I'm now in Xi'an, and feeling the sense of relief which comes from having taken on the Chinese transport system and won, and also from just being out west again. Xi'an isnt that far west really, but compared to the south where I spent the last week, it feels it - full of bustling Muslim bazaars, and very long queues to buy mutton.

However, the few days I spent in Nanjing and Anhui were very pleasant. Nanjing turned out to be full of interesting Ming dynasty remains, whilst Anhui found the way direct to my heart by being very rural, full of dialects I didn't understand, and having an illegal motorbike taxi service. I suspect in summer, it would be a tourist hellhole, but in winter I and the other student I was with for the time had it all to ourselves - picturesque villages full of butchers slaughtering cows in time for Chinese new year, bamboo forests, snow covered terraces and tea plantations. It was the kind of place that gives rise to all those stereotypical images of China, and which I wasn't sure actually still existed anymore, if it ever had.

Nanjing was a little overshadowed by the massacre - I steeled myself to go the museum - which is a shame, as it is a much pleasanter and much older city than that. The massacre though still is almost uncomparably horrific, and still so recent really. However, what was for China a remarkably good and surprisingly unbiased exhibition was a little spoilt for me by the quote on the exit by Jiang Zemin stating 'This is a good place to conduct patriotic education'. It should of course be remembered, and I am often surprised how few Europeans at least seem to know of it - but I sometimes feel it is used by some Chinese in a way I am highly uncomfortable with.

However, it feels good to be back in Xi'an, and I move onto Dingxi shortly to celebrate Chinese New Year with friends.

I'm currently in Nanjing, former capital of China, and site of particularly unpleasant 1937 massacre, relaxing before heading onwards to try and find a slice of rural China in Anhui. Post Harbin, Beijing and Shanghai, I'm craving greenery a little, but its been a fine trip thus far.

It began in Harbin, with temperatures of -26, and ice sculptures that could have been designed by Disney on acid, then down to Beijing, which was mostly notable for feeling warm at -6, then down to Shanghai to visit a friend. The trip to Shanghai took a little longer than expected - I miscalculated the distance, and ended up on a 22hr hard seat train. Shanghai I learnt to like in temperatures somewhat lower than the 40 degree steambath I last saw it in, mostly thanks due to the hospitality of a friend and her demented ex-street kitten. The kitten, with her odd colour eyes, incessant friendliness and willingness to chase anything was perhaps one of the most charming, and yet also thickest animals I've encountered in a while - her party trick did appear to be running headfirst into walls.

Basically, its all been good up till now, although perhaps best of all has been the return of hot showers to my life. They had been sorely missed.

Travelling

The exams are over, the cricket has been won, and I am looking forward to a blissful two months without a single 8am lecture. I leave for Harbin and real winter tonight, and shall be wandering around bits of China in the company of various people until early March when Dalian Ligong Daxue heaves itself back up for the second term.

I'll update as and when I can - but if not, email really is a wonderful thing.