We got a super-fast train to Tianjin. You may not have heard of it, but it's the third largest city in China and it's major port. There's not much else to do here apparently, but we are staying here because we're flying out to Bangkok via KL tomorrow morning. Time to move on...

<!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --> We had a few more days in Beijing after the group left. One of the days we found a taxi with Heather and Russ to the Great Wall, finding one that would take us to Mutianyu and back for 600 yuan. The drive took about 1:15 and it rained the whole way there, but it stopped by the time we got there. At Mutianyu they have a chairlift on the way up (the wall is on the top of a ridge) and a tobog...

We knew our last truck day was going to be a long one, but it had everything a truck day should have. Before we had got too far this morning we were treated to some bumpy dirt roads. The day dragged on and before midday we were stuck in traffic near some roadworks. When we tried to move to the other side of the road to sneak up the side we nearly got bogged in the mud. Once we finally got through the traffic it was fairly smooth sailing on some nice-ish mot...

<!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --> It was quite chilly this morning but as the day went on and we got a bit lower it got hotter and hotter. We picked up Terry from the hospital - the swine flu tests were all clear, apparently it's just man flu and he'll be fine, thank goodness or we would have all been in the hospital for tests. Today we drove on proper toll motorway the whole way, complete with clean service station toilet...

<!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --> Beijing part 1 - until the group leaves After we arrived at the station, the group stumbled off the train with all our gear and headed out of the station, following Steve and Sissi like sheep. Our hostel was supposedly right next to the station, but when we got outside they worked out that it was actually Beijing central that it was next to and we had arrived at Beijing West. So, off we w...