Yes, yes, I'm still here! Thanks for your concerned emails - I have been adventuring once more, and then suffered the torture of living in an internet free zone for almost a week! Argh!

The weekend before last I went to Chengde in the north of Hebei Province. It was great, but blimey was it cold! Here are a few snaps:




Here I am demonstrating the amount of headroom and general level of comfort on the mid-berth of a hard sleeper train. Not too bad if I do say so myself. We were provided with a big flask of hot water to drink and make our noodle pots with, and the bed was really rather comfortable!








We arrived in Chengde at around 5:30am and it was, quite literally, freezing. Later that day I bought the rather striking hat and scarf ensemble that I can be seen sporting here, in amongst a rock formation at the Mountain Resort.








A deer in the snow. Aww. How festive.














I love this photo. Contrary to appearances perhaps, I did ask the monks' permission before taking it. There are many temples in Chengde, but this is the only living one. From what I could gather, they spend their time playing kickabout and listening to their MP3 players. All in all, very cool.







Woo! Is it just me, or does that bit of rock look aboout ready to fall?