With our whirlwind tour of China coming to a close, the last city we flew into was one of the biggest and most modern – Shanghai. From the very modern airport to the massive skyscrapers, the city reminded me a lot of what I remember Hong Kong was like, except that we happened to have a lot more space.

It felt like we were only here for about a day and a half, and part of which we had almost a six hour dining experience at the very exclusive Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet that included not only a fantastic food but a completely immersive sensory experience. I don’t have the time to write about it now but I will be sure to blog about it on the other blog.

Instead, we had a few trips around the different parts of Shanghai including the tallest building that also happens to double for a bottle-opener look-a-like. The Shanghai World Financial Centre sits amid a number of other sky-reaching buildings although is definitely the most striking (and probably most well designed for merchandising).

We got an absolutely gorgeous view of the rest of the city and its landscape including the Shanghai TV tower and the surrounding area. Apparently we really struck it lucky with the weather because we have very clear skies and reasonably temperate conditions.

Our touring included a local family visit, a trip to the City Museum and the very well kept, albeit touristy Yuen’s Gardens and surrounding markets conveniently very close to our hotel.

Our final evening finished off with an impressive show of Chinese acrobatics that ended with a finale involving eight or nine motorbikes loaded up inside a steel cage on stage. You can tell from the world brands that the city is a lot more developed and has a lot more of the appetite for Western style but who knows how long that will last for.

Our next destination, Guilin, is what you think of when you think of the natural landscapes of China. Everything from the fisherman pushing their small rafts along a picturesque river surrounded by glorious mountains such as below.

Or to the green rice-paddies up in the mountain that change shades with the seasons.

We also visited our first set of “Chinese minority” groups.

Apparently only 10% of the Chinese population are considered minority groups, who the government give special rights to (such as having more than one child) but must have certain restrictions at the same time such as wearing their traditional clothing, and trying to keep to their way of life as much as possible. The group we visited, on the way up to the rice-paddies, were the Yao people, most well known for their women folk who only ever have a hair cut once in their life (when they are 16), but otherwise grown it out.

They wrap their hair around their head in different ways depending on whether or not they are married, or have kids and our tour guide explained how they take care of their – washing it with the fermented wash-off from the rice before cooking. Apparently it cleanses the hair and keeps it pretty much jet black and doesn’t smell so much. We entered the village and despite being drawn into a show where we were pretty much forced to buy some souvenirs as a “wedding gift” in a fake ceremony, seemed like a very peaceful life.

We walked up a very gently sloped mountain to get the top of some glorious country-side dotted with rice paddies on every corner. It also seemed to be a popular place for people to stay with many little small inns and hotels on the way up and popular with people who want to hike around the country-side.

On the way up, you can buy lots of products such as home-made chilli sauce, or some of the “Buddha Tea” that I think is apparently mangosteen tea, a fruity, sweet tea that definitely needs no sugar.

The next day after the rice-paddies, we took a river cruise. This river is very well known for its amazing scenery and the four hour tour takes you down amazingly sculpted mountains and beautiful landscaped dotted with cattle, fisherman and wildlife. We even stopped at a point that is so famous is sits on the 20 yuan note, although the photo doesn’t really do it justice.

On our final day in Guilin, we visited Elephant Island which is known for the mountains that look like elephant structures (or more like a wolly mammoth in this case to me).

And we popped into the local caves dotted with stalactites and stalagmites that a local farmer apparently stumbled upon when digging a hole. Although lighting has been fitted, apparently all of the structures are fitted except for the comfortable walking path tat our tour guide lead us through.

I’ve only been on caves like this once in my life, but the structures in this one were truly amazing.

Even more magnificent when reflected against an internally formed pool such as in the picture below:

Guilin was definitely a bit on the smaller-side to the cities in China. Still massive, though not as modern but very nice.

After leaving the historical, ancient and traditional cities of Beijing and Xian, we flew onto Chengdu, the most modern capital of the west. The city left a very good impression with me. The roads looked very well organised, the metro system very modern and seemed a little less chaotic than the other two cities we’d just been in. Chengdu also happens to be the capital of the Sichuan province – an area well known for spicy food like Ma Po Tofu and the like. My parents didn’t like the food as much as I did, but still enjoyed.

We had a day tour of Emeishan or Mount Emei, where we took a cable car up to the top before descending the many steps on the way down. Little other alternatives create business opportunities for locals who offer to carry you down in bamboo chairs although you need to definitely bargain your way. Instead, we just took our time with my mum being the most delicate and needing the most support.

We saw plenty of wildlife including many types of caterpillars, butterflies and warning signs of monkeys (though none sighted). This mountain had some really beautiful scenery.

Such as this lake with accompanying place for a flame.

We took a break in the mountain for lunch, but we saw how people brought construction materials down and up with the help of horses carrying bricks on either side of their back. What was really impressive was the way that the animals were able to navigate the small narrow staircases by themselves, weaving in a zig zag pattern from from the bottom back to the top without any assistance.

The next day in Chengdu, we took a trip out to see the Leshan Giant Buddha. It’s an impressive buddha carved into the side of the cliffs with two vantage points – by boat where you get shipped in front of the strong tides of the city river, or by walking down the cliff where you get to enjoy the sights yourself. We lined up amongst all the Chinese people (who we found extremely pushy and wouldn’t hesitate to fill any open gap) and it took probably a good hour to get to the bottom of the buddha after waiting for all the people to go through.

We returned to Chengdu to spend some free time walking around. Our final day in Chengdu before flying out involved heading out to the Panda Base, home to the breeding and safe grounds for the Giant and Red Pandas.

I’m glad we started early, with the idea of seeing lots of the pandas on opening without the crowds. We walked around the various pens where the pandas were either eating or sleeping as well as looking very human like in the process.

Although all the pandas were amazing to see in real life, the red pandas looked really interesting for me because they are appear closer to racoons than they do a real panda. They never really seemed to stop moving unless they were chomping on bamboo, and seemed a lot more active than the giant pandas who would pretty much stay in one spot for a good amount of time.

My sister and I opted to pay an extra fee to get closer to panda, much in the same way that one would pay to hold a koala in Australia. It buys you a a very unattractive outfit to protect the panda (and you!) from transmitting any diseases where you need to don plastic gloves, plastic boots over your shoes and then a blue hospital gown before lining up behind a small curtain.

They have about eight to ten people lining up at any time, and you end up spending about two to three minutes seated next to panda where you get to hug it. The one we had was about a year old, and seemed pretty docile and happy chomping away on fresh bamboo. They don’t smell like apparently koalas do, and their fur, though very thick was surprisingly coarse compared to what you might expect.

I think I could spend just a day hanging around the panda enclosure and just watch them do whatever they do. I do wonder if they would be so popular if they weren’t as cute as they were. But they are. And I guess that’s enough.

Our next stop after the traditional Beijing is to head towards a place that had even discovered relics, but more specifically the Terracotta warriors, Xian.

One of the big central sights to see in Xian is the Big Goose Pagoda (above), where you get a magnificent view of the city and all surroundings including the parklands and view like below.

Xian also has a significantly large Muslin population and apparently the Muslin quarter has some of the best street food to snack on. Unfortunately we were warned by our tour guide to stay away because there has been a lot of rebelling recently against anyone that might be mistaken for American or Japanese and that it was best to stay to other quarters.

For example the city wall and gates (above) were closed down even though we were supposed to visit just because even Japanese branded cars were known to targets for some of the people rebelling. Apparently the uproar is centred around the controversial ownership of the Senkaku Islands and the support the Americans are apparently having for the Japanese against the Chinese in this situation. Anyway a situation best avoided.

The terracotta warriors were definitely a sight to behold. The grounds are fairly new because the the first of the Terracotta Army was only discovered in the mid 1970s and the area around them had been mainly farming land. Around it has now sprouted a very vast tourist-friendly grounds that gives you a good guide to the discovery and the constant unearthing of new statues but little appreciation for the area other than that. It’s still impressive to visit and was worth the journey out there.