BEIJING

Arrived in Beijing around 10pm and were greeted by strange signs and weird symbols! Somehow managed to find our way to the bus that would take us near to where we wanted to go which was the Novotel Beijing. Got in at 11pm whereupon Emma collapsed onto the bed and I went out to get emergency supplies of beer and pastries. Could not believe how hot it was and how much hotter it was to become! Temperatures regularly in the 90's and humid with it.

Having spent 10 days here we have pretty much seen all the main sights and a few 'interesting' sights too ........ classics have to be babies/small childrens bottoms hanging out of crotchless trousers (no nappies), singing groups in the park on a Sunday afternoon, 5 people on an electric bicycle, a traffic system where you have to wait for the green man to flash before crossing the road whereupon all the traffic proceeds to zoom across the road (this was on every road we crossed), internet cafes (few and far between) which deny access to many overses sites such as BBC world news, restaurants with lovely delicacies like Braised Duck Tongues, people hawking and spitting their phlegm EVERYWHERE, rickshaw drivers who seem to think that we are mentally deranged when we explain that we would prefer to walk and street sellers who cannot understand that we really do not want to buy a plastic model of the Great Wall.

Food here is amazing and I have to admit that we have been back to the same streetside restaurant 5 times as the food there is just fantastic and it's such a great place for people watching. It's also always full of locals which is a good sign.

Been on visits to The Great Wall, The Forbidden City, Tiannamen Square, Quixnon Gardens, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Some more gardens, The City Wall, various City Gates, the Hutongs (yes they are still here) and some huge shopping malls. Pleased to say that we managed get to these sights on public transport via the magical art of shouting and gesticulating wildly! Starting to feel empathy for all the hollywood stars as we have had to pose for photographs with loads of people ... I think that they are, in the main, visitors to Beijing from remoter areas but we do seem to be a curiosity for them (see photo - they took one of us so we took one of them) .

Overall, Beijing is a vibrant, bustling city which is rapidly trying to ready itself for ther olympics but needs to do a lot more ....... service standards are appaling, the smog is unbelievable and the amount of phlegm hitting the streets is disgusting. On the upside the architecture is spectacular, people are friendly (mostly) and food is simply superb.

Took the 17:03 overnight train to Pyon and had the top bunk of a 3 tier bunk bed.... all great fn especially as we had to autograph 8 peoples pads / notebooks!!!!!

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