We left Shanghai via express train, and sped north, arriving in Beijing within 5 hours. A chinese guy sitting next to us told us that this train was even faster than the Japanese shinkansens. We watched the scenery change as we left the skyscrapers of Shanghai and entered into miles and miles of flat countryside. The sun descended into the smog in the distance and turned into a perfect deep red globe hanging in the sky, it looked more like a nearby planet rather than the sun - very weird. We made the most of our relatively quick journey knowing that future train rides would probably be more like 15 hours!

It was dark when we got off the train and we were a bit unsure of the accomodation as we followed the directions down a poorly lit alleyway and around the back of a large buliding. However, the hostel turned out to be one of the nicest we've stayed in and made our time in Beijing so good that we didn't want to leave.

We spent our first day, as always, getting to grips with where we were and figuring out the subway. We visited the Summer Palace and enjoyed walking around the large lake and looking at the traditional buildings set in a huge park area. We also got our first trip on a moped/tuk tuk.

One of the must sees on our trip had to be the great wall and so we booked onto an organised tour with the hostel for the following day. The 2 hour bus ride to the Mutianyu section of the wall, took us out of the smog and into clear air, blue skies and 25 degree heat. It was perfect weather for seeing the wall and we ascended up the mountain side, to tower 6 of the wall via ski- lift, with amazing views. There was alot of walking and climbing involved in our 3 hours on the wall and by the end of it we were thoroughly exhausted and slightly sunburnt but had loved every second of it (Pictures to follow!!). The trip ended with lunch at the base of the wall in a local restaurant with a variety of chinese dishes served up on a turn table for a help yourself style dining experience-lovely. Despite being full from this we headed out later on that night in search of Peking duck. We found a restaurant near to the hostel and for a tenner enjoyed a full duck with pancakes and all the trimmimgs.....we "waddled" to bed:-)

Our third day out in the central area was very hectic and the smoggy atmosphere made us feel like we were clogging up our lungs with dirt and the hurling and spitting from the locals had us trying to avoid all possible contact with anything but ourselves. We visited Tiananmen square and the Forbidden City, with the public squat toilets adding to our experience. Also have to mention the toilet training methods of the toddlers....no nappy required just a slit in the pants and they "squat and s***" wherever and whenever necessary with a trusty parent onhand to poop-a-scoop!! We have yet to see what happens if the toilet break is unexpected!!

Back at the hostel there was free Chinese hotpot from 7pm, so we made sure we were back in time for this. We grabbed a seat at the table, which had a gas ring set up with a large pot of spicy stew bubbling away on it. Plates of raw meats, pasta, veg and potato were set up around the pot and the idea was that you help yourself and throw what you want into the pot then scoop it out when its cooked - brilliant. Not only was the food delicious but we also got chatting to alot of people and a large group of us headed out to the local bars afterwards.

We spent our remaining days in Beijing seeing other local sights (Temples and parks) and enjoying meals and drinks with our new friends, including a trip to the "hooters" restaurant, which was very entertaining!

Tip: when asking for bottled water in a foreign country that mainly only serves its water hot don't point to a random empty bottle (which originally had ice tea in it) and think that this will make sense to them. As a group of us found out (in a KFC all of places): after ordering 6 waters and trying to indicate that we wanted it cold and in bottles we ended up with - 6 cups of hot water, 2 large pepsi's, 6 ice teas, 2 orange squash and one cup of hot orange juice???

Loved Beijing! Next up is Xian and the Terracotta Warriors.