We set off for China from Manchester Airport after emotional goodbyes at the airport, and arrived tired out after a 14 hour flight with a 2hour stop off in Doha. After being dropped off at the other side of the city by a cheeky taxi driver we finally got to our booked hotel and tried to find the metro station and realised just how far away from home! There were no road signs, no english speakers, and no tourist office!

However we did manage to find the metro station eventually, and used it to see all the sights of Beijing. We saw the olympic park, which was huge and really impressive, Tiananmen Square, which was full of policemen, undercover and in uniform, as people apparently often soak theirselves in petrol and set theirself alight. the forbidden city, the zoo, the summer palace, which was beautiful in the sunshine and loads more. we also went on an organised tour to the great wall of China, which was really good if you could forget about the silk factory and the jade factory!