I took a seven hour train ride to Zhenzhou, arriving late, and then a three and a half hour bus-ride to the town of Luoyang. The next day I was up early to get the public bus out to the Longmen grottoes. They obviously didn't get too many foreign tourists on the bus, as pretty much everyone stared at me for the 50 minute journey... It was worth it though, as the Longmen carvings were brought to us by the same folks that gave us the Yungang caves, after they'd moved their capital from Datong to Luoyang. The carvings were incredible and much more liufe-like than anything I'd seen in China thus far, but many of them had been damaged by either fire, water or the Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution. I spent most of ... read more

I made it! I crossed a continent! The world's largest continent lays behind me, but it takes a little while to sink in. Three and a half months of pretty constant movement, through strange lands and cultures. I know I'll need to stop for a while at some point and filter through all the things that I've learned and experienced so far, but my mind is saying, "What's next?"... read more

I pay my second visit to the Great Wall, this time near the far Eastern end, and to the more modern parts, built of stone during the Ming dynasty. The plan is to do a 10km hike along a stretch of it (thus accounting for 0.1% of it's original length). I set off at a brisk pace, as we're being followed by women with big bags trying to seel us tourist tat. It's quite a hot and humid day and the wall is incredibly steep in places, but these women do this professionally. Although I manage to get my particualr follower (a Mongolian girl by the name of Twee) out of breath and red-in-the-face, she keeps up. I sing Pink Floyd songs for most of the two hour walk, enjoying the amazing scenery and noting that ... read more

I travel to Datong, passing through the huge industrial areas of Northern CHina. This is where much of the country's coal comes from and hence where many of the massive power-stations are. They're a blight on the landscape but, in such a growing, power-hungry country, they've got to put them somewhere. Just West of Datong are the Yungang caves, a huge site of over 51,000 Buddhist carvings in a sand-stone cliff-face. Work began here in 453AD, when Datong was the province's capital, and much of the big stuff has survived well. From here I head 40 miles South-East of Datong to see Xuankong Si - the Hanging Temple. You may have seen pictures of this amazing place, clinging precariously to the side of a canyon wall. The wooden buildings, supported by frighteningly thin wooden poles are ... read more

On to Xi'an, which served as China's capital to 11 dynasties over a period of 4,000 years. Best know for the Terracotta warriors, it's position at the very Eastern end of the Silk Road turned it into a busy metropolis and merchant town. During my stay I visit the magnificent Drum and Bell towers, (present in all of the major, ancient Chinese cities) and watch performances on both instruments, cycle around the top of the city walls - a 14km round trip, at 9m high, giving great views of the city - and of course, visit the Terracotta Army. Not discovered until 1974 when some peasants digging a well came across pieces of broken clay ottery, the site is actually located 28km outside of Xi'an. It was believed to be the burial mound of emporer Qin ... read more