The Great Wall of China Despite popular belief the Great Wall is actually a collection of smaller walls. Multiple Dynasty and 208 years later the wall was constructed at the cost of 2-3million lives. Freaking People! My fairytale notions of a ruined wall in the middle of nowhere were obliterated within seconds as we walk off the bus to be greeted by most of China all climbing the wall, a holiday pilgrimage for the masses. AND this be no ruined wall, but a perfe...

Muslim Quarter A vast hive of activity like work bees swarming around the queen. This is where the action lies in Xi,an. We visited the most unusual mosque I gave ever seen rather strange. Looked like a classic Taoist temple not a minaret in site. Then to my shock the called to prayer normally given from a minaret was a given from a pagoda! Surrounding the quarter was a very busy market where the kids instantly dashed into to continue on their quest to spe...

More religion today Woo Hoo. Started at Wild Goose Pagoda. Why the cool name I hear you ask? Well ... The Taoist zealots were sitting needing meat as they hadn't made it to local tesco in 1500AD. Like all good men, they desired a good feed and needed meat! So they prayed to the Gods and hey presto a goose fell from the sky at their feed. Next thing you know roast goose dinners all round, and a new temple named after a wild goose feast. So why build the Pagoda I...

'What happens if they come alive and kill us all Mr Hughes?' This was the first question of the day from one of my students upon seeing thousands of Terracotta warriors. Part of me could see what he meant. These lifelike statues where amazing, different faces on each life sized head. That and the fact there were over 6000 of them! The afternoon was spent cycling round the city walls of Xi'an, 90 mins on a bicycle (now that's a sore ass!) Yuwen informed me it...

1st April 2013-Shanghai What is it that makes religion so fascinating? A group of fanatics devoting their lives to the unbelievable, unlikely and unheard off. It never ceases to amaze me the practices, traditions and superstitions that people will carry out in the name of a higher power and not a signal person will bar an eyelid. "The tiny tornado of swirling ash swept through the temple court depositing its heavy burden of dust, smoke and paper over the fee...