When we had sat down to discuss and plan our around the World trip we'd dreamed of being in warm climates and on beaches for most of our time away. It had come as a bit of shock to both of us to arrive in Japan and China during their winters and that we'd spent the entirety of January freezing our asses off! The worst was due to arrive in Beijing. We'd been keeping tabs on the weather conditions and were marginally alarmed at the prospect of temperatures not rising above zero during the day and dipping to minus 10 during the night. Added to this was the fact that Beijing's top attractions (Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven and Great Wall) are all outside and exposed to the elements!

Beijing is a massive city, but it does have an inexpensive metro system which is easy to understand and quick. The only drawback with the metro is that it is constantly busy due to the number of people in Beijing and the price of tickets (20p per trip). We'd travelled by metro in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo but these in no way prepared us for the crowds and crushes that we were to experience in Beijing. We soon learned that the Chinese held little respect for queuing and personal body space and if we were to get around Beijing we had to learn the rules of engagement, and quickly.

Our hostel was called the Sanlitun Hostel and one of the friendlier and busier hostels we'd stayed at. Usefully, it was well positioned for the metro and had lots of staff on call to help out with any sort of enquiry.

First afternoon after arriving we went straight to the infamous Tiananmen Square where there was little going on save for some video walls showing rousing Chinese propaganda films. The National Museum was closed, the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall was closed and the Great Hall of the People was hosting the National People's Congress so was closed, all of which rather curtailed our enjoyment of the Square. Still, we made the most of our time and had time to see the monuments and grand gates that pepper the square.

No visit to China would be complete without a trip to the Great Wall of China and we were therefore bound to visit it. Our hostel offered guided tours to the Great Wall, but we decided to make our own (and decidedly cheaper) arrangements using the public buses. The Wall has a few sections that you can visit, we figured because of the off-season we were safe to visit Badaling, (a touristy section) as it wouldn't be overly crowded. As an added bonus, this section is relatively close to Beijing and easily accessible by public bus. A little like the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China is one of those attractions that doesn't fail to impress when you first see it. The Wall snakes over hills at almost impossible gradients, is inconceivably wide and high (given its length), goes on for as far as the eye can see and follows a path that seems totally illogical. We walked along two sections (about 8km in total), one with virtually nobody else on the wall, the other packed due to people taking a cable car. It is probably a good thing that sections of the Wall are incredibly steep as this helped us stay warm in freezing conditions. Most of this section of the Wall has been restored and it is clear when you reach the end of the walkable section of the Wall what state it was in before the magic wand of Chinese restoration was waved. This would be a recurring theme throughout Beijing.

After spending the evening warming up, on the next day we set off for the Forbidden City. We entered the city under the watchful gaze of a portrait of Chairman Mae and climbed the entrance gate to get a great view of Tiananmen Square. The Forbidden City is massive and takes hours to walk around. It consists of a large number of temples, palaces, living quarters and museums, a veritable playground for your average Qing emperor! Most of the buildings have been restored, especially as many of the buildings were destroyed by Anglo-French troops during one of many wars (as the signage in the Forbidden City is keen to point out!), but almost all of the buildings are of a similar style so after a while it can grow tiresome seeing the same set of buildings in a different courtyard, especially when it is so cold. The highlights for us were the clock museum (you will never believe how many clocks there were collected by the emperors) and the cypress and rock garden towards the back of the City.

More to follow soon...