A last update before we leave for Xian. Today we had a hectic day of exploring. We started off by thankfully waking to find that all our washing had dried (it was washed for us about 48 hours earlier....) It was then off towards the Forbidden City to check it out. When we got down there, we found oursleves in some charming gardens, whose tranquility was very much at odds with the surrounding hustle and bustle.We spent most of the rest of the day checking out the ...

Photos now uploaded!We have trundled into Beijing passing through Northern China and being shunted down past the great wall on the way. First impressions of China are greenery and trees (after brown  grass and sand in Mongolia), huge big chemical plants, acres of smog - in fact not able to see any blue sky and a grand scale of labour avaibale - over 1000 railway workers working in a team to replace sleepers.After arrival, we set about finding ...

We got on the train in Ulan Bator for a 30 hour trip across the border and into Beijing. For the first train trip in about 3 weeks we were not in the same carriage as our Aussie companions (Matt and Patrina). This was probably more of a shock than we had realised, as we had built up a cheeky rapport with them. Even worse, we had been put togther with our arch nemeses, the 'know it all travellers' who had been vexing us on and off for a couple of weeks. Th...