It’s our fourth time visiting China – the country is massive so there’s always new areas to explore and old favourites to return to. 

This time we’re starting in Nanjing, in eastern China, and we’ll be making our way overland to the Tibetan plateau, and onwards to Mongolia. 

Annoyingly, it was £70 cheaper to fly to Nanjing with a 10-hour stopover in Shanghai than to fly direct to Shanghai. So, knowing we could say £140 between us we opted to be Tom Hanks in the Terminal for the day. 

There was a nice, chatty, Australian girl sitting next to us on our row of three, and I couldn’t help but notice lots of empty rows behind us. “Oh look, there are loads of free seats, we can all spread out!” I said, and the girl agreed that it was a great idea. She was sitting in the aisle seat so she was the one who needed to make the move, but she didn’t! Instead, she watched as other passengers took advantage of the free seats and we spent the next 15 hours squished together. I was livid. 

I had a wall instead of a window so I didn’t know how high we were when a strange rattling noise caused us to look around in panic, but moments later we all bounced up as the plane unexpectedly landed. Without the window, we had no idea that we’d lost so much elevation and were imminently landing. 

 After going through immigration, everyone taking domestic transfers was held in a random room with no explanation until security had investigated everyone’s hold luggage, and then we were free to roam around the airport. 

It was a delightfully quiet airport and so spacious. We found a good place to lie down and try to get some sleep while charging our phones. In fact, it really puts British airports to shame where it’s impossible to find a working plug socket, you’re always sat next to someone, and they have armrests so you can’t lie down. 

The ten hours flew by pretty quickly and our final flight took just one hour, arriving at 11pm in Nanjing. Getting picked up by our hotel was a breeze, I just used Google Translate to ask a worker to call our hotel, and she spoke into it, explaining exactly where to go and the driver’s number plate. 

The van was already waiting for us as another passenger must’ve called him before us, so he was rushing us to get onboard and before we had properly sat down we flew back as the van sped forward – we forgot that most vehicles in China are battery-powered, so we didn’t get any pre-warning from an engine firing up.

As usual, no one spoke English at the hotel, and we had a little giggle when we saw the classic Chinese WiFi password of ‘88888888’ – eight, eights – their lucky number. 

It was 2am by the time we showered and wound down to get some sleep after a long 21 hours of travel, and a mere eight hours later we were heading to the metro station to explore Nanjing city. 

There was an unexpected sight as we stepped into the lift at our next hotel – a goldfish! Yup – a tiny round fish tank was built into the corner of the lift. Inside was a large goldfish and some fresh foliage. To be fair the tank was pristine inside, but it was way too small. 

Our city sightseeing began by grabbing a bubble tea that we’d been craving, along with a delicious savoury pancake wrap. 

We wandered through some quiet back roads, until we were dwarfed by huge skyscrapers. Designer clothes stores dominated the ground floor – all of them seemed void of people. In fact, the malls were bizarrely quiet and no one actually seemed to be shopping, just passing through to avoid the sunshine outside. 

The roads were all tree-lined and the cars and scooters were battery-powered, so overall it was a pretty nice city – as far as cities go. They seemed to take pride in surrounding the area with greenery which was lovely. 

Further south we ventured into a much nicer area which had an old town vibe and burgundy wooden temples featuring the typical curved roofs covered in thick tiles. 

A pedestrianised street was lined with food sellers and tacky souvenir shops, the walkway gradually led us through the crowds to a lovely riverside area. I’d heard the view was much nicer at dark though, so we decided to have some dinner at a nearby vegetarian buffet. They had a spread of over 70 dishes to try, although some of them looked a bit too intimidating to experiment with, even though it was vegetarian. 

Craig even bit into a bread-crumbed item which turned out to have a banana inside. They had some sweet items too, like watermelon, steamed buns and red bean-filled mochi which I loved. For an all-you-can-eat buffet, it was great value at just £2.80 per person, although we did find two pieces of metal scourer in our food, so it was a bit of a game of Russian roulette.

With full bellies, we wandered back to the river which looked much nicer at dark as red lanterns draped down buildings. From a bridge, we watched as boats covered in golden lights zipped below us. 

The following morning we checked out of our room as we had plans to explore the city and then travel south on the train to Hangzhou. Our first stop was a park which had a large pond area, and in front of it, were three locals doing tai chi. They had a speaker with them playing the most relaxing music as they moved their bodies at the same time, like synchronised swimmers out of water. They even did some unexpectedly high kicks which were impressive considering one of them was in their 70s. 

Further up the road we completely left the tranquillity when we arrived at the Jiming Temple which was hectic. It was built in AD 527 and had some beautiful architecture, but the crowds were overwhelming, the sun was scorching, and I was questioning my life choices as a girl who loves cold weather. 

Steps led us past smoky incense sticks to temples, and eventually a seven-story pagoda. The sound of nuns chanting was audible as we made our way up – It would have been a delightful spot had it not been for so many people visiting, the noise of chatter and tour guide speakers mingled with the calming chants. 

After the temple, a short stroll led us to the city walls which rise to 21m and sit next to Xuanwuhu Lake. Flamingo and duck-shaped pedalows lined the jetty, ready for the peak summer months. 

The air was thick with pollution, but through the smog, we could see the forested mountains that sit right beside the city. Below the peaks was a botanical garden which was going to be our next stop, just a few metro rides away. 

A bus took us the final few kilometres to the gardens where we got off at the wrong stop and had to walk back down the road while I cursed the heat again. The gardens were split into north and south, so we opted for the cheaper £1 entry to the north where there was said to be a good display of tulips during spring. 

The grassy areas at the start were packed with screaming school kids which sent a shudder down my spine – nothing like a calming stroll in nature, ay. Luckily, Chinese people aren’t big fans of walking so it didn’t take us long to wind our way through tranquil paths that we had all to ourselves. It was quite a rustic botanical garden with lots of untended forest and warning signs that the area was home to wild boar. 

We couldn’t find any tulips, the blossoms had finished, and the roses had barely started, so it was a little anticlimactic in that sense. But overall it was a lovely area to take a quiet stroll just a stone’s throw from the bustling city. We did have a cute encounter with three teenage boys strolling around the bonsai tree display – they practiced their English and insisted on giving us free sweets, so we were very happy! 

We finished the day with a frantic dash to the railway station. To save waiting an extra hour, we grabbed a couple of standing seats to Hangzhou. We’ve always had a seated ticket in China so we had no idea what to expect or where to stand, and annoyingly it’s the same price to stand as it is to sit! Arriving on board with sweat-covered backs, we found a nook to base ourselves near the food canteen, where we spent the next hour and a half. We were shattered, but happy to be exploring China again.