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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 went to find a number 9 bus. We managed to ALL crowd onto one bus with all our gear much to the other people on the bus's disappointment. It took about 20 minutes to reach the other train station but our City Central Hostel was in fact just over the road from it. We piled our bags into one room and went off in search of McD's for breakfast.

For the next few days Shane and I did very little while the rest of the group ran around trying to see all the sights of Beijing in three days. We spent a fair bit of time at the visa office trying to get off the group visa, and eventually thanks to Sissy we now have shiny new individual visas. It was a bit of a nightmare but only ended up costing us about £15 each so we were happy. We did get around seeing a bit of the city and one of the electronics shopping districts to buy a new hard drive.

On the afternoon of the 6th we said goodbye to the group as they headed off to the train back to Xi'an, and moved to a new hotel closer to the Forbidden City. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone, but also kind of exciting because now we are off on our own again and heading home soon. So to all those people reading this to get updates from the Orange Truck, you'll have to get them from someone else I'm afraid. I guess this means we don't count as overlanders anymore...