China's most remarkable sight. Expectations are high for The Great Wall but it never fails to impress and exceed all expectations. It cannot be appreciated until you've seen it. Even without the wall the scenery is amazing because you're up so high in the mountains. It's very hard work walking the wall, at high altitudes, with extremely steep steps and big big drops! Not for the faint hearted! I've visited the wall on numerous occasions and at...

Whilst in Tianjin, one of our classmates got married to his lovely long term Chinese girlfriend. We all got the train down to Changsha for the ceremony. The reception was at her parents' house right in the countryside. We all had a great time socialising and playing mahjong.

I'd been writing to Guo Shenglan for almost 10 years and spring festival was the perfect opportunity to eventually meet her. She lives in the middle of nowhere in the Hunan countryside, so an area I'd never get the opportunity to visit otherwise. Not even mentioned in The Lonely Planet! Was certainly an experience and my Chinese probably improved more in those few days than at any other time. Foreigners always attract a lot of attention in China but there...

Yunnan province is simply beautiful. We flew there from Tianjin with special half price student tickets in the New year holidays. The capital, Kunming is bright and refreshing. We'd almost forgotten what fresh air and greenness was like after so long in Tianjin! The Chinese call it the city of flowers. It certainly possesses a cleanliness and sparkle that no other Chinese city I've visited has. The weather is gorgeous. Blue skies all day and in this part ...