Well, today was definitely a better day weather-wise - it didn't rain once!! At one point we could definitely feel the sun through the mountains of clouds, and it was definitely warmer, even if that did make it a little clammy! Fingers crossed for another improvement tomorrow, as we're off to the Great Wall all day so it would be nice to have a little sunshine!! Today we finally made it to the Forbidden City - we decided we would just have to go whatever the weather. Unfortunately, when we arrived we discovered we were just 12 yuan short of the money we needed to hire two audio guides - as we'd been promised in the book that this was narrated by none other than James Bond himself, Roger Moore, we felt we had to have them. So we trekked off across Tian'anmen Square to an ATM, on a detour that took nearly an hour all told, only to discover that 007 was nowhere in sight and the audio guides were rubbish! They couldn't be paused or repeated, and as such we were never entirely sure what we were looking at. Plus, the main hall of the Forbidden City, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, is currently being renovated, so we couldn't see it. Renovation has been something of a theme of today, quite a lot of things have been cordoned off, and its a shame - they don't go for restoration, instead they just paint over the centuries old buildings and temples to make them shiny and brand new looking - nice, but not exactly authentic! We're assuming everything is being done in preparation for the Olympics - based on the number of people we came across today though I really wouldn't want to be here then! So we made it through the Forbidden City - thanks to the audio guide I think we missed more things than we saw but we tried! We've rather given up on the metro system here - there just aren't enough convenient stops - so we jumped in a taxi to take us down to the Temple of Heaven. This was extremely pretty, although again, the central parts were being renovated, and everything else had the same shiny new quality to it. Its a lovely park though, I think being there at the crack of dawn to see all the people doing t'ai chi would be spectacular! We attempted the Pearl Market after the Temple, but it was nothing compared to the Silk Market and I don't think either of us had the energy! So we're back at the hostel for a rest, and we're going to try and find somewhere nice for dinner, as the food so far has not been terribly good. Dinner last night consisted of crisps and popcorn - healthy. I know that sounds bizarre, but it was because we went to a Chinese Acrobatics show, and that was all that was on offer! The Acrobatics were amazing, one of the best things we've seen, although we both spent the entire show either gasping or making little squeaky noises of fear! You would not believe some of the shapes these people can bend themselves into, or the fearless way they throw themselves through hoops or back and forth on poles. The only thing that worried me was the fact that all the acrobats looked about 12 - I hate to think what the contortion does to their delicate little spines!! Thats all the news for now - as I said we're off to the Great Wall tomorrow, so hopefully that will live up to expectations!