8th June

Wishful thinking did not get us a Blue Sky Day. Another day of grey/brown haze. We have not seen the sun since landing in Beijing. Not to worry as we will make the most of our time here enjoyable.

Today we walk to see the forbidden Palace, about a 30 minute walk. There are so many people here, and then i realise its Saturday. Maybe it would not be as crowded during a week day. Little disappointed. There are so many tour guides yelling through their loud speakers so their group of 25 or more people can hear them. You cannot go into any of the temples, you can only peer through windows to try and see whats inside

We make our way out and head to Tiananmen Square, about a 30 minute walk. We stop at a little restaurant where lots of locals are eating. Food was great. As there are no smoking laws banning smoking in food place, we had to endure the smoke from all the patrons.

Tiananmen Square is certainly big, but there is nothing here to look at, just a big open area. There is almost no point in taking pictures as the haze is getting worse.

We catch the subway to Walmart, yes Walmart is here. It was interesting seeing what is sold in the way of fruit, vegetables and meat. A lot different to home.

For tea we try the local restaurant next to the apartment. Its doesnt look much but the food was good. We sat with others at a large round table. Cannot believe how much the chinese eat. We ordered fried rice and a pork stir fry dish. More than enough. The others at the table ordered 4 to 5 main meals, and had so much left over. They did take it home so i suppose i see why they ordered so much.

9th June
Awoke to another no blue sky day, with some light rain falling. Dont have much planned today. Doesnt look like the rain is abating, so we grab our umbrellas and start walking. As we get to the end of the laneway the rain gets heavier, we duck into the restaurant and have some lunch. Still rain heavy so we head back to the apartment.

A few hours later the rain has eased so we decide to walk to Quianmen Street. It is full of little lanes and shops that date back 100 years or more. It has not been subject to re-development.

Later in the evening the rain clears are we actually get to see the clouds and even get to see an orange sky from the sunset. Tomorrow we fly out to Jiuzhaigou Valley. Its a 2.5 hour flight south west of Beijing. Jiuzhaigou Valley is a nature reserve and national park located in northern Sichuan province of south western China.
Jiuzhaigou Valley is part of the Min Mountains on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau and stretches over 72,000 hectares.