Wow beijing is amazing, we seemed to have seen so much these last few days. Pleased to report it still has a lot of chinese charm: people on bicycles, old men sat in streets, red flags, grand buildings and millions of people all who are very friendly and say hello to us. On wednesday we started our tour with our personal guide Coco, at the centre of Beijing, Tiananmen Square. The place is huge and was packed full of people, taking photos, waving flags and flying kites. The square is surrounded by grand official buildings and museums. We walked through Tiananmen gate into the forbidden city. Big gate houses with big wooden doors and all decorated with lots of colourful paintings. its was mobed inside as its the national holidays so there are chinese tourists everywhere. We went through several big gates and courtyards with lots of stone lions and dragons for protection. At the far end we explored the maze of smaller buildings where the many wivs of the emporer once lived. There are 9999 rooms in the forbidden city, thankfully we didnt go round all of them. Next stop was the temple of heaven, a grand temple surrounded by a huge park. Once again lots of brightly decorated buildings and a long corridor which is where locals congragate and play games, chat, sing and dance. People seem very happy. After we went to a tea house to learn about and taste varoius chinese teas. They explained how different teas can help different illnesses and also claim thats what keeps them slim. We then went to one of the biggest remaining hutongs in beijing. Basically a hutong is an old neighbourhood with houses and a mzae of narrow streets and alleyways. Only older people live here now as most houses are very small and dont have bathrooms, they have to use public toliets and bathhouses. We went and had tea inside one of the houses with a nice old lady. The houses are built around a samll courtyard and neighbours are like family. Our final stop was an acrobat show where we got to see lots of gymnastics and very strong men lifting several people. this was followed by a chinese banquet, thankfully nothing dodgy we hope, as the food seems similar to chinese at home. In the evening we went for another stroll around Tiananmen square to see it all lit up at night. Everyone kept taking our photos! Not bad for the first day.