From Guilin we took a boat ride along the Li River, through some stunning scenery (not unlike Halong Bay in Vietnam). This is a VERY popular trip - lots of boats and people - but definitely worth it.Initial impressions about Yangshuo weren't great - when you get off the boat you are almost assaulted by people trying to sell you things! Then you have to walk along a few narrow streets that have nothing but shops selling the usual tourist stuff, little Western-styl...

This is an area just outside of Guilin that is famous for it's rice terraces. Being the independent travellers that we are, we decided against going on an organised tour. Instead, we decided to make our own way there by using public transport.I still question this decision to this day!!It took us over 4 hours to get there! The first bus circled around Guilin until it was full - that was one hour! Then we missed our stop (but luckily got on another bus coming the...

The Lonely Planet describes this as a place that you DO NOT want to stay in for long - "go straight to Yangshou". A place where touts and taxi drivers will aggressively harass you at every opportunity - even the noticeboard at our hostel seemed to confirm this (with warning messages from other travellers)!We quite liked the place! We weren't harassed (certainly no more than any other city) and there was enough to do to keep us busy for a few days.There...

Home to the Terracotta Warriors.....and smog levels that equal (or quite possibly beat) those in Beijing! Anyway, as for said Warriors, they were good but slightly overrated (I've probably seen hundreds of photos of them anyway) and as with most of the places we've been to, you have to put up with coach-loads of Chinese tourists barging their way in front of you! The trip was also the first (and possibly last) time we were able to 'scam' the Chinese......we wer...

It looks like the bad weather/pollution has followed us here. Arrived here by soft-sleeper train (only took 17 hours) as we felt guilty for flying everywhere (I hate to think how big my carbon footprint is)!Chengdu, like every other city we've been to in China, has loads of brand new high-rise buildings (with loads more being built). However, it still manages to feel fairly relaxed, especially if you go to places like the People's Park (where you can watch with...