After 2 weeks of striking scenery in Southern China we found ourselves in the city of Chengdu. Having just completed our hike along Tiger Leaping Gorge, we were feeling like real trekkers! Lottie now had brand new trainers with their purple symbols and sparkles, which if not the coolest of footwear represented a bargain at £3.50! And boy did we need them, for the next two weeks would be spent largely on our feet traversing over great heights and sights, pacing great distances and receiving many blisters! Thus began our great walk of China.

Our journey began with a lengthy traipse around Chengdu trying to find our accommodation. For the first time in China we found language to be a real barrier, for despite arriving with a couple of chaps from Sweden one who spoke fairly good Mandarin, we could not get any help navigating to our chosen hostel. This was further complicated by a significant failing on behalf of all Asian countries which until now we have yet to mention - street maps in Asia are utterly useless devices! Only us Westerners will attempt to translate the street signs into the map and thus into directions. Not in Asia. A taxi driver will simply confirm a location, stop and then reconfirm a location, stop and reconfirm, and so on. So, when we pointed at the map the location of our hostel, this fell on deaf ears. Over an hour of walking with our heavy backpacks, and we had found our trendy accommodation called the Loft. We were quickly showered and attempting to make the most of our day, where we spent the remainder of the afternoon in the infamous People's Park. Here we watched people stretch, speed-date and play card games, before settling down and drinking a Bamboo Green Tea. Not quite sure what this was, we were presented with a tall glass containing 5-6 flower heads that resembled miniature sunflowers and orange coloured berries miming sultanas. It looked great and tasted even better, and the free top ups were well received!

Our next day began early and with a lot of excitement, for that morning we were off to the Panda sanctuary! The sanctuary is the biggest and most famous in China, and is responsible for helping to maintain the declining population of Pandas which currently stands at around 1,000 worldwide. The biggest issue with the Panda is that they are terribly lazy, especially when it comes to mating! On the misty morning that we arrived, the Pandas were being fed several kilos worth of Bamboo shoots. The Pandas simply lie on their backs, strike a lazy hand out at the bamboo bucket and munch on as many shoots as possible. However lazy they are, they are utterly adorable. Life sized teddy bears is the best way to describe them - if you were in their cages then theoretically they could pull your arm off, but practically I doubt they could be bothered. There were also very small red pandas here at the sanctuary, extremely cute with oversized fluffy tails, which had all the energy that the Great Pandas lacked!

Our afternoon was filled with hunting down bus and train tickets, oversized KFC and visiting a local temple. The tickets that we acquired took us North to Songpan, largely off the touristy trail, this sleepy town looks like it will be shortly aroused by truck loads of tourists for the government are clearly laying the infrastructure required, probably ruining the towns original charm. Our 7 hour bus included a windy path through barren mountains and alongside frightening scenes of the 2008 earthquake destruction, which left road and buildings covered in rubble and heavy stone, bridges collapsed into the fast flowing river and towns and villages destroyed. Of course, we were utterly unaware of this tragedy prior to mounting our bus so this came as quite a surprise! We also caught sight of our first meeting with the local mammal the Yak, a large sized cow with long hair keeping it's body warm, this one was pure white. Later meetings typically involved the Yak being served up on our plates, indeed on our arrival into Songpan after we quickly found our accommodation, we both tucked into a Yak burger and French Fried! Here we met a couple of French-Canadians, Pierre and Josien, where we began plotting our adventures.

The purpose of our visit to Songpan was the horse-trekking through the Songpan National Reserve. However, as is often the case with these tourist attractions, the price of this had considerably risen to £40 per person, and consequently out of our price range. So instead we arranged transport to the National park with our French-Canadian friends and set out on foot. The park is set amongst mountainous valleys where a river slowly trickles its way through. The boardwalks follow the river up and take you close to some of the dazzling lakes that line the route, perfectly clear waters with a turquoise glow like we have never seen before. It's like looking down at a coral reef, but instead of being in the sea we are in the forest, and instead of looking down at hard and soft corals, we are looking down at fallen trees and branches. The waters are so inviting you just want to jump in, however a dip of the toe tells you that the waters are icy cold and neither fish nor man are commonly found here. Even the supposed hot springs for which we brought along swimwear are at best described as luke warm, so instead we ate our lunch alongside the springs with our legs dipped in the water. The park was a great experience and once more we found that China had a surprise or two up it's sleeve in terms of amazing things to see.

Over Yak dumplings, we then planned our next adventure with Pierre and Josien, the Jiuzahghou National Reserve. Similar to Songpan, yet this place is far larger, much more dramatic and consequently packed to the rafters with tourists. Our plans included an 'illegal' overnight stay in the park at a Tibeten styled guesthouse, but these plans were slightly altered by a chance meeting with a British girl (Jenna) on the way back to our room, who had recently visited the park. She told her tale and then kindly offered us her bus tickets for the park, for the park is about 40km in length, which would have otherwise cost us £9 per person. Technically these bus tickets had expired, but Jenna comforted us insisting that they rarely checked the tickets, and in any case they were already second hand as she was given them by some fellow travelers. So, our story of the Jiuzahghou National Reserve begins….

Our plan of attack on arrival was simple. Buy two day passes for circa £25 each, and then walk into the park. As we had 'illegal' bus tickets we could not get on the bus in front of the guards at the entrance, so with our small backpacks in tow, we took the walking trail through the dense forest and alongside the fast flowing rapids, looking out for the next bus stop. After more than 2 hours of walking up down, up and down, we stumbled onto the main road where we looked to flag a bus down. Several refused to stop at an undesignated bus stop, but fortunately a park ranger allowed us into his truck and took us to our village. Here we snuck into the village and round the back to our accommodation where our friends, who were not rule-breaking had already checked in. First part complete without major hassle! We then boarded a bus (illegally) to the furthest point which is Swan Lake. A huge lake surrounded by forested and snowy mountains, again with the clear waters like we described in Songpan, a really beautiful sight to behold, far too pretty for us to do it just in words. We then followed the footpaths of some of the thousands of Chinese tourists on our way to the next lake, known as 'five-colours lake.' This lake was truly breathtaking, a mixture of green water fauna contrasting the swimming pool coloured waters and the darker foliage of the trees surrounding the lake - offset of course by the grey and misty mountainous ranges looming in the background. We squeezed in (literally) to get some photos that to the unknown eye make it look like we had the lake to ourselves, before heading onwards. We stopped at a traditional Tibetan house, richly decorated by vibrant and intricate paintwork much resembling Rosy the gypsy caravan, before walking back to our Guest House. Of course, this has to be done sneakily so that the guards didn't catch us for we were not allowed to stay the night.

We made it back without trouble, and were then treated to a fantastic Tibetan buffet, eating in the colourfully decorated lounge and tasting some disgusting and strong Chinese alcohol, as well as Sichaun pepper, which was bitterly bitter!! We then set off to sleep in our single beds (we had 3 of them!) with comfortable pillows and heated mattresses, well at least Paul's was anyway, and he wasn't willing to give up this luxury whilst Lottie waited for hers to heat up! The following morning brought along stress. As we departed from the village, we were quickly spotted by the Secret service of the park, rangers wearing black outfits set out to detect those naughty individuals with fake/expired tickets. Our bus ticket was checked, and low and behold was proven to have expired. We were then requested to make the 2 hour walk back to the entrance in order to purchase another ticket, where we would also likely have been fined. We tried to sneak away through the crowds and onto a bus to return us to the start, but were quickly dealt with by the guard. In our only act of rule breaking in 5 months, Lottie felt worried and confused - normally such a follower of the guides. So it was Paul that took the lead and urged Lottie to wander around the park for a few hours and then exit hopefully avoiding a fine. To point out here, that the key factor behind our decision was the fact that we simply could not afford such a hefty fine!!

Our journey involved in 30 minute detour, and then we merged into the eye-catching park. Here we visited further stunning lakes and waterfalls, as well as breathtaking scenery, however all the time keeping a look out for our neatly dressed enemies! Meanwhile, Lottie theorised over all the possible outcomes that could come from this, stressing herself into oblivion. Once we had visited the sites that we intended, including a 30ft waterfall, we then turned and headed for the entrance. Sharp pains drove through Lottie's thigh muscle almost immediately, and all of a sudden Lottie was finding walking and in particular, descending steps particularly painful. This was perfect timing, considering we had a 3 hour walk back to the entrance. She braved it and hobbled on. A few tears may have been shed. We walked, and walked and walked, alongside these astonishing lakes but most of the while fixating ahead and on what might be in store for us at the entrance. Our attempts to flag down a car, bus, or van all failed, an in the end our walk took over 4 hours, with each other motivating the other to keep on moving, it was like a survival movie! Towards the end Lottie was relying on her ipod music to maintain a steady pace. As we reached the gates we merged with a bunch of tourists departing their bus and snuck past the guards in amongst the crowds. Relief swept over us both, and we quickly jumped into a taxi, legs trembling from what totaled approximately a 21km walk! (Please donate here at…) At our hotel we ate a hearty Yak burger and chips each, and slept the slept like logs!

A long journey followed the next day and subsequently onto a night train the following evening, and before we knew it we had arrived in Xi'an. A walled city that was previously the heart of political and military China, Xi'an is largely redundant now with the exception of its sightseeing opportunities, most famously the Terracotta Warriors. Discovered in 1984, the warriors are one of the largest archaeological findings of modern times, and date back over 2000 years. We headed to the Warrior's in the morning, and found that we had beaten the majority of tourists to the entrance, so the site was fairly quiet. The army that was buried 10ft underground stand guard around the Tomb of eecyvyvymmm, and are impressive in terms of their volume (over 2,000), size ( they are all 5ft tall), variety (each face is unique, plus there are horses, and different attire for each level of rank and craft) and finally their detail, for they are very life-like. A fantastic spectacle of what human beings can (could) achieve. Speaking of spectacles, the highlight of the trip was laughing after Paul had sneezed, yes sneezed his sunglasses into the excavation site of the Terracotta Army. Paul sneezed, his Ray Bans (fake of course, £1) fell from his head, and with his hands full of brochures and his camera, only succeeded in knocking his glasses behind the red railing. He then had to request the security guard to pick them up and hand them back, covered in 2000 year old historic dust!!

The remainder of the afternoon was spent in Xi'an wandering around, visiting the Muslim Quarter and relaxing in the park. We were then heading to Beijing on our 2nd night train in a row, but this time upgraded to the Soft Sleeper class. This was a luxury as we had a larger, softer and more private sleeping quarter. We were then in Beijing where we would end up staying for 5 nights, longer than any other place in our previous 5 months. Once we had settled into our accommodation, which appeared to be in the middle of nowhere, we met up with Mark and Jess at Tiananmen square where Mark gave us a brief tour (impressive in terms of size, scale and mass of concrete in use, but nothing too exciting) before escorting us to a restaurant to try Peking Duck! After a quick beer, we were quickly tucking into the lovely dinner that was presented to us, Duck with pancakes and all the trimmings, as well as many other dishes including beautifully sautéed potatoes and aubergine. The duck was amazingly cooked and in a less overpowering version of Ho Sin sauce than the British version, and the restaurant was so good that we twice returned.

In our next day we visited the Forbbiden City, an impressive walled city where Emperors once lived and ruled over their Kingdoms. Paul found the sheer size and scale, as well as the detail of the buildings to be very impressive, but as Lottie pointed out some of the value was lost as the Chinese government had clearly done many re-paint jobs bringing them back to their former glory, but losing that authenticity in the process. We also visited the Summer Palace where the Empress once waiting for her husband's call, which was left largely un-restored but still showed the wonderful details in which it was built. Here we were able to see the rooms decorated as they were when the Emporers ruled, showing the grandeur in which they lived. We watched performances of old music and wandered around the huge complex set around a vast lake, and thoroughly enjoyed the Unesco site. We also visited another World Heritage site called xxx with Mark, set in a lovely park but as per the Forbidden City, re-furbished and without that old-fashioned charm.

All this built up to our final stop in Beijing, the Great Wall of China. We made the effort to ensure that we chose a part of the wall that was most beautiful, un-restored and far away from the majority of tourists (Chinese tourist groups!). Jinshanling was our chosen destination, and a local bus and negotiated 'taxi' took us to the entrance to the wall. The entrance was in fact several hundred feet below the wall that loomed large in the distance, up a seemingly steep hill. From our start point we could see three turrets and the wall trailing between them, and this made for a magnificent view. Breathtaking was the ascent up towards the wall's opening, steep and hilly during in the heat of the day, we found this to be a very challenging climb. We celebrated reaching the top where we could confidently boast that we were on the Great Wall of China, and rewarded ourselves with a packed lunch and some refreshments looking out onto the spectacular views that presented themselves. Picture perfect, the wall trails up and over the hilly archipelago that lay ahead, twisting and turning, climbing and falling, divided up every 100-200 metres by large brick turrets. This section of the wall was showing signs of aging, crumbling and in parts incomplete, and this gave us a great sensation of authenticity. As we walked along the wall, we were able to experience how tricky it was to walk along, with its steep climbs and descents, along broken ad crumbling paths. It made us feel for the merchants that used to use the path as a route for transporting goods. The walk along is easier than the climb up to it, with the exception of a few tough segments, and along the way it continues to surprise with its every-changing scenary and viewpoints. Truly one of the most exhilarating sites in the world combing sheer wonder, natural beauty and its impressive history, we were both feeling on top of the world. (Techincally true, the wall is the only man made structure that can be seen from Space!)

A fantastic end to our time in mainland China, yet by now we were tired and ready for some relaxation. After a 23 hour train journey, we found ourselves in Hong Kong, with the intention of relieving all that physical and mental stress in the islands of the Phillipenes.