China Summary

Days travelled- 67 days (9 weeks 5 days)

Distance travelled- Approx. 10, 197km (6,373 miles)

Hours on transport- 190 hours (7.9 days)

Destinations- 26

Top 5

5 - Hong Kong. Although it was expensive and busy, spending the Chinese New Year in one of the worlds leading cities made it special and also, the fact that we could get around easily with the majority of people speaking English made the travel a lot more comfortable.

4 - Xian. This was a nice city especially when we found an awesome hostel to stay in but this is where we met our great friend, Hassan -the Turkish delight, which just made the stay a lot more interesting. The Terrocotta warriors blew us away with how much excavation is left, so this may be a place to visit in 10 years.

3 - Beijing and the Great Wall. Many people don't enjoy visiting the capitals of countries but this was different. We met some great people at our hostel, did a 10km trek on the amazing great wall, where we the only people on there and visited the Olympic stadium at night when it was all lit up.

2 - Mt Emei Shan. The first and the hardest mountain we climbed in China. It didn't look too promising with it being misty and icy for the majority of the climb but once we were above the clouds, the view was amazing. The sunrise the following day is one of the things that we will never forget for the rest of our lives-truly magical!

1 - Yangshuo. Usually when people hype a place up, it never lives up to it's expectations. Yangshuo surpassed them. The bamboo raft down the Li river with the surrounding kasts and Bob Marley playing in the background is another thing we will never forget. The climb up one of the kast is one thing I (Maj) will painfully never forget, although I will try.

Final advice

China is the biggest country and has the biggest population in the world but you only truly realise this when you're in the actual country. The first thing that smacked us in the face when we arrived in China, possibly because we just come from Indian and Nepal ,was that women are treated equally, with a woman approaching us asking if we needed a taxi. The second thing that smacked us in the face and nearly knocked us out was how no-one speaks English here. The only people who speak English are the staff at the hostels and that's broken English at best. The Lonely Planet was needed everywhere we went with the Chinese written under the English word, so whenever we booked tickets, we would always point to the Chinese script but when they replied in Chinese and that's when we were stuck. Another important thing we recommend is to purchase a mandarin phrase book, which Kate kindly gave us, and that turned out to be priceless.

The travel in China is spot on with comfortable trains and buses running everywhere in the country. However the travel is expensive compared to the other countries we have travelled, which was expected, but the extra cost is definately worth the smooth journeys. China holds the fastest train in the world with several other journeys with trains traveling 200km/hr + , so don't miss out on the opportunity even though it may cost a bit more. One of the sad things about China, which was out of our hands was the cost of admission into sightseeing attractions. They were very expensive but held the same price for locals, unlike India, however, with many people not speaking English, we posed to be students, using our driving license as our student cards, which generally gave us half price entry (Sheffield Shuffle).

The food in China is something worth exploring with different provinces offering local specialties. The only problem is that all the menu's are written in mandarin (apart from the ones in hostels), which is where you need to abuse the phrasebook and try and order what you want. With me hating egg and eating halal food, this proved to be difficult but as the trip went on, I got better at ordering at what I wanted. There are many Muslim restaurants in China, which are worth a visit, especially for the dapanji (big plate of chicken and potatoes-usually serves 4 people or Me and Danny). Suprisingly, Chinese people tend to have no manners (generally the older generation) when they are eating, using restaurants as their own backyard. They openly spit, snot and throw bones on the floor in a restaurant, which puts you off your dinner at times but it's something you have to get used to-you have been warned!

With China boasting about being one of the advancing countries in the world, it is shocking to learn the state of their toilets. They piss and shit on squat toilets with the door open, usually watching foreigners taking a piss. In more rural areas, they squat next to each other with no cubicles and shit on top of shit that has been there for days. Along with manners and the toilet business, this is what mainly lets China down as a nation but we have noticed that the younger generation are starting to learn English and are being educated, so this will probably change it the future. Come on China- sort it out!

Overall, the country is magnificent. There are many natural sights that can not be seen anywhere in the world and dozens of man made structures that have taken human engineering to a new level throughout the ages. Their attention to detail and beauty of their temples are out of this world. The sacred mountains that are dotted around the country are great for the outdoors kind, they all hold something truly special and unique, and took up some of our most challenging yet exciting days in China.