We left Emeishan early on Friday to board our public bus to Chongqing. Another great experience of Chinese driving skills..! We arrived early afternoon but fortunately our boat was ready so after some food we were able to board around 4pm. I had heard horror stories about this part of the trip but apparently due to complaints they have recently upgraded the boat used on this tour and I was pleasantly surprised. Basically it was a cruise liner. We sorted cabins an...

We arrived into Chengdu on the flight and collected our luggage. Unfortunately, someone else from the plane had transported some shellfish which had then leaked onto the other luggage including some people on our group so we were greeted with lovely fishy smelling bags! We got our transfer to the hotel from the airport and dumped our bags and headed out for lunch. After food we visited a Taoist temple near the hotel which has a bronze statue of a ram in it. App...

We left beijing on Wednesday on an overnight train to Shanghai. The train itself was similar to those in Vietnam but we didn't have separate cabins, there was segregation but no doors. There were also 6 bunks rather than 4. We entertained ourselves in what seems to be pretty standard for me now on trains, a bottle of wine and then off to bed. On this train we also had an enforced curfew at 10pm when the lights were turned off so we really had to be quiet after th...

So, apart from the smoking and spitting I have really enjoyed my first few days in China. On Friday on the way back from the wall to Beijing we stopped off at a jade factory where we got to see them carving and polishing pieces of jade. I hadn't realised that there were different types and colours of jade and that emerald is the highest quality of the mineral. It was fascinating to see the pieces of art. We arrived into Beijing just in time to drop some of the ...

I did it!! Trek complete with no injuries thank goodness. If you would still like to sponsor me then please visit my just giving page. http://www.justgiving.com/Sarah-Smith79 Well China didn't exactly give me the best welcome. Maybe that is a bit unfair but the first couple of hours were pretty stressful. I arrived into Beijing airport having travelled via Korea with two decent flights. I arrived on time and got through to arrivals in record time. My instructi...