Tongli

Sadly, we had less than two hours to explore this medieval water-town, but it was still very pleasant to stroll along some of its canals and admire the traditional buildings. It has been much used as a film set, but interestingly it wasn't discovered by tourism until about five years ago. With a bit more time I'm sure I'd have enjoyed wandering further off the main tourist drag and there were also various museums and so on which I didn't even find. Still, a lovely little town, with some excellent roast pork.

Our return to Shanghai signalled the end of our tour, with another good meal. Despite my frustration at the pace of the tour and the lack of 'free time', I have enjoyed this trip a lot. I've met some really lovely people and enjoyed the company of everyone in the group - the odds of that must be pretty long. I'd say it's really been a 'taster tour' - lots of big highlight sights - and it's certainly given me some ideas about what I'd do or where I'd go if I come back to China again.