Given the nature of overlanding and how insanely big China is, we have decided to break our blog posts down thematically rather than chronologically for ease of writing (and reading!) Today's post is about some of the BIG tourist attractions that we managed to see on this trip to China (think the kinds of things that make the top ten in Lonely Planet).

In the initial planning stages of our round the world adventure Joe turned to me one evening and said 'do you think we should try and go to a 'stan' country? I was thinking Uzbekistan.' After some research and a whole load of googling, we found a trip run by a company called Dragoman who offer journeys across Central Asia on a purpose built truck with options to wild camp as well as stay in many of the historical cities of the Silk Road. The mix of camping (which we haven't done at all so far), yurt home stays and opportunities for hiking and horse riding as well as museum stops and tours seemed like a great way to explore some less well visited countries which can be difficult to get to on your own, especially with some legally requiring a native language speaking guide. Our epic journey will take us across northern China, starting in Beijing, before we head to Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia (we decided one 'stan' just wasn't enough!).

After waiting 8 months to get started on this final 3 month leg, we met the Dragoman crew, our fellow passengers and our truck Layla in China's capital. The trip kicked off with a few days exploring Beijing's rich history (mainly by the metro!) with stops at the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven to name but a few, before we headed out on China's super slick highways to start our 44 day long drive across the vast country.

Obviously we didn't just eat in Hong Kong, there's plenty to see and do and we managed quite a packed itinerary in our five day stay. Our first adventure out into the crowded and claustrophobic streets of Hong Kong was to take a ride on what was once the world’s longest escalator system which provides a means for many Hong Kong commuters to travel from the residential area high in the mountain down to the business district and then back again – in fact the escalators switch direction at 10:30am each day. Despite being built to relieve traffic on the roads, the escalators have become something of a tourist attraction in their own right, with the streets either side of them lined with all sorts of restaurants and cafes which you can pop into on your way by, and provided some interesting if not a little unorthodox entertainment for the morning. On reaching the top, we meandered down the hill and took a tour of some of Hong Kong’s famous street art complete with the next generation of instagram celebrity wannabes posing in front of them.

        5. Pizza by the Slice at Paisano's Pizzeria. Whilst more commonly associated with the Big Apple, this pizza chain serves up huge individual slices of hot delicious pizza to a very busy restaurant full of waiting customers. It was bit mad, but the food was good and who doesn't love pizza?!