Day 6: The Twelve Towers

Saturday 1st May: Jinshanling to Simatai

Day 5: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Friday 30th April: Gu Bei Kou to Jinshanling

Day 4: The Wild Wall

Thursday 29th April: Shui Chang to Jian Jun Guan (General's Pass)

Day 3: The Border Stone

Wednesday 28th April: Qian Gan Jian to Shui Chang

Day 2 - Heaven's Ladder & Sweet Water

Tuesday 27th April: Huang Ya Guan to Qian Gan Jian

Day 1 - First Steps

Monday 26th Arpil: Tai Ping Zhai - Huang Ya Guan

The Most Expensive Tea in the World (and knowing Right from Wong)

Sunday 25th April.  I guess any large city in the world has its fair share of scams for tourists to enjoy (except for the ones where they skip the formalities and rob you at gun point), and how wonderfully, culturally appropriate that in Beijing it involves overcharging for tea. Overcharging for tea has been a defining characteristic of Britain's relationship with China since before the opium wars, so at least this feels in keeping with history.

It all started when I was standing in Tienanmen Square thinking about going to get some breakfast when a man came up to me and introduced himself as "Wong", a trainee doctor from Shang Hai, who was like me, doing some sight seeing in a strange new city. He seemed like a honest looking chap, and just the kind of person to learn Mandarin from, explore the hutongs with, wander round a 3 story Chinese medicine shop, and ultimately follow to an upstairs private room in a small tea house and share 9 different kinds of tea with. Until I got the bill.

£90!!??@##~@%%??  They even itemise out the individual teas at about £6 a pop, along with various other costs ("service" £20, and "snacks" £3). As stupid as it sounds it didn't occur to me at the time that "Wong" was the key architect of this scam and the tea house was just his choice of tool. It felt like we were both being ripped off, which is maybe why I dumbly handed over the cash. Should have got angry, should have thrown a nominal amount on the table and walked out... ah well live and learn, I'm not the first one anyway: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJjcoQlp8JE (my story is so similar to the other 10,000 on the internet that it hardly seems to be worth me writing it).

After that I swore that that was the last the Beijing would see of my RMB, they had had their lot out of me and the wallet was staying shut until I got out of here. Then I realised it was nearly 1pm and I still hadn't had breakfast, wandered into a busy restaurant with a MENU (yes that's important): order fillet of beef stir fried with chilies, bowl of rice and pot of Chinese tea (1 kind of tea, no tea ceremony) £2.50 the lot. Got to love this country...

Seeing red in the city of angels

Bangkok 14th April: My cunning plan to avoid the red shirts by staying in the middle of the business district backfired somewhat when they all relocated there on mass, so I ended up pretty much hemmed in on all sides... Fortunately civil unrest was on the back burner for thai new year and class struggle was replaced with getting drunk and throwing buckets of ice cold water at anything that moves.

Writing this a few days later on its clear that new year spirits have waned and everyones back on the offensive. The red shirts are very well prepared (and funded...) here. During a surrepticious wander around one of the camps under Ratchadamri BTS station I spotted a toilet and shower block, a collection of market stalls selling a variety of styles of clothing (all red), and a fully fledged nursery for looking after the younger protesters whilst Mum and Dad are out sharpening bamboo sticks to jab at soldiers.

Overall this whole affair seems to have given a voice to the polictically voiceless masses and started a dialogue on equality that would have otherwise taken 20 years, though you have to wonder about the motivations of those funding and encouraging the movement, and whather all this won't just end up degrading into further sensless violence that ultimately ends up preventing the dialogue turning in to any actual change for those that deservce it.

Do I really need all this stuff???

OK so the girl in Blacks must have seen me coming... This is everything on the list that the good people at Macmillan gave me plus a couple of personal essentials (photography stuff and haribos) and it seems like WAY too much stuff. Seriously. This is 7 days trekking not a mission to discover the mysterious cities of gold (which I'm saving for my next charity walk). Due to some logistics (Wedding, beach holiday, etc) I will be lugging this lot half way round Asia.

First stop (and hopefully not the last): Bangkok. Please note the conspicuous lack of red clothing (apart from the fleece that would be ridiculous to even contemplate wearing in Thailand). As per Foregin Office guidelines I am leaving these at home for fear of being mistaken for one of Taksin's red shirt rent-a-mob (actually the FCO are advising against all travel to Bangkok... http://tiny.cc/hyu4b which is annoying...)