Wow, what a difference from Japan! Gone is the orderly, organised country that we've grown to love.....hello to noise, dirt, chaos and endless street-sellers saying "you want watch? You want DVD? How about t-shirt?"!It's also goodbye to women in short skirts/shorts and knee-length boots!! Still, the Chinese women aren't bad-looking, but they're certainly not as well-dressed as the Japanese (who all look as though they're about to step out on a catwalk)....

Things didn't start too well here....our hotel wasn't quite what we were expecting and the area wasn't too great (basically a building site); wasted several hours in both of Beijing's HUGE railway stations trying to find the ticket offices (and failing to buy a soft-sleeper rail ticket); and getting ripped off by a taxi driver!! The next day didn't start too well either.....had decided to move to a hostel recommended by someone in Shanghai but couldn't find the ...