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I've just worked out that I've travelled over 16,200km in 3 and a half months, from leaving Bratislava to getting to Shanghai. No planes, only one boat which I didnt include, everything by bus and train. Incidental camels, horses, bikes, trucks, jeeps and taxis, but the train was the thing. And what a trip it was.

It was only two hours on the train to Shanghai. My last train trip in China. Decided to go budget third class, no assigned seat, just find yourself a corner amongst the crush of bodies and luggage. For once I didnt have the largest bag in the carriage!
Shanghai is big. Damm big. But clean and orderly and it didnt feel overwhelming at all. Managed to get a plane ticket for 5 days time so had plenty of time for hanging about. Met a cool bunch of people at the super friendly brand new Maggies Hostel and managed to successfully waste most mornings nursing a hangover. It's not cheap to go out in Shanghai but what can you do?

On my original list of things to do in China, the 3 day Yangtze/Three Gorges trip was definitely on there. Another of those unmissables. Or so I thought. Chatting to other travellers, reading the thorn tree it became increasingly clear that perhaps it was not going to be all that I was looking for. Stories of dire food, having to pay to get out on deck, huge expense to go on guided tours at each stop off point, with Chinese speaking guide only, and less than impressive scenery. Why pay to put myself through such things? I know they're going to be completely flooded soon, which made the decision not to go even harder, but I'd really had enough of being herded around in a group. It's unavoidable sometimes but here was a way out.
So instead I hopped on a 36 hour train journey east from Chengdu to Wuxi.

It's one of those things that you just have to do in China. along with the Great Wall and the Three Gorges, everyone has heard of them and everyone goes there.
They're not really very exciting but very interesting. In total they've found about 7000 lifesized statues, each with individual features and detailed clothes and hairdos indicating their rank and status. You only actually see a few hundred, the rest have been reburied as they dont have the technology to preserve the paint that provides the finishing touch to them all. still it's an impressive sight to see them ranged in battle formation. What's really interesting though is the weapons they once held (now kept in storage for unexplained reasons). When they uncovered the swords they were still bright and sharp enough to cut through a stack of 20 sheets of paper! They proved to be coated in a really really thin layer of chromium oxide, the technology for which wasnt patented until the 1930's by the Germans! But the Chinese had worked it out 2000 odd years ago!!! Amazing! They still think there are more soldiers to be found and they havent even touched the adjacent tomb of the emperor. Imagine what treasures could be found there!!! Ach it's a wonderful world.

A dutch guy I met in Beijing told me it was worth stopping off in a place called Pingyao on the way to Xi'an. So I did. and it was. An old town of traditional two storey courtyard houses, all enclosed in a thick, high city wall it was superbly picturesque. If you've seen "Raise the Red Lantern" a famous Chinese movie from about 10 years ago, that was filmed here. It was still dark at 5am when my train arrived. The hostel I was staying at arranged a free pick up from the station. I was expecting to see someone holding up a piece of paper with my name on it but instead a guy came up to me holding a mobile phone in his hand. without saying a word he scrolled through some messages and showed me one. All in Chinese except Nicole. Guess he was my guy!
Careening through the misty streets I felt like I'd gone back in time. Only a few rickshaws and heavily laden bicycles were out and about, daily business just starting. The low wooden houses and unlit red lanterns made it all seem so incredibly romantic.

An 8 hour kamikaze bus ride took us to the north of Sichuan Province to a town called Songpan. the scenery on the drive up was amazing. For most of the way we travelled alongside a river that can only be described as tumultuous. Swirling and churning along with such force that it's not surprising how deep the valley was. Every available piece of flat land was neatly planted with crops and veggie patches, sometimes even two or more types of plant squeezed in together, high and low. The villages were small and well built, neat houses of stone and wood. There is a large minority of Tibetan people in this region, as evidenced by the strings of prayer flags fluttering in the wind. Also we started to see more and more people in traditional dress, the women with bright red headscarves folded and sitting on top of their heads, huge chunky necklaces and belts.

There are 7 (or maybe 9) holy peaks in China. Perhaps a future mission to climb them all but for now I decided to settle for just one. Emei Shan, a mere 3077m high, with apparently amazing sunrises and sunsets, on the 2 days per year that it's clear enough to see them. We weren't there on one of those days but it was still breathtaking. Literally at that altitude!
We decided to be slightly lazy and take the bus to the top and walk down. We emptied most of the stuff from our packs but as we needed warm clothes, water and sleeping bags they were still quite heavy. After getting a cable car to the top we started the descent, a photo of white cloud to prove that we were there!!! The mountain is also famous for it's monkey, greedy little beggars that will attack anyone with evidence of food on them, as we saw happen to some stupid Chinese who were walking right next to us. We only get an abbreviated badly spelled warning sign and we knew better so I dont know what they were thinking.

Hmm seem to have lost an entry on Beijing.
Am currently in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province smack bang in the middle of China. Also known in the west as Szechuan, this is the home of spicy cooking and I've had many a belly full of yummy firey dishes.
City itself is all fairly modern and busy but nearby is a Giant Panda breeding and research centre. Took a trip out there early in the morning to see the cute little (not nearly as big as I was expecting) black and white guys rolling about, muching on their bamboo and basically just being way too adorable. There were also red pandas, fox/racoon like fellas, also very cool. I did learn that pandas are actually an incredibly old species, left over from the dinosaur age by what kind of miracle no one really knows.