can get a little sore on the buttocks especially with all the hairpin bends we had to go around! It also took us AGES to find the right bus station and we spent 40 mins walking around Feng Huang being told to go to different places while carrying our heavy rucksacks and in the rain! Not very amused. Oh yeah another thing i forgot to mention about the hostel is that  i saw a rat in it but downstairs thankfully and i was attacked by a HUGE black flying beetle. It had been outside our room for a while and kept trying to climb up a door frame and falling down on its back unable to right itself. When it did this once Suse told me to right it again. I was going to just flip it over with my foot and at the last minute decided to use my purse instead. Thank goodness i did as soon as i touched it with my purse it latched on and wouldn't let go when i shook it. I dropped my purse in fright (it was big ok and i thought it would move quickly like a spider!)and screamed at Suse to do something. She got the mozzie repellent and started beating the beetle. It took quite a few whacks before she basically beat it into submission and it let go. Scary stuff i tell. The other incident was when we had to move room as the rain caused the roof above Suse's bed to leak and in the new room on the second night Suse saw the most GIGANTIC spider scuttling across the wall. Big as my hand. I was to scared to go near it but after several attempts Suse squished it with our Lonely Planet Guide to the wall. Its still there and rather flat.

Now we're in Huai Hua and just wasting time before our train tomorrow morning. You'll never guess what either. Its raining here now too!!!!