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 destination: Pingyao, in Shanxi province, which is considered China's best preserved ancient walled town.

We spent a lazy couple of days there, exploring inside and outside the city walls on foot and on bicycle - the cobbled streets and buildings are almost entirely from the Ming and Qing dynasties (14th-20th centuries) - watching the world go by with a cold beer (its taken 33 years and travelling with Simon for me to succumb to beer drinking), and posing for various photographs that the hoardes of Chinese tourists seem to love taking of us….I'd hasten to add that I don't think we were anything special to them, just that 99% of the tourists there were Chinese nationals, and as we were to discover around the rest of China, Chinese tourists heavily outweigh any western faces. Pingyao was particularly busy as our stay there coincided with the national Dragon Boat Festival, a 3-day holiday in China. As well as the tourists the sun and blue skies were also out in force which was a welcome break from the grey and smoggy haze of Beijing.

Next stop was Xian - also in Shanxi province, yet a 12-hour train ride away - and another walled city, more than 3000 years old and which was the eastern end point of the Silk Road. Our main purpose there was to see the city's famed Army of Terracotta Warriors, which was an amazing sight: a life-size army of thousands of terracotta soldiers (cavalry, infantrymen, archers) all constructed under the orders of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, possibly to continue his rule in death as it had in life, as this army was to guard his tomb. A rather elaborate commemorative effort maybe, especially when you consider it took about 30years and thousands of men to build the entire army, and when you see the extraordinary detail that went in to each soldier - no two faces are said to be alike. There are thought to be about 7000+ figures in total, but only around 2000 are on display, and excavations are still ongoing - the site was only found by accident in 1947 when local peasants were drilling for a well and found rather more than they bargained for.

With just one night in Xian we managed to fit in a stroll through the bustling Muslim Quarter, as well as an evening dumpling-making class, before we headed off once again, this time bound for Shanghai, again by sleeper train. Although the soft sleeper (aka 2nd class) carriages of the Chinese trains are very similar to the layout of the Russian ones, they are slightly more plush in that you get two pillows not one, bedding already made up so you don't have to do it yourself, quilted hangers to hang an item of clothing on…. these are the sort of things we get excited about now. Though the supplies we stock up on have remained the same throughout our trip: pot noodles, coffee sachets, toilet paper, wet wipes.

We spent four nights in Shanghai, the hot, sweaty, stylish cousin to Beijing. The first couple of days were spent exploring by day and night around People's Square, The Bund (Shanghai's former Wall Street and now an ultra-fashionable promenade with lots of beautiful art deco buildings), the futuristic CBD, the French Concession area and some great little markets. The last two days were less active, simply because it became too damned hot and humid - reaching 36°C (hottest day of the year there so far, for Shanghai and for us) - and so were mostly spent taking refuge anywhere that had AC: the room in our hostel, shopping malls, the cinema, the subway... A futile and exasperating attempt to remain cool with a visit to a waterpark (not yet open for the summer) meant we felt we should end the day well with cocktails at an amazing rooftop bar at the Ritz Carlton hotel, where we sunk a few welcome drinks while admiring Shanghai's amazing skyline (and was actually a cheaper option compared to the nearby observation decks). It's amazing how quickly a heat-induced sense of humour failure can be reversed! We loved Shanghai, and with the trendy Shanghaiese ladies tottering about on heels which rival the surrounding skyscrapers and the abundance of Starbucks and other familiar brands like M&S and Tesco, it certainly feels far more western than Beijing, and we loved the contrast between old and new Shanghai….but maybe next time we will go back in the spring or autumn!