Penny Dodd and Bob Cole chose to see parts of China that the average tourist parties rarely get a glimpse of. The British couple took the train for four weeks on a grand tour of the mainland, quickly falling in love with the country.
Starting at the obvious highlights, such as Beijing and Shanghai, they then headed to Chengdu , feasting on the region's spicy food. From there it was off to Lijiang , before finally heading to a tiny village in Guizhou province .
Ms Dodd, 42, a language teacher, and Mr Cole, 58, are typical of a growing band of tourists heading to the mainland for their holidays. They also represent the steadily growing band of westerners coming to China, a group that is tipped to swell as the mainland becomes the world's No 1 tourist destination by 2020.
Though they represent just a trickle compared with the popular destinations in Europe, soon interest in the mainland is expected to spark a tourist tidal wave, as record numbers fly in to discover the country in the next decade.
The rise of China as a tourist destination was underscored this month by the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), based in Madrid, when it said the country had the fastest rising number of visitors in the world.
John Kester, UNWTO chief of market intelligence, was upbeat about the prospects of tourism for the Middle Kingdom. 'There is no doubt that by 2020 about 130 million will go there every year,' he said. 'It will be the most popular place in the world.'