Chengdu: 13-18 Sep 2013

Pete says:

Our first night in Chengdu was unexpectedly eventful.

We had intended to catch up on some sleep, but on arrival the reception people told us they were having a dumpling making party that evening, so we joined that. We got talking to Robert from Taiwan who lives in USA spent a lot of time telling me how evil Mao was and how

Curiouser and curiouser...

They heard Pete and Rach were in town

Strangely, we seemed to be very interesting to the Chinese. People would stare as they walked by, even turning back to look a bit more, take candid photos and even ask to photograph themselves with us (regularly)! We have even had one person stop, stand in front of us, and just look! Groups of people would shout 'hello' in the street, then find it to be the most hilarious thing ever when we said 'ni hao' back. We didn't mind, it just kind of puzzled and amused us. Later on in the trip, we were told that because China is not that touristy a lot of the locals have only ever seen Westerners on TV. At one point in the trip, Pete even had someone tell him "You look like a movie star, you look a million dollars!" haha! So, if you want to know how it feels to be a celebrity - pop to China!

"These roads are insane"...

...we thought, as we speeded in our taxi from Beijing airport to our hostel... weaving in and out, moving into gaps that weren't there, overtaking in a hands-in-front-of-the-eyes kind of way, horns beeping constantly... The last bit was best of all as we drove down a narrow pedestrianised street at about 40mph, just beeping the horn to let people know they should leap out of the way. We never worked out if the Chinese are the worst or the best drivers in the world because despite all of this, we saw little evidence of bumps and scrapes.

Xian: 9-12 Sep 2013

Pete at the Terracotta Warriors

Rach says:

Xian was more of a necessary stop-off for us on the 24 hour journey to Chengdu, rather than somewhere we particularly wanted to visit and we arrived feeling city-weary to a vast grey place of huge buildings in thick polluted bad weather. Apart from the vast city walls, it seemed not to have much to recommend it. We arrived at the hostel at 6am, exhausted from our 8 hour train journey in a hard seat, to be given the dirtiest stinking damp room in the

Pingyao: 6-8 Sep 2013

With Bo Li and Ang outside the walled town of Pingyao

Rach says:

We loved Pingyao! It's amazing. Like being in a kung-fu film according to Peter. I was wowed by the beautifully preserved ancient streets, courtyard houses with their maze-like layouts and the intricate details of the decorative tiles, wall carvings and elaborate Chinese script. The centre is ultra touristy and the streets are lined with restaurants, bars and shops (gorgeous bags and jewellery, along with some seriously gaudy tat, 'new antiques' and Mao

The Great Wall of China: Jinshanling to Simatai

Nicely paved and restored at the start of the walk...

Rach says:

An early highlight was our hike along the Great Wall. Such stunning scenery and just amazing to be standing on the Great Wall of China! We visited a less touristy and undeveloped part of the wall about 3 hours drive from Beijing and walked from Jinshanling to Simatai - 22 towers and approx 6 km. But it was not a walk in the park!!! The walk TO the wall was one of the worst bits as there was no breeze at all and my head started to feel weird so I had to stop

Beijing: 30 Aug - 6 Sep 2013

View over the Forbidden City from Jingshan Park

Rach says:

On 30th August 2013, 26 hours, 2 flights and a hair raising taxi ride after leaving our house, we arrived at our hostel, the Beijing Downtown Backpackers Accommodation.

On our first night, we explored the lively local 'hutongs' and found that it was real 'old Peking' with narrow alleyways to wander, bikes and rickshaws to dodge, and elderly people gathered outside playing cards and mahjong.

A bit of a catch up...

With the "Great Firewall of China" blocking our blog as if it was some sort of threat to the nation we were unable to post anything until we left the country, so we will have to do a massive summary of what we got up to in China now that we have reached Vietnam. (Vietnam also has internet censorship but it seems less restrictive.) Well it wouldn't be our blog unless it was just a little bit late in arriving!

Interestingly terms such as "Freedom", "Democracy", "Human Rights" and "Dictatorship" are all blocked by the Chinese government, as is all information on events like the Tiananmen Square Massacre, various politicians and dissidents and anything relating to Tibetan independence. We were also unable to access Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, news and blog websites and occasionally even Google...

Happy reading (we hope you've got some time on your hands!)

Love Pete & Rach x