Today was an early morning, we flew Sichaun Airlines to Beijing, takes a good 3 hours, a bit like travelling in Australia from one city to another.

We arrived in Beijing mid afternoon, wow the airport to start with - amazed us all, we could tell the city was developed for 2008 Olympics.

Only 30 minutes to our hotel, you will see from the Beijing map, there are ring roads, we are situated on the 3rd from the middle, fairly central, but not centre, which suits everyone well, as most attractions are easy to get to from our location, 15 to 20 mins at the most by bus.

On the way to hotel, the roads were so effective, loops and overpasses, and surprisingly trees lining the main veins, Ginko and alot of Willows.

We met the Tour Guide for the trip, Erin, and Cathy the local Beijing guide.   Both are cheeky, they add humour to any talks, and the talks are not too long.

Some of the members of the tour, hadn't arrived, so we spent the afternoon at the hotel, although we did venture across the road, that was an experience, eight lanes across to a corner supermarket like Woolies.    Food was interesting, they eat everything that comes from the ground and most creatures.   I checked the cheese, I picked it up and it was hard, I grabed a little block, like a Kit Kat bar.........it's not cheese they call it cheese, it was like condensed milk or white chocolate!!!

The evening was spent at a local restaurant with the tour group, then we had a session to meet each other and also get a bit of a run down of what we should know. Some of those things included:

1. Checking for counterfiet monies, how to find them when looking at notes.
2. Sticking together like Sticky Rice when asked to go with the group to places.
3. That free time will be given, and that's when we can it Popcorn.

Very nice hotel, big rooms and bathrooms...........and guess what, a softer bed, yeah!