Our Chinese adventure started with 4 nights in Beijing which provided plenty of opportunity to explore the city and its wonderful sights – the Forbidden City and Summer Palace to name just two.  Of course a trip to Beijing wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the Great Wall of China.  A jaw dropping 6000km of wall of which we managed to walk a huge 3km of !!  - well it was hot and an awful lot steeper than it looks in photos – that was our excuse anyway :-)   at the end of our ‘exhausting’ walk we were treated to a toboggan ride from top to bottom – brilliant fun and possibly one of the best toboggan rides in the world ??

Great Wall of China

Toboggan ride!

We took the overnight train to Xian travelling ‘hard sleeper’ which in fact wasn’t hard at all, each bed had a comfortable mattress with each compartment consisting of 6 beds, 3 tiers each side and a small table and seats in the corridor outside.  With staff arriving at regular intervals with a food trolley, we were well catered for and the hours passed relatively quickly. 

3 nights in Xian was spent marvelling at the Terracotta Warriors and enjoying the cities other highlights and museums as well as enjoying the relaxing surrounds of the award winning Qixian (7 Sages) Youth Hostel where we were staying. 

Another train journey took us to Chengdu, the home of the Giant Panda Breeding Centre.  The very early start to get to the centre to be there for feeding time was well worth the effort to watch these cuddly endangered species enjoy their bamboo breakfast.  Super cute!



Panda Breeding Centre, Chengdu



An overnight train, followed by an all day train took us to our next destination,  Lijiang a popular place for the Chinese to visit on their holidays and home to the stunning Black Dragon Pool and a short hop to Tiger Leaping Gorge. 

Black Dragon Pool, Lijiang

restaurant in Dali

Then onto Dali, another popular holiday resort for the Chinese, before heading to the modern metropolis of Kunming for 3 nights of sightseeing, shopping, R+R and karaoke.  Surprisingly everyone still had a voice the following morning, though some who will remain nameless suffered more than others with hangovers!

Laura, Bob, Beks, JMo

Steph showing us how it's done!

… off to Laos later today – can’t wait!  Until the next time …..