Hi everyone. I have finally made it to the other side of the world!!! It was along journey (roughly 27 hours in total sat on a plane in the last two days). I thought the lack of blood supply to my but cheeks might have encouraged them to shrink, yet the mirror still doesnt bother to lie to me. My legs were very swollen and I still have granny ankles!! On Staurday night I stopped over in in Colombo, Sri Lanke。　Considering I was supposed to roughing it I found the five star hotel very luxurious. I met a nice young Si Lanke man who took me on a tour of the village as I was too scared to go by myself。　I presume he was looking for some money yet I had no currency to give him. It was very bizarre walking the streets out there - I felt like I had superstar status with all the heads turning. After that little trip I then had a very posh dinner with Granny Kumar!! Navigating Beijing airport was not too bad but it took me an hour to find my luiggage which turned up in the lost and found department! The death drive (taxi) to the hotel was a good demonstration of the Chinese acute lack of road safety awareness. On Sunday evening I met with my group - very nice bunch of people I hasten to add, yet all a little sore from thier 10km walk on the Great Wall the day before. (I missed this due to flying in late from Visa trouble!!) What a shame. Off to Tianamen Square today, then to a disabled school to meet some more locals. Tonight I will be roughing it as I hit the hardness of the \\\"hard\\\" overnight sleeper train. Look forward to hearing from you all Lots of love Becky x x x