China,

What a CRAZY country but an excellent place. Ive only been here for 6 days and ive sen things i tought i would never see! So im starting in Beijing and heading off to Xi'an on friday 28th. Beijing is an unbelievable city. Its got the maddest drivers, loudest people yet everyone gets along. The area is safe at night and everyone knows and talks to each other.

So ive been to the great wall which was a long 10km walk but deffinatly worth it. The trip i went on started at 6am on the coach. Free breakfast which consisted of a Macdonalds egg mac'muffin and a coke. Then a 4 hours drive to the part of the wall which i was going to treak. After the long walk you get a LARGE dinner as part of the trip. The food was excellent! Lots of traditional dishs and no dog! My chop stick skills are coming along nicely! Forgot how to use a fork. Then back on the coach for a 4hr trip back to the hostel. The whole day took 12hrs and cost 320yuan/29GBP!!!!! The best 29 pound by far.

So ive also been to Tianan square, the summer palace, The forbidden city and the Beijing night market where they serve scorpions kebabs! Havent tried yet but will soon. So as a westerner over here you get ALOT of attention! Ive had so many photos took of me with differnt people, mainly girls!;-) They stare at you like your from another plannet but are interested in what your doing in there country. Alot of people dont speak english but EVERYONE wants to learn it! You walk down the street and you here "Hallo" not hello as we would say! They seam to love the western culture and are influenced alot from it. Lots of people walk around with England clothes or caps on. Very funny.

My next stop is Xi'an 1200km away to see the terracotta army. The hostel booked my train ticket over the phone at 5pm and someone brought it around at 7pm! Everything over here gets delivered VERY FAST! Even Macdonals and KFC all to your door! Its a 1200km train ride and takes around 11hrs. On the train im staying in a soft sleeper which has a large bed, tv, radio ect. Basically first class and for 44GBP! Its so cheap to travel. Im still using my broken camera at the moment but ive been told to but a new one in Hongkong where the electronic good are much cheaper! I also now have a chinese mobile phone (english language luckly) so tx if you want. The number is +0086 15010762124.

Will keep the photos coming.

Andrew