Colletta, from Fulford in York, has ventured into China with some friends from University.

After spending some time in the mountains, Colletta moves on along the Tibetan border and on to Hong Kong.

Tiger Leaping Gorge, on the Tibetan border, is a long valley with sheer cliffs on either side of the Yangtze river. A little mountain path runs along the side of the valley at a great height, and we decided to trek along it.

I had such a fantastic three days, getting my first glimpse of the Himalayas. The snow-capped peaks appeared out of the clouds every now and then. This was definitely the place to come to escape the crowds. We met very few people along the trek apart from the local Naxi people leading their tea-horses along the winding path.

Last weekend I had to bin my sliver umbrella after a heavy downpour, so I replaced it with a lovely bright pink umbrella, which became the sad story of this weekend. While crossing a huge waterfall cascading down the cliff, I managed to drop my new umbrella down to a lower rock. Forced to abandon my perilous rescue attempt, when sanity caught up with me, we left the umbrella to make its way to the roaring Yangtze below.

After a night in a hostel with the most spectacular view, we walked down 1000s of feet to the waters below. I’ve never seen water like it. So powerful. Waves five times the height of me crashing into the rocks, spraying up and surging on. The force was incredible. Sitting beside it you could just feel the power of the mighty river pounding through the gorge and carving its pathway between the rocks.

The next adventure was the night bus down to Kunming. The whole escapade felt very Harry Potter-esque as we were lurched off our silver bunkbeds at every bend in the road.

China is a relatively clean country. Most streets are immaculate; people are even given money to recycle their plastic bottles. The problem is air pollution. All the men smoke in China, even in the restricted space of a bus - literally down your neck!

In Kunming we met some friends of Sarah’s who work with the ethnic minorities in Yunnan. They run government endorsed programmes to create writing systems for these minority languages. Literacy rates are a real problem in this area, but can be improved by teaching children in their own mother tongue first and then in Chinese.

We’ve actually had very little waiting around to do this trip. But after a 12 hour train ride, we found we had 11 hours to wait in Nanning, before another 12 hours on a coach on the way to Hong Kong.

There is nothing to do in Nanning – never try hanging around there for 12hours! The only points of interest were that there seemed to be a lot more families with two children. Away from Beijing it’s easier for people to defy the governments 1-child policy, but it’s still rare. I always get really excited when I see twins – it’s an unstoppable personal triumph over the government’s most invasive legislation!

So to Hong Kong. Wow, this place was worse the hassle to get here. I love it! The skyline against the harbour, the beautiful lights at night, the warm sun and fresh sea breeze, the old fashioned wooden trams trundling between huge modern towers – it’s perfect.

This is now what the rest of China is aiming towards, real financial prosperity. It’s so great to be able to access BBC news freely, not to stand out as a white person, to have marmalade for breakfast, and to drive on the left-hand side of the road!

This is a whirlwind stop for 24 hours before we fly home. It’s a good cross-over point between the restricted, ancient, beautiful, complex world of China we are leaving behind, and the fast moving Western world we’re going back to. An appropriate end to a fantastic month.

Colletta x

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