Managed to evade Chinese State Security and smuggle myself on a flight to Malaysia. Was strange; despite having a vpn set up that allowed me to access facebook, any attempt to access TF got a 'this website is under construction' message.

It's been a hectic trip and really looking forward to reaching Langkawi on Saturday and doing nothing but lie on a beach and drink beer.

Singapore was interesting; cleanest place I've ever visited (and the safest) but it disturbed me that just below the surface of 'paradise' lurks a quasi fascist state. Great to visit but don't think I'd ever want to live there. Did the obligatory visit to Raffles for a singapore sling - only one though; at £13 a shot, easier to have the photo opportunity then piss off to the cheaper pub across road.

Raffles Hotel

View across to the Sands and the Singapore Wheel

Lazing the day away in Chinatown

Iain and the McGinns enjoying some bloody expensive drinks in the Long Bar

Singapore by night

The fantastic Chijmes complex (a must visit) Loads of different eateries and pubs in a fantastic setting

Hong Kong was fantastic; hectic, crowded and noisy. Amazing street food and fairly friendly locals. Was also great to catch up with my old friend Lindsay who I hadn't seen in 12 years. She teaches there now and I feel guilty that we were out drinking till 1am and she had her first class at 7.45!

Skyline from the famous Star Ferry

The more sedate harbour cruise

More skyline - that bloody Hayko gets everywhere

Old and new reflect...

Halloween in HK - madder than anywhere I've been before on this night

Zombies are so last year - lovely bunch of locals who bought me beer all night

Nurse!!!!!!!!!!!

Then onto China. 2 cities that are complete contrasts. Shanghai has firmly embraced the West. The people (especially the younger ones who are learning English) are very open and approach you regularly to talk or invite you for tea (sometimes TOO regularly). Food was again amazing though sad to see so many McDonalds, KFCs and Starfucks. Even sadder was the steady stream of Westerners heading into these corporate monstrosities. Touts were an issue and one must have Chinese phrase is 'boo yow' which is basically a polite '**** off'. Spent a day wandering the museum quarter too. Amazing exhibits though photography was prohibited in the Faberge exhibition. (I did try and was scolded by the rather severe museum security)

Other than the odd fluttering PRC flag, you could forget you were in a Communist country. Police presence was low key and there was no sign of the plain clothes or volunteer security I saw in Beijing.

I took the maglev to the airport - wow - 265mph and it's smoother than any train I've been on. Your only sensation of speed was watching the scenery go whizzing past.

A Ming vase!! (tried to slip it in bag but no chance)

Stele of 1000 Buddhas - about 2nd Century ad

The one pic I managed to sneakily take of a Faberge Egg

Market area (avoiding the touts)

Weddings seem big business in Shanghai - walking the length of The Bund, I saw around 9 or 10 different wedding photo shoots

View from The Bund at dusk

And on to Beijing; what a difference. Probably didn't help that I arrived during the Party Congress but there was high levels of security everywhere; from scanning for explosives at the airport, through police, troops, special forces, plain clothes state security and the 'volunteer' public security (apparently the majority were not happy about being 'volunteered')

Whether this heightened security affected people's attitudes, I have no idea, but I found Beijingers much less friendly and far more guarded. I had my first disaster here - the 'traditional'hotel I booked was awful - first night I got 2 hours sleep and bitten about 7 times. Day 2, I switched hotels - f*ck tradition, give me some comfort.

Food was again a highlight here - well apart from the broiled eel (yeeeuch) and the starfish on a stick (even more yeeeuch) - switched regularly from street food to nice restaurants though never tried the bird's nest as cheapest I saw it was around £45. Did the obligatory Peking Duck which blew me away - and also had a (non Chinese) 100 day aged steak at the Angus Grill - best steak I've ever had.

Real highlight, of course, was the Great Wall. Spectacular and surely has to be something on everyone's bucket list. I also took the opportunity to quote James Cagney and shout 'made it Ma, I'm on top of the world', much to the amusement of other tourists. But a cathartic moment and hope she heard me. Also had amazing fun tobagonning all the way back down!!!

Forbidden City was a bit anti climactic after that - amazing looking but as you progressed it got a little same, same. Oh look another hall, and another one. But was still a must do. Tiananmen Square was fantastic too - lot's of great people shots there and amusing, yet tragic, to see so many fire extinguishers in case of Tibetan protesters.

Lakeside by night

Entrance to the Forbidden City

Zhongsan park so tranquil yet yards from Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Square

Yes, I'm guarding a fire extinguisher. You want to make something of it?

The exact spot Jackie Chan stands at in Shanghai Noon!

Forbidden City

View back to the Forbidden City at dusk

Ming tombs

Great Wall at Mutianyu

More Great Wall

And again

The views from on top were stunning

Bastards tried to chib a Glasgow boy - they are still in hospital

Found some TF members in a Hutong shop

And I had to buy this!!

So, in KL now, and great to not have to use a combination of semi English and sign language. Visa application is in (after long and dramatic wait at Thai embassy as there were a few disagreements between people and staff) - one more night here then up at crack of dawn Saturday for an 8.30 flight to the duty and tax free paradise of Langkawi.

Been an amazing trip - and don't think I would have changed any of it (other than that initial Beijing hotel!)

Cool pics Iain. Glad you had a great time. Are you going to recommend that hotel on Tripadvisor? :-)

Cool pics Iain. Glad you had a great time. Are you going to recommend that hotel on Tripadvisor? :-)

probably not lol - felt sorry for the owner as he was such a nice guy too - would have been fine for 2/3 nights but was there for 12!

Wow, great pics, Iain. Looks amazing!

Wow.. you can produced many nice pics !!

Thanks Bill and Kus - been a steep learning curve with the Canon - when I bought it, probably around 35-40% of pics were deleted. Now it's down to about 10% and they are mainly night ones as still learning on that. The subjects have helped though!!