For outdoor lovers planning highland trips in Tibet, Ali region and Mount Kailash trekking are classic challenging itineraries. Proper altitude acclimatization, border permit application and cold-resistant gear are core preparation work before departure.

As a conclusion in Xinjiang, we wanted to go to the mountains once more, specifically to the Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County on the Pamir Plateau, a remote area near the borders of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, on the Chinese side of the Karakoram Highway. Here, mainly people recognized by China as an ethnic minority of the Tajiks (Sarikolis and Wakhis) reside. However, they mostly belong to the Pamiris, an ethnic group originating from Eastern Iran.

Initially, we wanted to take a public bus to Tashkurgan, but since we weren’t sure how easy it would be to move around in this heavily supervised region, we booked a 3-day tour with a Chinese provider in Kashgar. Entirely in Chinese, but at a fraction of the cost of English-speaking offers found online. First, we had to go to the Public Security Bureau to get a travel permit. Then we set off with our group; along with our guide, there were also two Chinese couples who seemed a bit special and very demanding from our perspective. We could communicate exclusively in Chinese (and for very specific details via WeChat with a translation function). This worked quite well on the first day, but unfortunately deteriorated over time, likely due to a combination of Marike's brain being tired and our counterparts showing little interest in making an effort to communicate, such as repeating a sentence or expressing something differently. When it became apparent on the last day that our traveling companions actually had some English skills but only revealed them for instructions on taking photos, we had to wonder a bit. It’s a pity, though it was still a very special tour with breathtaking mountain scenery!

We didn’t get the permit for fun; there were indeed numerous road checks, where we as foreigners were particularly scrutinized. Upon closer inspection, these checks were quite ridiculous. There seemed to be no coordinated process. The inspectors became quite nervous; once a young woman even started to tremble. They took photos of the passports, flipped through them, and tried to identify the travel stamps, even bringing another official with more stripes who repeated this procedure. Several times, they couldn’t recognize which country we came from or where the passport number was. Who knows how many people will be busy in the coming months analyzing our movement profile in Xinjiang and compiling the countless photos of our passports, our train tickets, and our hotel bookings. Ultimately, we could always pass. Reasons for the strict surveillance could include smoldering border conflicts; we aren’t sure how well and amicably the border demarcation is clarified. India is definitely not in agreement with the border to Pakistan.

We continued steadily into the mountains, past Baisha Lake, Muji Crater, and herds of animals (goats, donkeys, camels, yaks, cows) grazing on the lush green wet meadows. Eventually, we reached heights where there was also snow, what a contrast to the desert weather in Kashgar! In the evening, we reached our accommodation in Tashkurgan at about 3100 m, surrounded by a beautiful mountain backdrop.

The next day, we ventured deeper into the mountains. We were able to peek into the Wakhan Corridor, very close to Afghanistan. When we reached the Khunjerab Pass at about 4500 m near the border with Pakistan, we learned that as non-Chinese, we were not allowed to proceed further on foot but had to wait by the car for our traveling companions. For whatever reason. At first, we were quite annoyed, as the scenery was truly spectacular, but there was nothing we could do. The atmosphere up there was strangely peculiar, though. Everything was filled with shops displaying Chinese flags that were doing brisk business. Chinese people proudly posing with their flags on Chinese territory, as if to make clear to the neighboring countries who the boss is. Well, we Germans don’t really have much of a thing with flags for various reasons. We were just happy about where we were, and we observed the whistling marmots while shivering. We then continued to the ancient Palong Pass, once an important pass road in the area, winding impressively with countless hairpin turns up and down the mountain for kilometers. The road is in super good condition but is likely used only for tourism, and accordingly, there were some corners where one could be filmed by drones. Many beautiful, sometimes very lonely areas with grazing land or mineral-rich mountain lakes (even though tourism is blooming here and you certainly won't be alone at the highlights). After a long day, we headed back to Tashkurgan in the evening.

On the last day, we set out on our return journey to Kashgar, this time with much more sunshine than on the way there. Another stop at the opposite shore of Baisha Lake and at the beautiful Karakol Lake, where the mountain backdrop was reflected. We were actually supposed to admire the glacier of the 7500 m high Muztaga at one stop, but one must acquire a ticket for the viewing platform. This wasn’t possible due to a power failure, what a chaos, but also funny!

It was indeed good for us that this trip came to an end. As breathtaking as the landscapes were, it was also exhausting in the long run with our China group. Of course, photographing is important to us, and we do it all the time, but this constant self-presentation in front of the camera seems to be the main purpose of traveling. Here it seems everyone of all ages wants to be or already is an influencer, which is annoying! But yes, we also felt compelled to suddenly jump into the picture with a meat skewer and do some silly poses, who knows where this video is circulating. Instead of enjoying the beauty and tranquility of nature, there were monotonous advertisements for coffee or noodle soup blaring through loudspeakers, even in the most remote corners. It wasn’t always easy to sufficiently retreat or ignore the commotion here.

A truly impressive area, as it is throughout Xinjiang, where a tremendous amount is underway, roads are being built, and other (tourism) infrastructure is being developed. It remains exciting to see how this develops!

Initially, we intended to travel across the Taklamakan to Hotan, allegedly there was supposed to be a bus from Kuqa, but according to information at the bus station, such a connection did not exist. Not willing to pay for private transport, we decided to take the train via Kashgar. 14 hours, about 1200 km, and this time there were even soft sleeper seats for us, in a four-bed compartment with a door! We could even sleep fairly well, even though we were awakened in the middle of the night by the police wanting to see our passports and know the reason for our trip. With a delay of over 3 hours, we arrived in Hotan and were pleased that our hotel this time was much better located with lots of action around, booths and restaurants, fruit and vegetable stands, shops, and a small night market in the pedestrian zone. Quite irritating for us was that it was a complete smoking hotel, where people actually smoked everywhere and ash was spread around. In our room, it was somewhat bearable and only smelled a little, but generally, it wasn’t great for our mucous membranes irritated by the dryness. It’s hard to imagine that it used to be normal for us to smoke indoors; even the chain-smoking Indonesians don’t do that! The hotel staff was quite excited that we were there, likely due to a strict registration procedure. Everyone was very eager and wanted us to feel comfortable but seemed unsure of what the rarely sighted species foreigners needed to survive. So, each time we passed the reception or encountered cleaning staff, we were handed huge amounts of water, fresh towels, or shampoo. And one glossy brochure issued by the tourism authority with sights in the area (or even hundreds of kilometers away) - unfortunately completely useless for us.

So we set out ourselves to find Hotan's highlights, but that only worked to a limited extent. Museums were either permanently closed or too redundant compared to the places we had previously visited. The visit to the Yotkan Ancient City was completely absurd. It was a completely reconstructed fantasy city that resembled a movie set from an old Western (just with a desert Silk Road theme). High admission fee, and then it was mainly a construction site with no activity. Periodically, Uighur-like performances were offered - apparently heavily adapted to Chinese tastes. There were some slightly dressed ladies dancing to oriental dance beats, a group of children trying unsuccessfully to move synchronously on a staircase, a Uighur wedding dance with distorted playback singing, portraying a half-hearted bride kidnapping. We doubt that the chosen song is traditionally sung in Mandarin. The next day we were taken to a well-rated viewpoint outside of the city in the desert, where there were supposed to be hiking trails. Ultimately, we ended up in a garbage-laden nowhere looking at a power plant - that’s what they probably call industrial romance. Nearby we found a kind of desert park offering all kinds of children’s entertainment like big slides or camel riding - everything in miserable condition and without visitors. From there we could take an undisturbed long walk through the desert with a surprisingly beautiful dune landscape, over which the hot wind swept. That had to be enough to get an idea of the Taklamakan and how difficult it must have been to cross it. With the help of the staff who seemed to be dozing in the shade waiting for probably never arriving tourist flows, we got transport back to the city as we were quite out of the way. Perhaps an area where a knowledgeable guide with a sense of what western tourists find nice and interesting would have been helpful! But it was fun, and we made the best of it.

The food was again a dream, and the big Hotan night market was really great, just like the booths in our neighborhood. The people were friendly towards us, especially teenagers wanted to chat with us - with hardly any English knowledge, Marike's broken Chinese, and a translation app, we managed to communicate quite well. And Freddy's beard was a big hit!

However, Hotan was also the place where one could no longer ignore the already massive surveillance in China and the absurd police and military presence in Xinjiang. We had the honor of being visited by the police chief who questioned us, smoking, in the lobby about our intentions and travel plans in Xinjiang. That Marike could tell this in Chinese was helpful and quickly satisfied him. Although only his demeanor was authoritative, a proof photo of the questioning had to be made for his superiors. In the city, here and there stood a tank and at every corner police and military, often heavily armed. We were checked several times, but always friendly and without further complications, and probably also monitored and followed! Traveling by taxi, there were also police checks, and the poor taxi drivers were also inspected more closely. So much attention; we almost felt flattered. It was creepy when we saw numerous military vehicles driving through the streets from our hotel room on the 11th floor early in the morning and heard the sound of assault rifles firing. Unclear whether it was a drill or a chase. Whatever is going on here!

When we returned to the train station on our last day to go to Kashgar, we were quite sure that people were specifically assigned to ensure we actually took the booked ride (as always linked to our passport numbers). A poor and grumpy policeman had to check us again on the train, we suspect he had to wait a long time for the train to return after the next stop, as they don’t run that frequently. But of course, it also creates jobs!

Hotan - a special place and perhaps not a dream vacation destination, but with nice people. We learned a lot, were amazed, and had a good time!

Unfortunately, we didn’t pick the best location for our hotel and were a bit far off the beaten path in a residential area (the maps from AMap can sometimes be a bit tricky to interpret, including what's worth seeing in a city), but that made us somewhat of a topic of conversation in the neighborhood, and from our perspective, taxi fares are quite reasonable.

Kuqa also has a charming old town that still features some of the old structures and has been beautifully decorated with 'old stuff' in many places, making it very photogenic. While we have already seen similar setups in some cities during our travels, it's been well done here without destroying the charm of the old alleys. For the Chinese tourists, it seemed the two pancake-faced foreigners from Germany completed the ensemble, and we were photographed even more than usual, with shouts from various people instructing us on how to pose. But we’ve grown quite used to it by now; we willingly make fools of ourselves for our ever-growing fanbase...

The Wei-Jin Tomb Museum was really cool. During roadwork in 2007, a cluster of ancient tomb chambers from the 3rd to 5th century was discovered right in the city, and they've been excavated with their contents since then. The museum, which opened only in 2024, was simply built over the archaeological site, allowing visitors to leisurely stroll past the graves. Even though the presentation seems a bit ideological and nationalistic as usual (at least as far as we can judge; the explanatory texts in the museums are unfortunately only patchily available in English, and the audio guides are excessively lengthy and not to the point), it was truly worth seeing!

The Great Mosque, supposedly the last one in Xinjiang with traditional religious arbitration, was unfortunately closed for renovation, so we visited the royal palace instead. A mix of Islamic and Chinese architecture, alongside the private quarters of the ruling family (the last king of Kuqa, Dawut Makosuti, passed away in 2014 and lived in the palace until his death), there were also displayed Uyghur folk artifacts and everyday items. Some buildings, such as the princes' mausoleums at the edge of the museum or the small mosque, were in quite a dilapidated state.

Kuqa and its friendly locals welcomed us with curiosity, and we enjoyed our time!

Afterward, we take the MTR to the southern tip, to Signal Hill and the Lego Discovery Center (disappointing) and to the mall featuring Loewe and other high-end brands, which is quite impressive. 

The K 11 Art Museum is unfortunately closed on Thursdays, so we can finally return without guilt to the hotel or its pool on the 9th floor. 

After a meal at the neighboring steakhouse, we achieve a personal record: taking the MTR to the ICC and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel inside it. It has the highest bar on the 118th floor where I've had one - or several - drinks. This exceeds the Cloud 9 in the Jin-Mao Tower in Shanghai (89th floor). 

Using the metro is actually very easy. It's excellently signposted, and you simply pay with your credit card when entering and exiting. By chance - because we had to go to a service counter due to an issue - we learned that seniors over 70 receive a significant discount, instead of 13 HKG-$ (about 1.5 €) only 5.5 = 60 cents! 

The taxi scene is dominated by Toyota, featuring many older models along with newer, specially designed ones.

Crossed over on the venerable Star Ferry, admired from across Victoria Harbour, and then took the many winding roads up to the Peak.

Down and south to Repulse Bay, beautiful and deserted! Hard to believe.

Afterward, a short harbor tour in Aberdeen on a sampan.

The last highlight was the Nan Lian Temple, located right in the city yet offering wonderful places of tranquility.

We stayed in the Nina Towers, on the 37th floor. First, we experienced the impressive Hong Kong By Night. We traveled to Hong Kong Island and rode the historic Ding-Ding Tram. Then we went to Soho and back to Kowloon, where we admired the nighttime skyline of Hong Kong Island.

From their upper stop, one can either hike up for 1.5 hours or take an open cart to the top.

At the top, there are views, local eateries, and a beautifully designed hiking trail leading to the 9 Star and Moon Pagoda.

The rice terraces were artificially created through painstaking manual labor, are in some places less than a meter wide, and are still actively cultivated today.

Everything summarized in this report by BPB seems very coherent to us based on our observations, experiences, and feelings, even if we do not claim to truly grasp the complex situation: https://www.bpb.de/themen/kriege-konflikte/dossier-kriege-konflikte/54592/china-xinjiang/

Turpan felt immediately more exotic, foreign, and untamed. For a moment, one thought they had already left China. On the one hand, it seemed to us that the massive surveillance with cameras at every corner and police presence was surprisingly less here (Spoiler: they had no idea what it would be like in other cities). We could even buy museum tickets without our passport numbers being registered, where does that happen? Suddenly, people were conversing among themselves no longer in Chinese, and communication became more challenging than it already was (up to that point, Marike could at least score a bit with her poor Chinese skills, but the accent/dialect was now so strong that it was hard to tell whether Chinese or Uyghur was being spoken. The children/teenagers were - as often is the case in the world - open and curious enough to want to chat with us, mostly more with hands and feet.

During the day, we strolled through the dry heat of the streets and were amazed at how many old adobe buildings were still standing and inhabited, with not so many typical Chinese high-rise neighborhoods. And at the edge of town, one could directly walk through the vineyards, whose grapes are primarily used for raisin production and dried in open houses (Chunche) in the hot desert wind.

The water for growing grapes and other fruits is channeled into the area through Karez well systems (well explained in a local museum). In the mountains, likely thousands of years ago, slightly sloping underground channels were dug, preventing extreme evaporation in the heat and transporting water to the flatter areas. These channels are regularly equipped with vertical shafts/wells for ventilation and maintenance. There are supposed to be over 5000 km of tunnels in the area, not all of which are still in use.

Late in the evening, the city came alive - the temperatures were more bearable, and everywhere kebabs were being grilled, children played, fruit vendors were peddling their goods, it smelled amazing!

Guilin is a lovely city with some lakes that are illuminated in colorful lights at night. Residents gather by the shore to make music, sing, and dance.

We take a cable car (from which manufacturer?) unfortunately again in the fog to bizarre rock formations, similar to the Bastei in Saxon Switzerland. The Chinese call them 'Pinsel peaks.'

The fog clears, and the sun comes out. Since an Avatar movie was filmed here, the crowds are immense; selfies are the most important. The call 'No crowding' could apply to all of China, but unfortunately, it is not heeded. Especially as the nice weather now also attracts more visitors.

We descend with the supposedly longest outdoor elevator, although a lot of it is also inside the rock.

Downstream, there is also a ship lift.

Our evening destination was the small city of Zhangjiajie (1.3 million inhabitants) in the eponymous national park.

From Zhangye to Dunhuang, it was a short hop compared to the previous train journey - 600 km and 4 hours by train. The landscape became increasingly desert-like. Along the route, large construction projects could be seen in the middle of seemingly nowhere. However, some of the high-rise complexes stood completely empty - a consequence of the burst real estate bubble?

Dunhuang didn't seem as cozy at first glance as Zhangye. Much more touristy, many large oversized hotels, designed to resemble watchtowers of the Great Wall, a lot of colorful blinking lights, audiovisual light shows along the river presenting the greatness of the Chinese people in the past, present, and future. A form of entertainment that we personally could do without, but seemed to delight the larger public. And again - how could it be any different in China - a strong focus on local culinary specialties, promoted late into the night at many restaurants - all excellent. During our stay, we indulged ourselves in a cross-section of the menu - hand-pulled wide noodles with lamb, donkey meat with yellow noodles, desert onion vegetables, apricot peel tea... Even at the night market, there were delicious, well-seasoned various dishes and good ice-cold local beer. Unintentionally, we became ambassadors for the city, as two friendly young Chinese women held a camera in front of our faces and had us sing its praises. Just add a filter and some funny captions, and you'll be trending on WeChat.

The most famous in the area are the Mogao Caves, also a system of about 1000 cave temples that were carved into the rock between the 4th and 12th centuries. Here, tens of thousands of ancient Buddhist writings from that time were found (including the Diamond Sutra, the oldest printed book in the world), which monks successfully hid from the attacking Mongols (however, most of the finds are in the British Museum in London). A special and interesting place - however, we didn't particularly enjoy it, which was due to the 'processing procedure' on-site. Expensive ticket prices, incredibly crowded, long waiting times. Initially, we were ushered one after the other into two cinema halls - where the history of the caves was re-enacted with a lot of AI-generated special effects and we were virtually guided through the most important caves. Then, more waiting, until we were briefly guided through about 5 caves and to the 9-story pagoda with the second-largest Buddha in China (we unfortunately missed the largest in Leshan), and that was it. Interestingly, a few of the Buddha caves were exactly replicated in the associated museum, so everyone could pose in peace in front of the Buddhas and take enough photos - hallelujah. Frightened by so many people, we skipped the famous singing dunes at Mingsha Mountain and were glad not to be traveling through China in peak season when such crowds are the norm.

But it went - with significantly fewer tourists - into the Gobi Desert! First to the Yangguan Pass, established around 120 BC during the Han Dynasty, once an important border crossing and strategic checkpoint in ancient China, before heading into the dangerous desert regions. 'Drink one more glass of wine, beyond the Yangguan Pass, you will no longer meet old friends,' wrote the famous Chinese poet Wang Wei (he meant nothing to us, but our Chinese travel companions were quite delighted). Even more impressive was the even more westerly fortress at the Yumen Pass, over which the Silk Road ran. In addition to old supply buildings, remnants of the Great Wall from the Han Dynasty can also be found, which, by the way, was built here from willows, reeds, sand, and gravel. And old hay bales for signal fires along the Great Wall. All over 2000 years old but fairly well preserved in the dry desert.

It felt quite surreal in the Yardan Geopark, and our mucous membranes burned intensely due to the dryness - allegedly only 5% relative humidity at 32°C. The term comes from Uyghur and means something like 'Steep Earth Mounds' and is now a standard geological term for these bizarrely shaped stone landscapes that can form in dry desert regions: in dried-up lake basins with alternating layers of hard rock and soft sediments, deep cracks form in the ground due to the dryness, which are further washed out by occasional rainfalls. The consistently blowing wind from one main direction erodes the softer rock layers further, resulting in many hills often arranged parallel to each other.

Happily, we returned to Dunhuang, from where the journey would continue by bus and train to Turpan in Xinjiang.

Those who think of the media-hyped high-speed trains when traveling by train in China might be mistaken – these have not yet reached the areas of the country we traveled in. Therefore, our train could be described as somewhat outdated and shabby. The narrow seats without armrests in the hard class were only moderately suitable for a restful night's sleep. Sleeping was out of the question anyway – luggage was constantly being rearranged, groups gathered for card games, the conductors walked through the compartment with body cams and loudly announced the next station or reprimanded passengers, and smokers filled the compartments with smoke from the aisles. During the sometimes very long stops at the stations, people surged onto the platform to stretch their legs or smoke even more. What a spectacle! Accordingly, we arrived, quite wrinkled, in the early morning, punctually in Zhangye, located in the Gansu province in the Hexi Corridor and along the ancient Silk Road. Allegedly, Marco Polo also spent some time here. The train stations in China are usually located a bit outside the city, so we took a bus to the center, which was much cozier and less touristy than we had imagined. However, our dedicated hostel owner immediately made it clear that there would be no time for lounging around. On the occasion of International Museum Day, the attractions in the area were free for two days, and she quickly organized the transportation for us. So, after freshening up a bit and resting, we set off for the Danxia Geopark, known primarily for its rainbow mountains (and the circulating images that exaggerated the color saturation a bit). The park was quite well organized, and it was clear that the infrastructure was really designed for large masses (mainly Chinese) tourists. Fortunately, it wasn't too crowded, and everything went quite smoothly. With mandatory shuttle buses, we moved to various viewpoints where we could follow different circular paths. The mountains and hills are primarily made of sandstone from various colored minerals that have been folded and shaped into an exotic landscape over millions of years by wind and rain. The different color stripes looked truly spectacular and became even more intense in the afternoon and evening sun. It was amusing to see the high number of Douyin bloggers (Chinese TikTok) jumping around in front of their cameras in sometimes peculiar outfits (cowboy hats are definitely a thing).

The next day, we went early in the morning to the Matisi Caves, a Tibetan cave temple complex in the midst of the Qilian Mountains, whose construction began about 1600 years ago. The hewn caves, where one had to navigate narrow ascents in the rocks to reach the different rooms with Buddha statues and paintings, were very diverse and fascinating. It was also enjoyable to stroll around the impressive mountain backdrop visiting the individual temples.

Then we took a small hike through the Pingshan Grand Canyon, another impressive landscape shaped from red sandstone – also very beautiful!

Within Zhangye, we were still surprised to see very few tourists. They all seem to be housed primarily in larger hotels near the train station and do not move around much within the city, which is good for us! The Dafu Temple, where the largest reclining Buddha statue in China, over 30 m long, is located, also impressed us a lot.

Culinary-wise, the food was flavored with a variety of spices such as cumin, star anise, cinnamon, chili, and garlic, just as one imagines the Silk Road. In an outdoor food court around the corner, there were really delicious restaurants and snacks; the noodle dishes were particularly tasty, and the portions were huge. Everyone was happy that we were there; there was even a round of liquor given out at times, and we were offered even more snacks.

As in all the places visited so far, it is extremely clean and quiet, especially since many scooters run on electricity.

In the arcades, many influencers sit in front of their phones promoting mostly useless things.

The entire city wall is accessible and beautifully illuminated at night.

The most famous attraction is the Terracotta Army.

The largest of the 5 train stations has 34 tracks and is state-of-the-art.

By the way, contrary to many statements, cash payments are easily accepted everywhere, while WeChat often requires many pins and confirmations.

Then took the high-speed train from the West Station back to Xi'An. 1200 km in 4.5 hours with 3 short stops.

Unfortunately, very cloudy sky, gloomy.

We drove through the traffic jam to the Forbidden City, standing in line, security checks, thousands of mostly Chinese visitors want to go there too. It's loud, full of people everywhere, some wearing the same caps or T-shirts, young and old.

Honestly, the various halls (of perfect, supreme, all-holy harmony) all look the same.

The interiors are usually closed off, and when you can see inside, it’s dark and hardly recognizable. The atmosphere that regularly captivated me at Buddhist or Hindu temples was unfortunately absent here. The crowd and hustle completely destroy any contemplative atmosphere. After 2 hours we are done. A shuttle takes us to our bus at the entrance.

In the afternoon we drive about 50 km to the Juyongguan Pass, where the wall rises on both sides of a narrow valley - thousands of steps that we climb depending on our fitness, including the descent. The view of the opposite wall with the ant-like people on it is quite nice to see.

Conclusion: Beijing is a city of administration and officials, which is clearly reflected in its somewhat stereotypical architecture. Largely faceless administrative buildings, with rare highlights.

I was surprised that very few people have even rudimentary knowledge of English. Even in a high-end 4-star hotel, the term 'lift?' is still unknown.

In most parts of the city, the comparison arises: Shanghai is like Manhattan, Beijing like East Berlin 40 years ago. In the center, it becomes more modern. Architecturally, however, it is overall incredibly boring. Hard to believe that both cities are in the same country.

The hotel this time is superb, the Peking duck tastes just as good as at Ya in Munich.

From democratic China, we continued to socialist China. A country that we hadn't even considered at the start of our journey, but the now simplified entry (30 days without a visa) led us to the idea of following the ancient Silk Road route towards Central Asia. Since we both really love Sichuan cuisine, we first headed to Chengdu. The entry was surprisingly easy, despite the lack of exit tickets; after two or three questions about our travel itinerary, we were already in the country. Even here, a huge degree of automation was evident, as one could pre-read their passport data at kiosks and scan fingerprints. However, the kiosk was too clumsy for Freddy to read the passport number correctly, so the procedure had to be repeated with the border officer.

The metro ride to the city center was straightforward and hassle-free; it's quite astounding how large the network is and how many lines there are. After checking into the hostel, there were still plenty of culinary options available late at night, so after enjoying a noodle soup with our Sichuan pepper-numbed mouths, we happily fell into bed.

But then the fun was over because Freddy suddenly couldn't get out of bed by himself - a backache (which had been hinted at in Taiwan). After a painful night, our schedule involved a visit to a pharmacy and cautiously hobbling around to relieve the blockage.

As the days passed, things improved and were eventually completely fixed by a visit to a TCM place with a miracle masseur (we usually aren't so into this, but they really knew what they were doing). Unfortunately, this meant we couldn't visit everything that was a bit further away (Panda breeding center, the Giant Buddha of Leshan, or the millennia-old irrigation system of Dujiangyan), but health comes first.

Still, we really enjoyed Chengdu - even though it was incredibly touristy and sometimes felt like an amusement park with all the playful panda mania at every corner. First and foremost was the food, which exceeded our high expectations. The mala spice 麻辣, which combines the numbing effect of Sichuan pepper with the heat of chili, was perfectly balanced everywhere - an absolute dream! Strolling in People's Park and watching elderly people draw calligraphy with water on the paths, reading the personal ads that parents post for their children (of course, pink slips for girls and blue slips for boys, everything must have its order), drinking tea or observing the passionate groups playing cards or Mahjong. Visiting the beautiful Wenshu Yuan Temple complex. In our neighborhood, walking by the river in the evening and people-watching.

And then we braced ourselves for the first long-distance challenge - over 16 hours and about 1400 km to Zhangye! And because we hadn’t taken care of our tickets in time, it wasn’t as nice as we imagined in a sleeper car, but rather on hard seats - good thing Freddy’s back was straightened out again!

And of course, it's bigger. The then-largest Jin Mao Tower is now only number 3.

There are endless bicycles and scooters, some of which are electric but still just as chaotic. While there are rules, they seem to apply only to the hesitant, with scooters and compact cars jostling just like SUVs.

What is very surprising: there is no public Wi-Fi anywhere. Bavaria and Munich are exemplary in this regard.

In hotel Wi-Fi, no

Unlike other reports, cash payments work in tourist areas, at least.

After a day of sightseeing (Yu Garden, Jade Buddha, etc.), we had a short rest in the hotel and then took taxis to the Bund. The light spectacle on both sides of the river is truly sensational (photos can be added later). Nanjing Road was absolutely packed, but there was not a bar or nice pub in sight. So we ended up in the bar of the Fairmont Hotel with live music. Not cheap but good!

Summary China

In one sentence (warning irony): “The next vacation is to a lonely 5 square meter island.”

SUMMARY OF CHINA including tips for travelers

In Part 1, some tips and prices have already been provided.

Additionally, it might be interesting for you:

Our conclusion in short:

Due to the prior information, much was not surprising, everything more or less as expected.

Behavior of the Chinese:

It is always and I mean always loud. They constantly speak loudly and excitedly to each other. In addition, there are loudspeaker announcements on repeat everywhere. Peace can only be found in the hotel room.

There are people everywhere in confined spaces. They push all the time and everywhere, especially at sights or stations. They walk and shove their way wherever they want to go. People enter and exit the subway at the same time. But everyone finds that completely fine, no one looks at each other angrily.

The infamous spitting is indeed disgusting. If only it were just the spitting. You can always hear the loud gagging, or how should I describe it? Getting used to it was almost impossible for us.

Somewhat amusing, and we didn’t expect this: the staring. During our trip, we actually saw very few other “long noses”. We were indeed stared at repeatedly. Sometimes they stopped, turned around to us, and wanted to take photos with us. Some approached us to practice their English.

Regarding the language: Very few words English are spoken. It was also hardly possible to communicate with gestures or facial expressions. It only works with translation apps. However, the sometimes completely wrong translations also provide quite a few laughs,

such as “we should first hit our brother”.

Few signs are translated. This naturally makes everything a bit more laborious, and you need time for everything. But they are really helpful, always making an effort and not giving up trying to explain something. They may not seem super friendly, but they are not unfriendly either.

So you can say that you don't really need to speak English to travel in China, but you should be a little tech-savvy, meaning you should be able to work with various apps.

Regarding safety: Top-notch. We have never felt as safe anywhere else in the world. You can leave your bags or even phones alone on a table; there’s no need to keep an eye on them. This is partly due to the extreme surveillance. Cameras are everywhere, and you must always carry your passport. Luggage is constantly screened, and you are checked with a body scanner.

Many Germans would probably not find this so great. But it is certainly safe.

What we also found super practical is that you can simply pay everywhere with the Alipay app. Even at markets. The only time it didn’t work for foreigners was strangely enough at the subway in Chongqing. So we withdrew 100 Yuan in cash.

Also practical is that tips are not expected at all.

Traveling by train is super easy and well organized. Whether by train or subway. The same system applies everywhere, and you quickly understand how it works. All trips are punctual, and we always went through security checks quickly.

What is a bit of an adjustment is the incredibly long distances in subway stations. The size of these giant cities should not be underestimated either. Much looks so close on the map, or you might think: “Oh, a subway stop is also within walking distance.” No, no, everything is very, very far.

On the topic of ease and practicality, taxi rides fit in, or rather riding with a Didi. This is comparable to Uber. In the Alipay app, there’s a mini app for Didi included. You enter your destination there. It locates you, and usually, they are there a few minutes later. Payment is also made through the app. Very cheap. For our longest trip of one and a half hours, we paid €35. The drivers usually do not speak at all, often not responding to greetings, sometimes they get out to help with the luggage but often they just stay seated and only open the trunk. But that's okay, and we noticed that this way of interacting in general is common.

It’s also important to know that when arriving at train stations and looking for a Didi pick-up station, always follow the signs for “e-hailing” or a large lying “D”. Don’t go to the taxi stands.

For traveling, we would recommend suitcases rather than backpacks. You mostly see people with suitcases. But it’s better to pack as light as possible and also not to have too large suitcases, as it can sometimes be a bit difficult to stow them on the trains, and you also have to manage larger stairs with suitcases from time to time. All hotel rooms come with toothbrushes and toothpaste, shower gel, shampoo, combs, tissues, and slippers. So if you don’t want to forgo certain products, you can already save some weight while packing. Moreover, washing machines are almost everywhere in hotels. We managed to get by with about 18 kg per person for 8 weeks of vacation.

By the way, we were also impressed by the cleanliness. All rooms were truly clean and well-maintained. The showers always worked great too. All public areas were quite clean, and they are always cleaned; for example, in the trains, they are wiped down after every station. Although they just place bones or other leftovers on the tables while eating, the tables are always clean (or perhaps just because of that)

As for the food: Well, it’s a matter of taste. We think that more Germans would probably enjoy it. For our taste, it was often not so great. We found a lot of things very good, and some were just edible. You can often eat Hot Pot. Many people like that. We are just a bit too lazy and prefer to be cooked for. In addition, much is rather spicy, so don't forget to clarify that beforehand.

It’s also an adjustment that for example, duck is simply chopped up completely; you then spend longer nibbling on it, and that with chopsticks. Breakfast is also an issue. They eat warm and hearty breakfasts too. We did that too, but we often ended up in cafes like Starbucks instead. Fortunately, we didn’t see too extreme things like dog or cat. That might be eaten here, but less frequently and not in all regions. More noticeable foods were rabbit heads, chicken feet, pig intestines, and the hairy or stinky tofu were seen everywhere. We saw insects on skewers only once. As well as frogs and turtles. It’s not nice to see how such animals wait in small containers for their death. But honestly, we thought we would have to endure much worse regarding how animals are treated in China.

Restaurant prices: Hard to determine an average. You can manage to get a meal for €2.50. I would say we usually paid about €10 per person or sometimes more since we especially wanted to avoid typical food. Whether for breakfast or dinner.

Internet: As explained in Part 1, you need an eSIM with VPN. This is indeed important. Because there’s a lot of wifi available in hotels and restaurants, but it hardly helps at all. Almost everything is blocked. We could mostly only open emails with the wifi.

This already consumes a lot of data from the eSIM. We bought an eSIM from Airalo for €57.50 for 50 gigabytes and managed to last almost 4 weeks with it. We used this eSIM for both phones over hotspot. We consumed that much due to constant navigation and, of course, this travel blog. We rarely posted anything on social media.

Also important: power banks are allowed on Asian airlines only with the CCC mark. Our European CE are prohibited. But they are, of course, very cheap to buy in China.

One last small note: When you're traveling in China, it’s good to always have some toilet paper and hand sanitizer with you. Many public toilets don’t have any. And the most annoying thing is that squat toilets are found everywhere. Usually, there’s at least one normal toilet.

Regarding the sights, which was our main reason for the trip, I won’t write specifically. You can find it thoroughly in the individual daily reports. But to sum up: Everything was truly beautiful!

Expenses:

Prior to the trip, as described in Part 1, we had already booked and paid for most things.

For China, for 25 days, the expenses for food, transport, entrance fees, and a few purchases came to about €2000.

Additionally, we took approximately 4100 photos and averaged 20,000 steps.

We wish you who also want to travel through China a lot of fun.

We found it beautiful, adventurous, exhausting, and definitely special.

And now we are super excited for Japan.

So:

ONWARD ➡️➡️➡️ PART 7:

Welcome to Japan 🇯🇵

Tue. 17.03.2026

Journeys Chongqing - Huangshan

Our alarm went off at 4:30 AM, as we were facing our longest train journey of the trip today. A total of 9 hours and 20 minutes of pure travel time. From Chongqing at 7:45 AM to Hefei at 3:28 PM, then at 4:22 PM to Huangshan, arriving at 5:59 PM.

For this longest journey, we treated ourselves to first-class tickets, which were still a bargain at €91 per person.

However, this time our luggage posed a small problem. There was somehow no proper space, and the train attendant had us move our bags here and there until she deemed it acceptable. There were very few passengers at the initial stations, or maybe just in first class. We had seats separated from the aisle, but since it was so empty, we sat together; however, it became very drafty at times, and we felt really cold. We spoke to the train attendant, and we were able to change seats, but despite the 23 degrees in the train, it wasn’t comfortable. We didn’t have this issue before. Eventually, guests arrived who actually had those seats, so we had to switch back toward the end.

First class is not very different from second class, but the seats are wider, making it much more comfortable.

The transfer in Hefei went very well, and we completed the final leg in second class, which was fully occupied, in 1 hour and 37 minutes.

Now we were heading from the hyper-modern metropolises to more rural areas. Although Huangshan is still a million-city, with only 1.5 million residents, it now seems very small to us. We even spent our first night in Tunxi, a district of Huangshan with only 242 thousand inhabitants. However, this time, we are focusing on China's natural beauties.

Here’s a good summary:

Huangshan Mountain Brief Overview:

The Huangshan Mountain (“Yellow Mountain”) in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui is a world-famous UNESCO World Natural and Cultural Heritage site, known for its bizarre granite rocks, gnarled pines, seas of clouds, and hot springs. As an inspiration for the floating mountains in “Avatar,” it is a major attraction for hikers.

Key Facts & Highlights:

Location: Southern Anhui, approximately 154 km² in area with 72 peaks.

Highest Point: Lotus Blossom Peak (1,864 m).

The 4 Wonders: Sea of Clouds, bizarre rock formations, gnarled pines, hot springs.

Tourism: Very well developed through thousands of stone steps and several cable cars, overnight stays at the summit for sunrise observation are very popular.

Climate: Often shrouded in fog, which enhances the mystical atmosphere.

Best Travel Time: Year-round, especially spring/autumn.

During the train ride, you could already see a difference. This time not only skyscrapers next to each other but many fields and mist-covered mountains.

As always, we let ourselves be picked up by a Didi, and for the first time, the driver spoke to us using a translator app. Normally, there’s not even a greeting.

Our hotel is located right on Old Street. As the name suggests, this is a historical street and very famous. It is over 700 years old, and more than 100 films have been shot on this charming street, with buildings constructed in various dynasties.

Our driver helped us get to the hotel, as he couldn’t enter this pedestrian zone with his car, and our hotel is hidden behind a tea shop.

We wandered around Old Street and then went to a restaurant. The waiter was exceedingly polite and had a number of questions about our food preferences. There was no menu. He suggested several dishes after gauging our tastes. Among other things, we told him that while we like fish, we prefer not to have a whole one. We usually have no desire to deal with the bones. What did we get? A whole fish with bones, but it came with delicious pak choi and sweet-sour pork ribs. So, it was really tasty. And for such a rather fancy meal, we paid a total of €28.