I left Beijing on Saturday 9th July, and have gradually been working South West through China via jerky and often hot sleeper trains. Everyone in China travels by train so they are generally packed, but clean and reliable. Pingyao
We had two days in Pingyao, a beautiful old walled city. The city dates from 770BC but most of its architechture is from the Ming dynasty of 1300s - 1600s. It really is a town-sized museum. Cars are banned from the centre so we whizzed around on a kind of golf-cart crossed with a milk-float. Our hotel was absolutely amazing, an ancient wooden courtyard with traditional paper windows. The bed was a huge stone slab with a mattress on top, and a hole to have a fire underneath in winter.  | | Colletta cycling with sun umbrella |
We visited some of the first banks in the world, wandered the maze of streets, and cycled right round the city walls. I even managed to perfect the Chineese art of cycling with a sun umbrella (it harder than it looks!) Xi'an
On Tuesday 12th we arrived in the baking heat and polluted chaos of Xi'an. Our reason for coming here was not the city, but China's second biggest tourist attraction just outside the town - the Terracotta Warriors. They are truely stunning. Built in underground vaults over 2000 years ago, the thousands of individually sculptured life size models guard the tomb of Qin Shi Huang. I was certainly awed by the site, but the place was heaving with tourists and aggressive market stall owners. It was good to escape. Xi'an is a different place at night, and my impression completely changed. The sparkling lights on the huge bell and drum towers are a real feature of the city centre. We walked through the Muslim quarter which was packed with chatter, keebabs, and chirping crickets.  | | Colletta in Chengdu |
Chengdu I like Chengdu. China isn't a place you can relax in easily, people are abrupt, they tend not to understand play, and the country is simply heaving with people. Chengdu seems to be an exception to that rule. The pace of life is much slower and we've spent a couple of days exploring the many parks and river banks. I've developed a head cold from the air conditioning, so the seriously spicy food is helping to clear that away! We have exciting excursions planned for next few days, a visit to a holy Buddhist mountain, and a journey down to Yunnan province for a trek up Tiger Leaping Gorge. Assuming we make it through the perilous mountain bus journey of course! Colletta Could you be a student diarist?
If you hail from North Yorkshire or are studying in the county and think you could squeeze out a few hundred words about once a month (more if you want to!) get in touch with us by emailing northyorkshire@bbc.co.uk | 
