Crossing China from north to south in 10 photos

Travelling through China was quite the experience: a fascinating culture, strange people, delicious food, enormous crowds, stunning sights. In this blog post, I’ll take you along my travel itinerary through China from north to south, showing you the places I have visited in exactly 10 photos.

1. Getting to know the Chinese tourist crowds at the Yungang grottoes

The bus ride from Beijing to Datong was supposed to take 4 hours, but traffic jams extended it to 6. The city of Datong itself was not what made this trip worthwhile. But the Yungang grottoes outside the city center were definitely one of my China highlights. Big sized Buddha statues had been carved out of the rocks as early as the 5th century, leaving me in awe staring at this impressive Unesco World Heritage.

Of course, I was not alone, because this is China. I was going to have to get used to the company of loads of Chinese tourists, who love posing with a V-sign while taking pictures or selfies. I soon learned that they also love yelling – at each other, or seemingly aimlessly. And whenever the need shows up, they complete the sonoric experience with a well-resounding “rrrhhh!” before spitting all of their excessive mucus on the ground. Welcome to China!

2. Wandering the streets of cute Pingyao

Definitely a very touristic spot, the ancient walled town of Pingyao is still a truly charming place to get lost in. Behind the souvenir shops and street vendors, you find magnificent old buildings with ravishing inner courtyards. I visited some temples and a beautiful old bank.

On my second evening, I hit the town with an American and an Australian whom I met at the hostel (actually, I had already met the American in my hostel back in Ulan Bator…! Weeks later, he randomly walks into my dorm in Pingyao. It’s a small world when you travel.). After dinner, we tried to find a nice bar to have some drinks at, but this turned out to be pretty hard to find. Sure, there were bars, but every time we entered one, we were welcomed by beaming lights and a strange one-man karaoke show, applauded by moderately enthusiastic locals who were clapping with a set of little plastic hands. On top of that, the drinks were outrageously expensive. We ended up having cheap beers in a small local restaurant where some elder Chinese were playing cards.

3. An extended stay in Xi’An

I learned a valuable lesson while travelling alone: even if you are confident and happy enough to just enjoy your own company, whenever you have the opportunity to spend time with people you really like, you should absolutely take it. This was the case for me in Xi’An, where I decided to stay a day longer and not visit Hua Shan, because I was enjoying my Belgian friends’ company so much. They were travelling China and scheduled to visit Xi’An around the same time as I did. We had a blast cycling the city walls on tandems and visiting the Terracotta Army together. We topped it off by having an amazing dinner exactly on the Belgian national holiday, with a Belgian-only crowd (I had invited a Belgian guy whom I met in Beijing and was also in Xi’An at that moment). No regrets about my extra day!

All of this doesn’t quite explain the photo above though, which shows my favourite area in Xi’An: the Muslim Quarter. I ended up in those vibrant streets every night of my stay. Street food everywhere!

4. Foodie tour in Chengdu

You might have guessed it: I am absolutely crazy about Chinese food. That is obviously the main reason why I signed up for the foodie tour in Chengdu. Along with a Swiss guy, I was introduced to the local food scene by Chinese guide Winter (this was his remarkable English name, I forgot his Chinese one). He took us to the back alleys where the local market vendors were selling their products and where we could try some locally made spring rolls (photo above). It wouldn’t be China if we weren’t made to try some weird stuff, like cow stomach or rabbit heads. I didn’t get much further than eating the cheeks of those… that dead rabbit’s head was definitely staring at me! Another weird sight was the living fish at the market, trying to escape the big bag where it just had been thrown into.

The tour was supposed to end with a hotpot dinner, but while we were trying to finish another snack on the street, we fell into despair at the thought of having a complete meal after all of the food we just had. “Can’t we have the hotpot tomorrow?” I asked. Winter took the suggestion seriously and we ended up taking a taxi the next evening to his favourite hotpot restaurant in town. I can assure you that it did not disappoint!

5. Descending to the feet of the Big Buddha

I took the brand new high-speed train from Chengdu to Leshan for a day trip to the Big Buddha. I hopped on a local bus after that and then missed the stop, so I had to walk back. Basic survival as a non-Chinese tourist in China. I thought I was doing well overall; at least I had not ended up in an overpriced taxi. Arriving on the site, you first see the gigantic Buddha head carved out of the mountain rock, which is already quite impressive to start with. Then you can take a cliffside path to descend to the Buddha’s feet. This actually means queueing down along with a Chinese crowd, half of which don’t even consider closing their parasols, because otherwise they might get a tan. However, upon arriving downstairs, the sight of the enormous Buddha is a very impressive one and totally worth the trip.

6. Cuteness overload in the panda research base in Ya’an

There are two panda bases near Chengdu. One of them is pretty close to the city centre, but I rather wanted to go to the one situated amidst the lush jungle-like mountains in Ya’an. There, I could observe the pandas in an environment very close to where they would be living in the wild. Moreover, this panda base actually has a programme for educating pandas with the objective of releasing them into the wild.

Anyway. I could not get over how freaking cute these lazy bears are! Eating bamboo while lying on their back, turning around to lazy some more or moving their big ass from one lazy hangout to another, with that funny, goofy walk… I was so charmed that I got to the point where I decided to apply for a day of volunteering, hoping it wouldn’t be too short notice. Five days later, I was back, dressed in my volunteer uniform, feeding the pandas. (Full panda volunteering story in one of the next blog posts.)

7. Jiuzhaigou National Park: stunning nature, massive crowds

It took me a full day in a bus to get from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou (and another day to get back), but the beauty of the park made me understand why this is such a popular destination. Yet, its popularity was also the major downside for me. Don’t get me wrong; I am not claiming that the Chinese shouldn’t be tourists in their own country – they are damn well entitled to – but I wasn’t prepared for big crowds like these on such an enormous surface. Also, I thought I would escape the biggest crowds by hiking down the trail at the other side of the road than where the buses take people around. But “hiking down a trail” in a Chinese national park really means: walking on a well-established wooden or concrete path, along with many Chinese – couples, families, all of them – who were stopping at every nice viewpoint for pictures and selfies.

Afterwards, I heard that there were no less than 20,000 visitors on one single day in the National Park. To give you an idea of what that looks like: I walked in at 8 am, queued in a massive crowd outside the ticket office, queued inside the ticket office, queued in another massive crowd in front of the actual entrance, then queued to get inside a bus that would take me to the start of the hike. By the time I got in the bus, it was 9.30 am. I’m not even exaggerating. I must say though that it is said to be more crowded during this time of the year because of the summer holidays. I’ll keep that in mind if I ever visit the country again. No more summers in China for me!

While I could not make the crowds disappear, I did admire the beauty of the clear blue lakes which get their unreal colour from the algae in the water, and the spectacular waterfalls spread out over the park. I don’t want to downsize it, it was truly stunning.

8. A day in Chengdu

After staying almost a week in Chengdu as a base for small trips nearby, I decided it would be a good idea to visit the city itself properly. So I did that on my last day. Wenshu Monastery (photo), People’s park where grandmas practice choreographies together, the cute Kuanzhai Alleys with loads of souvenirs and street food… Just a nice and laid-back stroll before moving on to my next destination.

9. Touristic happiness on Tianmen Mountain

I was in a bit of a slump while having breakfast at my hostel in Zhangjiajie. I had just arrived after a relaxed 24-hour journey (a day on a high speed train and a night on an overnight train) and was sitting at an empty table. As much as I hadn’t minded visiting stuff on my own for the past week, that very morning I was in no mood to spend another day by myself. I was trying to gear up mentally to visit Tianmen Mountain on my own anyway, when a new guest walked into the hostel. We started talking and found out quickly that we actually had the same plans for the day. Ten minutes later, we walked out the hostel door together.

Tianmen Mountain as a touristic spot is crafted to be spectacular. Without the infrastructure built in order to visit it, it would be a nice looking but unreachable place. After an incredible scenic bus ride up on winding mountain roads, you first take a huge staircase and then 14 escalators to reach the top part of the mountain. There, a cliffside walkway has been built all around the mountain, pleasing tourists with selfie spots, a suspended bridge at a dazzling altitude, parts of the walkway made of glass, and a cable car back down. Spectacular views, great company. One of my best days in China!

10. Conquering Zhangjiajie National Park

Usually when people talk about movies, I am generally that person in the group who hasn’t seen that movie. This also applies to ‘Avatar’: I never saw it. Yet, I would use the term ‘Avatar mountains’ anyway when talking to people to whom ‘Zhangjiajie National Park’ didn’t ring a bell. It worked every time. But I can’t tell you whether I liked the movie better…

It was a bit difficult finding the right bus at the bus station, and hiking up stairs for one hour (!) in the burning heat wasn’t exactly the easiest road to the top (most tourists go for the elevator which felt almost like cheating to me), but the views from up there are unreal. I had to stare at it for a pretty long time to realize what I was actually looking at. The cable car taking you through the mountains also makes for pretty spectacular views.

The crowds didn’t surprise me this time, but still heavily influenced the overall experience for me. As much as I regretted not being able to visit more of China (my visa was reaching the end of its validity and so my China itinerary was ), I knew I would be relieved to lose the crowds.