What photo takes you right back to China?

It has to be the Great Wall. It’s such an iconic sight but seeing it snaking off over the hilltops in both directions really was breathtaking. It was also the first day of Mum and Dad’s holiday with us and it was great to see China with them.

Summarise China in three words.

• Food – without doubt one of the highlights of our stay was the incredible food, from Peking Duck to noodles in a backstreet cafe and pork rolls from a street stand, pretty much everything we tried was delicious!
• Imperial – the Forbidden City, the emperors’ tombs in Xi’an, and many of the other sights we visited were evidence of China’s imperial past
• Scaffolding – everywhere we went it seemed that China was under construction, from the ‘ancient city wall’ in Datong to new high rise blocks seen from train windows in all of the cities we visited.

You really know you’re in China when…

…your feet are aching and you’re engulfed by a group of Chinese tourists all wearing the same coloured caps.

What one item should you definitely pack when going to China?

Your appetite! You’ll definitely want to practice your chopstick skills on the wide range of tasty foods available.