China. Beautiful. Crazy. Its hard to sum up travelling in China this past month or so but these two words seem to have passed our lips most often. Nothing you read, see or imagine before coming here quite prepares you for this extraordinary country and yet in many ways the people and life here are not so different. It seems, the more you see of this country the less you can comprehend and the more complex the picture becomes. It is a country of so many contradictions and so many facets - of mindblowing beauty and jaw-dropping pollution, of incredible change and a way of life that hasn't changed for a thousand generations, of immense wealth and extreme poverty, where the people couldn't be any friendlier or at times more irritating, and where anything is possible but with so many rules. From the landscape to the food and yes even the toilets China is a land of extremes.

To help explain, within the past week we have had high tea in the highest building in China with a menu and luxury to match anything in London, got smashed on all you can drink martinis in the swankiest bar in Shanghai with businessmen and gold plated tourists, and been to the most expensive club we've ever been to where the toilets had waterfalls and I had a back massage while peeing - i wish i was joking! This in contrast to days earlier when we were strolling through rice fields, watching families work the land with an ox and carrying their produce in straw baskets, eating fantastic food for under a pound, drinking green tea with chinese grannies and s***ting in a concrete shed! You see in China life is like a bowl of dumplings.You never quite know what you're gonnna get but f*** me its fun finding out!

From Beijing we headed south west to a beautiful town called Pingyao surrounded by ming dynasty walls and watchtowers and full of old cobbled streets lit up at night with red lanterns. The first night we managed to find a bar with a room all to ourselves with cool chinese decor, a view of the hustle and bustle below and a host who couldn't be more excited to see us!  So excited that he dropped our wine! Two bottles later it all got a bit silly - see photos! Already life outside Beijing was looking good.

Next stop Xian and the famed teracotta warriors. At this point I should mention that the day we left Beijing was also the start of a week long national holiday in China. Little did we know that during this week the Chinese tourist industry kicks into overdrive - and believe me its already beyond belief huuuuuge! When I say the train stations were busy I mean they were totally mental! Think London Paddington, Christmas Eve, times it by 100 and you might be close. Naturally Xian is one of the top tourist destinations in the country and the chinese are understandably proud of their heritage here. So trust me when I say that you cannot comprehend the size of the bus queue we faced the next morning to go out and visit the warriors!  It didn't ruin our appreciation of this fabulous place but we do have some great photos of the teracotta warriors alongside the army of chinese tourists in orange and red caps marching in unison behind their tour group leaders chinese flag. Beautiful. Crazy!

Xian itself was no less hectic. We thought Xian was just a small town with some top historical sights. Little did we know that it was home to some 6 million chinese people and god knows how many visitors that week. The city centre was heaving with traffic, the shopping centre brimming with more shoppers and shop assistants than certainly we've ever seen and all in all Amanda and I were getting dizzy with people! Most fun though was the Muslim quarter where the street markets were electric and the food to die for. We tried lots, including the local hot pot - sizzling pots of seriously spicy chilli oil and water that you cook delicious meats and vegetables in at your table. Ouch! After Xian we headed to Chengdu mainly to see pandas and we weren't disappointed. Chengdu is a much more relaxed kinda town. Still about 8 million people mind! but everyone just seems more laid back and there seems to be more space. One of our favourite days so far was here actually sat in the tea house in the grounds of the Wenshu buddhist temple, playing cards, watching the grannies gossip and the old boys gamble. Finished up with a fab vegetarian meal with the monks who seemed as intrigued by us as we were by them! After Chengdu we headed to the hills and the tibetan influenced north Sichuan. Here we spent three days at the beautiful Jiuzhaigou nature reserve where the scenery was so perfect it was almost unreal.  Lush forests, dream like waterfalls and turquoise lakes all amidst snow capped mountains. 

Unfortunately the Chinese do have a way of overmanaging their national heritage sites. At Jiuzhaigou the walkways are beautifully crafted, the roads carry smart looking city tourists up the mountainside in electric buses (only the rich can afford the entry fee - that's communism for you!) and everything is just so well ordered! We found it a bit weird that you couldn't leave the path, every 100 metres there seemed to be a park official and trying to find a lone spot in thousands of acres of beautiful countryside was nigh on impossible! When we finally did find a spot, we were soon joined by a young chinese couple keen to practice their English and take our photo!!. It has to be said we have met so many fantastic chinese people and so many sweet people who want to know all about you and help you, but there are some days when you want some space that it does get a little intense!

From the mountains we headed back to Chengdu and then to a little town called Xiantan. Here we had a date with a fantastic Aussie couple we had met on the train from Xian to Chengdu. Chris and Michelle from Melbourne are teaching in a town you can only describe as out in the sticks. Miles from the nearest Maccy D's! and surrounded by rice fields, Xiantan is a one road town really that is probably as close to the real rural China we are going to get. The markets, food and people were really cool and i was really chuffed to have the opportunity to join Michelle in the classroom. Inspiring stuff, though the guys have their work cut out with 6000 kids at school from 6am til 10pm, 7 days a week and class sizes of 80 plus. Great experience though and totally fascinating for Amanda and I to get off the lonely planet trail.    From Xiantan we were back on the road - or more accurately river - as we headed towards Shanghai via the Yangtze and spectacular three gorges. Cue loads of Chinese tourists again! but such a beautiful trip and apparently all to disappear when they finish the major three gorges dam project. Perhaps most interesting and unexpected of the whole tour was a trip to see the three gorges dam where we were treated to the most extraordinary dance and light show full of spectacular propaganda about how the dam was going to bring paradise on earth and even the fairies and gods would want to live in China after it was built! Somewhat glossing over the environmental impact and fact it will displace 2 million people! They have a phrase though which was something like if the old doesn't go the new doesn't come. It seems progress comes at a price. 

On to Shanghai and by far the most westernised part of China we've seen. The modern architecture, city lights, glitz and glamour are all good fun but for us not that much different from home really. Not that we're averse to a bit of glitz and glamour! The funniest night so far has to be the all you can drink martinis (for about 8 pounds) on the 40th floor of the JW Mariott hotel. Fantastic views, fantastic martinis. Unfortunately Amanda and I made the classic mistake of ordering several too many and ended up a bit messy on the streets of Shanghai. Also unfortunate was that we managed to get our camera stolen in the "Leicester Square" of Shanghai - how long have we lived in London! Mind you the police station was hilarious where they seemed more interested in the fact that we were smoking the same cigarettes as Chairman Mao! Bless them they gave us the crime report though so we can claim on insurance. Next day we bought a fancier camera and hit the martini bar again for those all important snaps we had lost the night before - well and a few more martinis! Any excuse!From Shanghai we also made a couple of day trips. One to a beautiful little water village called Xitang with beautiuful canals, alleyways and fascinating boat people. And one to see my all time hero & favourite DJ Sasha at a club in Hangzhou!!!! This will probably be lost on most but some will know that I've been into this guy since I was about sixteen and its been a dream to see this guy DJ abroad. I opened my emails in the morning and there it was Sasha playing an hour down the road from Shanghai. The venue was amazing, crazy dancers, fire jugglers and loopy chinese ravers. The 20 armed police watching from the side of the dancefloor were a little unexpected as was 90 quid for a bottle of whisky!! but the music was banging and the views of the west lake in Hangzhou next morning were unforgettable. Crazily Beautiful. Beautifully Crazy.

...Next we're fly to Yunnan province to explore south west and south china, then to an island, Hainan, off the south coast and finally to Hong Kong and Macau....