At first when I heard we were going to China I thought it was a mad, crazy and scary idea.  Now I am quite excited about it, though still a bit nervous.  I am looking forward to camping in the desert, completely alone, to seeing markets in the small towns of Central Asia, and to seeing the Pamir mountains in Tajikistan.  In China we will see the Terracotta army and Great Wall, but I am probably more excited about seeing some of the weird and wonderful places which most people don’t get a chance to see.  I am really lucky.

I am also excited because I will be spending the entire summer holidays with my mum and dad who have taken extra time off work to do this amazing trip.  It will be quite a treat to be with them and with Jake, Noah and Eden.  Even though we will be cooped up in the car for sometimes 7 or 8 hours a day, we have a lot of experience of this because we have driven across Madagascar, Tanzania and some of Southern Africa on shorter trips before  I like listening to my ipod though dad complains that this stops me looking out of the windows!

I am most worried about leaving my cats Charko and Ginko behind.  They will be going to a cattery but I don’t think they will like it much!  I am also a bit worried about us being in a car crash or stuck in the middle of a desert (though the car will have extra water tanks so at least we should have something to drink!).  And we have a satellite telephone to call somebody if we get stuck, so that is quite reassuring.

I have drawn the design for our car which is called Jinjeh (after John, Ingrid, Noah, Jake, Eden and ME!!).

I’ll keep you posted on developments.  See ya later.

Hannah - Visit my Blog