I can still remember the day I first “fell in love” with the country I consider to be one of the greatest travelling destinations in the world. It was the fourth day of my first trip to China in the (northern) autumn of 2012. I was lodging in the aptly named Lazy Bones Hostel in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. I had chosen the south-western provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan for my first venture into China because of my horticultural background and prior knowledge of the adventures of the intrepid European Plant Collectors of the 19th century. I had read of their adventures in this mountainous area of China from where many of the species introduced into European gardens originate from. Camellias, rhododendrons, orchids etc… but I diverge…back to the “love affair”…
While in Chengdu I had planned to visit
