I went on my holiday and at first was not in the mood for it. Every day was a surprise as the journey was in opposition to the usual starting points. We ended where we normally started. I felt stuck at first and then relaxed into it. Besides my initial feelings the whole trip was great. The whole holiday was last minute as no visa was required. Normally I would have time to get into the right frame of mind. Mental preparation really helps but we just jumped in all together last minute.

It was nothing like my two other trips, there were lush pine forests, glaciers, rapids and carved rocks in Tibetan. We spent our time exclusively in Sichuan, famous for its numbing green pepper and Sichuan spice. These flavours don’t seem to work outside of China. It really works with noodles but you aren’t meant to guzzle the spices, its like a base you slurp the noodles from and yak meat from. If you actually eat the spices your whole mouth goes numb.

I got a few history lessons about famous battles and walked on some of those sites. There were times I was blown away by the maze like structure of China. Things seemed to have multiple levels and the old town met the new town and I realised it was not going to be easy to get around without local knowledge.

One idea that stuck in my mind was that nature was out of reach. I was too distant, too caught up in technology, too distracted for my own good. All I could do was observe nature. I no longer know how to do anything. Just watched the rapids fly by and followed the path, maybe that was all I needed to do. I definitely felt out of place.

The food was at times medicinal, had no idea what these frond like dishes were, it was balanced. An array of food all doing different jobs. Locally foraged. Friendly countryside demeanour, no hot heads, slow service, although the trucks had to get places. I am back just getting over jet lag. It isn’t that hard but I wondered if I learned anything. Did I connect with nature? I was at least in the moment as the trip progressed.