So, as is tradition for me when I finish these trips here are my stats from this trip:
Number of days: 19
Number of flights to get from London to Hong Kong: 3
Number of flights to get from Beijing to London: 2
Number of overnight trains taken: 4
Decent night’s sleep on overnight trains: 1
Times I ate dog: 0 (sadly, it was far too expensive every time I found it on a menu)
Tour group size: 10
Nationalities represented on tour: 6 (British, Australian, America, Swiss, Romanian and Chinese)
Different towns spent night in: 7
Average price of a meal: ¥30 (£3)
Average price of a beer: ¥10(£1)
Meals served with knife and fork rather than chopsticks: 0
Dodgy squat toilets seen: too many
Number of people at tourist sites during public holiday: billions (in a country of 1.3bn, not necessarily an exaggeration)
Days of rain: 12
Days of sun: 5