Mid-end September So here we were back in China, our aim being to travel through western and northern China towards Central Asia, for the start of our journey westwards through some of the 'stan' countries and the Middle East. Our first stop in Western China was Chengdu, the capital city of Central Sichuan province. Now suffering withdrawal from our regular coffee fixes and the amazing Vietnamese food, we were worried that eating and drinking in China was j...

Our last week on mainland China was spent in the beautiful Guangxi province, in southern China, famous for its striking, karst scenery - which is best explained by our pictures! This was the China we knew of from pictures before arriving - stunning rice terraces with views to match, impressive limestone peaks in lush valleys, rice farmers working away in straw hats, bamboo rafts gliding along shimmering rivers….and all felt another world away from what we had s...

We left Beijing on a Saturday night in style, having had a few G&Ts at a 40th birthday party that we gate crashed with some British Embassy staff that Simon knew from his time in Mumbai, and after meeting the British Ambassador - who we casually talked to for 15 minutes without realising who he was, until we asked what he did at the Embassy. The drinks were the perfect antidote for a good nights sleep on the overnight train from Beijing, to our next destinati...

So Beijing: our first entry point into China and a radical change from the Gobi desert, but we quickly adjusted to our new surroundings and the hustle and bustle of a huge Asian city. We stayed in one of the historic 'hutong' districts, in Dongcheng North, which is very 'chi chi' with lots of trendy Chinese tourists filling the quaint alleyways, which provided a wonderful excuse to get lost in amongst its network of alleyways and explore what you imagine an olde...