From Hong Kong to Shanghai, a possibly even more impressive city than Hong Kong. This is the real deal for east meets west and is the poster child for China's future. You can't help but be a bit awestruck at the impressive city skyline from the Bund. Although they'd want you to make the comparison to New York and London, the city isn't there yet. But give them time and we're sure that it won't take long for Shanghai to at least look as impressive as these mega cities. But will it ever feel like walking in the history and energy of these cities? We're not sure.

Shanghai is, for now, another city and even though we were still suffering from the hangover of jet lag we tried to find some things to inspire us to hit the street and do some touring. We did walk the Bund, which was cool to see. And we walked through the streets by our hostel which gave us a real feel for where the city has come from. The streets weren't bad but they were more in line with what we expected from a third world Asian city: people bathing in the streets, cooking in the streets and a bit dirty and grimy. We were perpendicular to East Nanjing Rd which is the main shopping street in Shanghai and a completely different, clean and modern world to our side road. The city is as expensive as Hong Kong and we learnt that all of the main Chinese cities carry this trend. An interesting observation that we made is that for a city that is expected to be the next New York, listening out of our window after a late night out in Xintiandi area there was peaceful silence - far from the sound of a city that never sleeps.

We next headed a little up north to the city of Xian which is famous for its close proximity to one of the main tourist attractions in China, the terracotta soldiers. The soldiers are a fascinating sight and the more you look at them in the rows of thousands, and take in the detail and man hours that were put in to giving each one of them a unique face, the more you will appreciate and understand why China claims these to be one of the wonders of the world. For us though, as impressed as we were with the soldiers, we didn't get a wow factor from them…maybe its cause we've seen so many "wow" things recently that it's hard for them to all compete. The soldiers are definitely worth a visit though and they are always excavating and finding more interesting history at the site, so there is always something new to see there. Xian itself is also a great little city. We regret only spending two nights there and would have liked some more time to explore the ancient walled in city that is full of Asian architecture, temples and pagodas and gives some real insight into Chinese daily life and culture.

Our last move in China, after the ancient capital Xian, was to carry on up north to Beijing. Recently well known for hosting the 2008 Olympic Games but historically known for the epic Great Wall of China, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. But there is so much more that the city offers and it extends on the taste of the real China that we got in Xian. You get a feel for how the people rush around in their daily tasks; sell their goods from their bicycles; spit and walk; squat and smoke or chat to their friends while waiting for anything; stretch, exercise and practice tai chi, kung fu or play sports in parks; and cycle their bikes everywhere. We were, however, in town to get to the Great Wall and after finally settling on taking a group tour offered by our hostel for CNY 280 (as opposed to the CNY 200 it would've cost us to attempt the public bus and get there on our own) we headed out to the Mutianyu section of the wall as this is the spot that allows you to toboggan down from the wall to the parking lot (see the end of the blog for some more details on the other sections of the wall). The wall does possess the wow factor and it's an incredible sight to see. It's almost unfathomable to think that it continues for around 8'850 kms - insane. Also, be careful, cause they don't advertise that if you want to do more than just go up the wall to get a view and you actually want to walk some of the wall, it is a tough up, down and staired walk so be prepared for trekking. The Forbidden City is also an interesting stop and worth taking half a day to walk around but Tiananmen Square is just a square and if you aren't savvy on its history or why its famous then it probably won't mean too much to you - the tight security, though, will remind you that it is an important landmark. When you've finished taking in all the sights of the city and missioning around the streets then head out to the cool night spot areas of Hou Hai lake or San Li Tun bar street. Both of these areas are great and have plenty of bars and small dance clubs. But around the corner from San Li Tun are the real night clubs and you can go to Mix or Vics for a proper taste of China's swanky club culture. There are also a couple of expat bars between San Li Tun and the night clubs for catching a football game or other sports that you want to keep track of - there's even a Hooters.

China lived up to all its expectation and didn't fail to deliver an exciting and new experience to us. We took the safe intro to the massive country and stayed to the more developed cities but we learnt from other travelers that there are many more wonders and marvels to be explored in the country - reason to return.

Trek on…Brett and Darren.

P.S. If you go to China, please be careful of anyone who seems friendly and wants to talk to you to practice their English or show you how to get somewhere as they are just looking to take you for a ride and con you into something. So rather just ignore them or tell them you can't chat. Or just speak Afrikaans J

P.P.S. This is some insight that we gathered when choosing which part of the Great Wall to go to. The different main areas are:

Mutianyu: This is where we went and it offered both great views and a good hike. If you're going to attempt the hike up to the highest points of the wall then just make sure you give yourself enough time cause it takes a while to get there - and it's not an easy walk. There's a cable car up and down but what separates this part of the wall form the others is the toboggan that you can take down instead of the cable car. It was quite busy here but its supposedly less busy than other sections of the wall.

Badajing: This is the closest part of the wall to Beijing and generally the busiest as well. Tour groups generally come here.

Simatai to Jinshangling: Less busy than the other two sections, but usually visited for the 4 hour hike between the two points. Many tours will drop you off on one end and pick you up on the other. This part of the wall will probably also give the best feel for the original and unrestored wall.

There are also the Huanghua and Juyongguan sections which are the supposedly most unrestored part and recently opened (and also close to Beijing) parts of the wall respectively, but we didn't see any tours going to these sections.

Half a day is more than enough time at the wall unless you're planning on doing a proper hike in which case a full day is probably better.