As one friend said - this is a big one to tick off -? and it certainly is big at over 6,000km long. It's also very steep in parts and our thighs were aching for about two days afterwards having done a two hour walk around one small section in Badalang. We'd chosen precisely the wrong week to come here unfortunately as it was a Chinese national holiday, and with millions descending on this and many other main attractions, the experience was often less pleasant than it should or could've been, but even so, we saw many things we wanted to in a short space of time. The wall was divided into sections by lookout towers which provided beautiful views of the surrounding hills so in every direction you could lose the wall through a valley in the distance.

Exploring Beijing itself, we visited historical Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City which left our feet black and throats sore from the smog. The pictures of the Chairman Mao and President still dominate the Square as you emerge from the subway, providing an insight into the strict communist society the country is under the influence of. The Forbidden City was the more vast and impressive series of structures all standing in their original form from centuries ago. The contrast of these reminders of ancient civilisations are in stark contrast to the younger, developing China, in which everyone has a mobile phone with every accessory possible, and huge gadget-laden shopping malls seem to dominate daily life.

Chris and I tried to experience a little of both worlds, and in both found that the build up to the 2008 Olympics is being taken very seriously as a way of presenting China to the world, and no doubt increasing it's popularity. Although, we definitely got the sense that foreign tourists were not needed here, and indeed in places perhaps not even welcome! Generally the people are friendly, but definitely of a different breed. Spitting has been banned on the streets, but we certainly didn't see any evidence of that being enforced! Most people in the cities can speak some English, but many people come to work here from small villages outside and cannot. Taxi drivers need everything written in Chinese, so the baffling array of symbols for various places need to be scribed by the hotel staff before you want to go anywhere! The language barrier makes it a bit tricky to get to know any locals, but those we did manage to speak to seemed very gentle and kind once you'd broken through the hard exterior. We attempted to look at train ticket options to explore a little further from Beijing independently, but nothing except 'entrance' and 'exit' was in English on the outside of the station, and inside the 'information desk' had nobody who spoke English. The dizzying array of Chinese symbols presumably depicting various destinations left us with no hope of finding our train even if we somehow managed to buy the right ticket, so in the end we gave up on that idea!

It took about two days, but we finally managed to get some tickets for a journey South to Chongqing, and a 3 night cruise on the Yangtze river. The city was pretty grim and we got a feeling that not many tourists actually come here despite it being the base for the majority of cruise liners leaving every day. We were relieved to get on board and checked into our surprisingly spacious cabin with private balcony and bathroom. The ship was also big with shops, massage parlours, several bars and a restaurant. There were, as with all attractions we came to visit, more than the fair share of passengers to squeeze in! We set sail late that evening for the slow meander down river towards Yichang, site of the three gorges dam project.

Each morning we had a very amusing hi-de-hi style wake up call over the loudspeaker which we quickly learnt to turn down enough so as not to actually wake us up! Soon we were travelling through the first of the three gorges, and suddenly the river banks turned into huge cliffs either side of us, dwarfing the huge ships sailing through. We docked at a different place each day and went ashore for some interesting excursions. On the third day we hopped onto another boat to take us to a tributary river where traditional dhoni boats pulled by boat trekkers took us up stream at great effort from the strong, thin men, and then we sailed back down the rapids and back to shore. Along the way we had seen the hanging coffins, 'suspended' in the cliff faces either side of the river for hundreds of years. Amazingly, no-one can work out to this day quite how people put them there. Some of these have already disappeared into the rising waters as the dam project starts to take effect. We saw the site of a whole island that used to contain a village, but since the water has risen 80 metres and continues to rise further, some of the estimated 1.3 million people who are being displaced in total have had to say goodbye to their homes here.

We reached our final destination of the three gorges dam project to see how and why all this has been happening. In 2009 the dam will offically open fully and provide hydro electricity to 4 major cities in the North, South, East and West of China. Thousands of workers are flat out to meet the completion date, often working for appittance and away from home for months at a time. Their work however, is impressive, even if you don't find huge blocks of concrete cutting through the lush green landscape particularly appealing!

We passed through several ship locks on our last night travelling here, which take an hour each as the water slowly passes through. There is still another 20 metre rise in water level expected at the completion of the dam, so it is strange sailing past some things you will no longer be able to see in the future.

We had the capitains farewell dinner on the last night (one night after the Captain's welcome dinner!) then disembarked after seeing the dam and decided to spend a day in the town of Yichang to see what a little more of the real China had to offer. This was a pleasant town with a park running along the river front, and after a brief look at a budget hotel with 'o'clock rooms' and AIDS posters on the walls, we booked ourselves into a more upmarket international hotel (where it was still difficult to be understood asking for a room rate!), which for 25 pounds was pretty luxurious, and overlooked the park. We went for a run through it getting some funny looks, but it was nice to see the locals enjoying relaxing in the sun in various ways; playing, reading, doing tai chi, playing instruments, and fishing.

In the evening we wondered through the streets and past the many Chinese restaurants offering buffets we felt we had done justice to on the cruise ship, and went for a pizza! The next day we did a little shopping, killing time before heading to the airport. I managed to find several basketball shops but refrained from buying lots of stuff despite the bargain prices.

Back in Beijing, we experienced a few more attractions, having decided against trying to be more adventurous off our own backs (you can see why people do go on tours here!). Yes, we did see a panda, and yes, they're pretty cute, but no, I would not recommend going to Beijing zoo. We stayed just about held on there as long as it took to get a glimpse but then felt awful for doing so - not a nice place to be, especially for the poor animals.

We picked up a few bargains at the market here and sent them home. Chris had a good time haggling with the sales ladies, and we learnt the Chinese way of counting with fingers which helped, but when you end up negotiating over a few pence, you start to feel guilty! Found an excellent Chinese fast food place, and hung out with the 'kids' there for a few tasty meals, but then had had our fill of Chinese food and shopping malls and were ready to leave the country. In small doses, this is a great country to experience, although I'm not sure they're remotely ready for the barrage of American tourists who may visit for the Olympics next year!