Nigel: We had already been to China before and our first destination in China, on our previous travel, was also Beijing. We wanted to return to see if/how much the city and the area we stayed in had changed. We booked the same hostel as previous to try and relive the experience. The hostel is situated in one of the several Hutong's in Beijing and the area has changed a lot. It has got more commercialised and there are many new shops plying their trade along the main strip. The hostel, however, had stayed the same.

On our first full day in the city we decided to go back to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. The last time we were here, we walked through the Forbidden city in record time due to the extreme heat which Beijing was experiencing. This time we wanted to see it at a much slower pace and give it the justice it deserves. The Forbidden city is an area within Beijing which for 500 years was closed to the public and was only accessible to royalty. It is protected by a 52m wide moat and high walls which circle the perimeter. Within the city, there are several buildings consisting of items such as royal chairs and antiques etc. You start from one end and work your way through to the exit gate which is situated on the opposite side. Although the weather wasn't as hot, we are pleased to say that we beat our previous record time and managed to get out the exit gate a little quicker. We tried!!!!

Similar to the Forbidden city, we also wanted to revisit the Great Wall of China and walk the same stretch as last time. There are several sections of wall which you can walk and the one we chose is the least known section due to it not being situated within the Beijing district and not getting the same amount of publicity as those sections closer to the capital. To get there, we had to take a 3 hour bus journey and the driving was as crazy as last time (over taking on blind corners etc!). The total distance which we were due to walk was approximately 12km and as we had done it before we were confident where we were going...... big mistake. Since we had last been there, there have been changes to the distance you walk. Due to the wall stretching through 2 provinces, it has been decided by one of the provinces, that they want to re-furbish their section of the wall to try and compete with the more popular sections in Beijing. This has resulted in the walk being shortened and you don't actually walk the total distance which we did previously. Reflecting on what the tour guide said, she did mention that you had to cut down after a certain section to catch the bus. Due to us ignoring what she said and being cocky in thinking we knew where we going, we set off in front of the crowd, and talked about having a nice cold beer at the end whilst waiting for the others..... We missed the turn off. We got to one of the towers (4 towers after we should have got off the wall) only to be told that we were not allowed through and we had to turn around. We were fortunate that there was a Russian couple there and they could speak good Chinese. They told us that we had to go back 4 towers and head down the path. Not only did we end up having to walk extra KM's, we also ended up being the second to last persons to turn up too, and the people that we left at the beginning were already there and it was those who were drinking beer waiting for us. That served us right. The wall was still as impressive as last time and it doesn't matter how many times you go there, you are amazed by how far it stretches across the mountain range and you cant imagine how they constructed it so many years ago.

Our final full day before we set off to Shanghai was set aside to visit a place called the "Summer Palace". Unlike the two previous places, we didn't manage to get there last time. It was only after we left Beijing (last time) that we spoke to a couple of people who asked us if we got to the palace as it was amazing. Our response of "no we didn't" which was received with confusion and shock as apparently the Palace is considered on par with the Great Wall when visiting Beijing. This time we were determined to get there and although there was some confusion on how to get to the entrance we found it eventually. It's worth noting that during our time in Beijing, the city was experiencing a blanket of smog and this was the same for the Summer Palace. All though the smog didn't effect us in what we did, it did give some sights a different view to what we would have experienced if there was no smog. The name fully describes what the palace was used for, with the exception that Emperors and other dignitaries were the only people that could use it. The buildings are housed around a very large man made lake which you can either walk around or get the boat across.