I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous about our China trip. Huge crowds, pollution and the language barrier all worried me a little. But if you’re looking for stacks of history and some spectacular scenery, China is a winner. It’s also not as difficult to travel around by train as we expected, although we booked our tickets through an agency who delivered them to our first hotel which saved a lot of hassle/queuing.
I’ll be sharing China posts and tips soon but in the meantime here are ten of my favourite photos from our China trip. We visited Hainan island in the south, Xi’an, Chengdu, Guilin and the Great Wall near Beijing.
Coconuts for sale on tropical Hainan island. I love the colours in this photo.
The incredible Terracotta Warriors near Xi’an. So much detail and variety.
Xi’an was a great surprise, I really liked the atmosphere of this mega-city which was surprisingly unpolluted when we got there (Xi’an is one of the most polluted cities in China but we had two perfect blue sky days). xx Snack Street in the Muslim Quarter is a street food lover’s paradise – everything from the standard meat or insects on a stick to fresh jackfruit and pomegranate, hand-thrown noodles and candied nuts.
Sichuan province is closest to Tibet and while in Chengdu we stayed in the Tibet hotel, which was decorated with beautiful Tibetan wall hangings, furnishings and these three cartoon yaks.
Visiting the Chengdu Panda Research Centre to see dozens of cute giant pandas and red pandas.
The stunning karst mountains of the Li River valley near Guilin. Amazing place to visit. Look out for a post on the best way to see the landscape by road, bike and river raft soon.
In a village near Guilin we stopped to visit a family who have been creating traditional Chinese fans for many years. This is one of the early stages when the paper is put outside to dry.
Wheat noodles drying in the sun
The eye-catching Olympic Swimming Pool complex in Beijing.
If you have any questions about travel in China, leave me a comment and I’ll do my best to help!