We were up at 5am this morning for a 3 hour drive to Mongolia (no less!) to join the Great Wall at Jinshanling for a 10km walk to Simatai. We were joined on the trip by a guy called Thorston from Germany who is working in China for 6 months. The guide was hilarious - she couldn't speak a word of English, she kept taking short cuts and lagged behind us most of the way - completely pointless!! The walk took 4 - 5 hours, visibility was great and the views were st...

Our first encounter with China was Beijing airport which was impressive to say the least - new, shiny and big!!! We took a taxi to the youth hostel and drove along a new motorway which even had flower baskets on the verges - not your typical M62! It took an age to circle Beijing - it is a vast city - but eventually after a rather hairy drive through the city dodging cars, bikes and buses we rather worryingly took a left turn into what can only be described as ...