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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PINGYAO

Wow, we took the overnight Hard Sleeper train from Beijing to Pinyao and appear to have arrived into a different world. Thought Beijing was a little dirty and polluted but Pinyao is just filthy beyond the obvious tourist streets. Having said that, the history is simply amazing as it is the only Chinese city that still has it's wall entirelly intact ..... much like Rothenburg in Germany except much, much bigger and older (13th Century). Seems so wierd staying in the centre of what was once such an advanced civilisation watching people throw human waste into the street outside their own houses! Once you venture outside the city walls you get a feeling of whjat a provincial city in China is really like and, I have to say, it's pretty disturbing! However, the people are very friendly, very curious and very keen on staring!

One other thing that has struck us is that the internet site access is STRICTLY limited. Wierd thing is that I can edit the blog but I can't view it !!!!! Just hope that it's all going on there!

Still having major problems trying to get the Visa to Tibet ... have decided to head to Chengdu to try there.

XIAN

Arrived in Xian via another overnight sleeper train ........ this time shared with an elderly Chinese gentleman with a heavy cold who sneezed violently, hawked madly and never used a handkerchief ..... result is that both Emma and I now have stinking colds despite the 37 degree heat! Tried to cure it by opting for the spicy version of a Tibetan hotpot in the restaurant next door ..... bit hit and miss as there were no English menus and no pictures but the only option was something that clucked or something that swam. Turned out to be the hottest thing that Emma and I have ever tasted ....... unbelievably hot. This was just as well as I don't think the chicken neck that I bit into would have been that tasty anyway.

Xian is much nicer city that Beijing in that it is a little less polluted (not by much) and is more manageable somehow.

One thing that has struck us about China is how service staff seem poles apart ....... they vary from the overly attentive (in the nig plush department stores) to the literally plain asleep in the less upmarket stores and museums. I kid you not, on our visit to the Shanxii museum which is reputedly one of the best in China there were no less than6 people asleep with many other playing cards or reading the paper. I actually wanted to buy something and it took 5 minutes of waiting patiently before I finally made myself seen (no other cutomers by the way), the assistant then sighed heavily, put down her paper, shouted that she did not understand (ok I can get that as my Mandarin is non existent) and then went back to reading her paper. Street hawkers on the other hand are something else ...... some people simply cannot understand why you don'y want a plastic flashing copy of the Great Wall .... it's as if they think that you must be mentally deficient (well, maybe we are).

CHENGDU

What a weird, controlling state China is ! Having not been allowed to view our blog anywhere in China we were at least allowed to edit it via entry through at the French Blogger site. It seems that the powers that be have now closed this access point so from now on we are entering details onto yahoo for inclusion on the blogsite when we get to somewhere not quite so scared of joe public. ANYWAY, rant over .......

We left Xian on the night sleeper which left 4 hours late ....... railway station packed full of smoking Chinese people. Wait was made bearable by 4 bottles of beer and a bottle of wine! Arrived in Chengdu at around 4 and were immediately hit by the impression that it is a much more relaxed city than the others that we have visited. Traffic is still as frenetic with cars, mopeds and bikes all using the footpaths as a second lane but there are, well, just less of them! Also surprised by how people seem to care a little more for the spaces around them .... much cleaner (though with still a long way to go) and a lot more pleasant.

The city has the obligatory statue of Mao but interestingly has a permanent armed guard to accompany it (the former 'mayor' of Chengdu has been under house arrest in Beijing since he advocated a non violent solution to the student uprising in 1986).

Succumbed to a 'western restaurant' run by a chinese guy who came from poor peasant stock and who was supporting his family at age 12 weaving bamboo baskets. The restaurant was called Peters Tex Mex and it was one of the best 'Tex Mex Meals we have ever had (and that includes lots of trips to America). Had mashed potato as a side order where all the restaurant could hear were the groans of delight and pleasure that came from Emma and I ... better than sex? Not sure but it sure came damn close! Two bottles of wine later and all was well with the world.

Went to visit the Panda Breeding Centre outside of Chengdu and spent 3 hours going ooooh, aaahhhh, soooo cute etc etc at the sight of all the Panda but especially the baby Pandas who are just too cute for words .... did you know that a Panda when born measure about 8cms? We also had the opportunity to view these newborns in their incubators .... amazing sight.

Managed to get our TTB permits to visit Tibet via an agency ... all very weird as we never actually got to see the permit and whilst we were told that we would leave at 8:30am we were told the night before (about 9pm) that we would have to leave at 4am .... taxi took a really weird way to the airport and it all felt a bit surreal! However, once we got to the airport we were ushered through and it has to be the quickest check in / boarding ever!