As Penny's stomach slowly recovers from a bout of 'Beijing Belly', the tour of China continues.... At time of writing we are two overnight train journeys away from Beijing's choking smog and mean staring eyeballs. Green trees line the streets and parks (yes, parks!) of Chengdu, the charming capital of Sichuan. We can actually breathe out here. Penny's opinion of China improved, however, long before arriving in Chengdu. A day trip from Xi'an dumped us at the base of HuaShan, a 7km vertically hike-able mountain. Despite super-slow progress, (Pen still didn't trust food at that time), we reached the West Peak minutes before sunset, marveled at the magical world of razorback peaks existing above the clouds, then crashed in an overpriced, mouldy dungeon for the night. At 4am we arose to a star-speckled, full-moon darkness and
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