Well we have just booked and paid for our Trans Manchurian railway tickets! After some initial problems (because the transaction was over £500 and Eilidh is only 17, the bank was a bit funny about it), we got it all sorted and STA Travel have been exceptionally helpful - we have become quite the regulars in there!

We have also done 4 car boot sales between us. Eilidh raised a lovely £75 at Tayport, then £33 at Crail. Ross visited Crail twice and raised £45 each time. We made signs explaining where the money what the money was going towards and this generated alot of interest and some kind donations as well! Surprisingly alot of people (well, one or two) had been to China and say it is amazing, but completely different to here. We have been told to prepare for the culture shock!

As we both work for the Edinburgh Woollen Mill, Ross wrote to their staff magazine "The Yarn" and they replied very interested and we recently sent them some photos of us and more information about our trip. (we are risking embarrassment in hope that our fellow employees will sponsor us!).

Talking of sponsoring, we are trying to get people to sponsor us for a day of our trip. On that day, they will receive an email (hopefully with picture) or a postcard. We just have to hope that China's internet is good, although I'm probably under-estimating China, what with over a billion people living there.

Soon we will be buying our insurance- we will keep you updated!