We live in a picturesque fishing village on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, Australia. We think it is paradise. And it is. And every time we travel we ask ourselves the very same question. "Why on earth are we leaving Crowdy Head?". 

This was our third trip to China since our retirement in 1998. Although we had both travelled quite extensively with our work careers, we had really fallen in love with China and wanted to explore more of this mysterious yet impressive country. Our previous trip in 2005 took us from Beijing (via Shanghai) to Kunming, the capital city of the wonderful province of Yunnan in south-east China. Our travels in Yunnan led us to the exotic minority group townships of Dali and Lijiang then south to the strongly Indo-Chinese influenced region of Xishuangbanna and the simply gorgeous tropical city of Jinhong close to the Myanmar (Burma) border and right on the mighty Mekong River.

Yunnan Province borders the Autonomous Region of Tibet and we were always a bit sorry that on our last trip we did not travel further west from Lijiang to the township of Zhongdian, otherwise known as Shangri-la. We were also influenced to travel further west on this trip because of the recent completion of the high railway which now links Lhasa the capital city of Tibet to the Qinghai Province of central China. Widely regarded as an engineering marvel, we were also well aware that the railway was a real concern to some who see this transport link as a further means to open up Tibet to the wider Chinese population, with the threat of breaking down a culture of some of the remotest living peoples in the world.

We were keen to journey through Tibet and also to begin to explore some of the old routes of the ancient Silk Road. The high rail would take us north through Qinghai Province to Gansu Province and from there by road to the Silk Road oasis cities of Dunhuang, Turpan and then to the Xinjiang province capital city of Urumqi in the far north-west of China.

Urumqi is the great rail hub for the Silk Route Railway Line as it heads north-west into Russia and the rail link to Kashgar in the south-west of China. I had always wanted to visit Urumqi. It sounded so exotic and remote. It is of course known as the furtherest place in the world from a coastline. I think it appealed to me also because of its exotic Mongolian name - also known by its Chinese name of Wulumuchi or Wushi.

From Urumqi we would take the southern rail route to Kashgar, a city in the very far west of China that we had always wanted to visit. We had read about its wonderful and colourful history as a major trading hub on the Silk Road and its famous markets. We were keen to explore this "off the beaten track" exotic city and its surrounds.

Our last part of our trip would take us down the famous Karakoram Highway to the township of Tashkorgan, the last outpost before the highway head across the Khunjerab pass into Pakistan.

It was an exciting trip to plan and we were equally excited this time to leave our bit of paradise and head off on yet another unknown journey to the more distant parts of China.

Our train trip to Sydney from our nearest railway station Taree was pleasant. But our arrival in Sydney signalled what was to be a journey riddled with unnecessary and frustrating issues. We were well used to difficulties that can occur during travel, especially to countries where language was a problem, for us. But we could not possibly have foreseen just how many things could go wrong with just one trip.

On our arrival in Sydney we took the rail link to Sydney International Airport. Now privatised, this line is extraordinarily expensive and we were less than impressed with the aggressive staff and lack of facilities of a standard we would expect of an international rail link. Our tickets from Taree had included our fares on this private line and our paperwork clearly stated this. The guard at the Airport end however did not agree and flew into an unbelievable rage, accusing us of not paying. To cut a long story short, he eventually conceded to let us through the gateway to the airport but not without a full interrogation for some half an hour and a curt comment spat out that he still did not believe we had paid.

We then could not find the bus terminal for our shuttle bus to our motel - there was no obvious signage and were left wandering around the car park area in the rain without a soul in sight to ask for assistance. Over an hour later the bus arrived.

Small issues for us really. But what did concern us was what sort of image would our Sydney International Airport give to our international visitors?