In May 2025 Wendy and I returned to China. Our past visits have been self-organised (Wendy-organised) but this time it was a TripADeal - almost all inclusive, except for some meals and extras, at a price we couldn't resist, as it also included a cruise to Japan and back, out of Shanghai. 

We spent a week travelling in China before the cruise. This was a budget affair so, we spent most of the time on the margins of the mega-cities of Beijing and Shanghai and in growing cities like Wuxi, huge in themselves. Yet, the accommodation was four star or above.

My first trip to China was in 1986 when the countryside was still countryside and the main mode of transport in town and country was the pushbike. Twenty years ago, Wendy and I visited again and the difference astounded me. We have been back several times since. This was our third time in Beijing and Shanghai and we also had a third, unscheduled, visit to Guangzhou.

In 2009 our itinerary took us to Beijing and to Xi'an, in Shaanxi province, to see the 'Terracotta Warriors' before returning to Beijing. Then in June 2018 we had a few days in Ürümqi, (China - Ürümqi), the capital of the, infamous, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, on our way to Tajikistan.  But, over the years, we have more often spent time in Shenzhen, due to its proximity to Hong Kong and its superior accommodation at a more modest price. Yet, every time, the experience has differed because China is a county where the rate of development is so rapid that nothing stays the same for very long.

This time, it was again extraordinary, travelling on a high-speed train between Beijing and Shanghai at up to 350km/h and on buses travelling a network of expressways, often jammed with modern local (many electric) and high-end German (brand) cars.