Wow - an exhausting, amazing, even emotional day... Had a lovely man take us first to the ming tombs, where emperors were buried deep underground more than 500 years ago. Was fascinating. Then on to the Great Wall of China. Still feels surreal just writing that! It was extraordinary, steep, quiet (!), beautiful. Also crazy - who builds a wall like that across the top of a mountain range...! Quite an emotional, even spiritual time, book ended by a crazily scary ch...

So after 32 hours door to door, I'm finding this chandelier above our bed too much of an assault on my senses!!! The great news is we made it, the hotel and room are very cool, and the tiredness and overstimulation is nothing a good sleep won't fix! I'm surprised by a touch of culture shock - our hotel is in a great area generally but a tiny lane that gives a sense of the real Beijing. Looking forward to taking photos. Taxi driver, of course, wouldn't give us cha...

Yep, that's starfish. And crickets. And snake. And chicken livers. And baby birds of some description. They are so prettily and precisely arranged. And clearly a great treat for all around us. Was such a fun laneway to find - crowded, great smells, lunch, souvenirs, people having fun, relaxing on a Sunday. Just what we were hoping to come across.

So this was lunch.... Mine was "lamb" - wonder what that was a euphemism for? Yummy nevertheless. See next photo for what else we could have chosen!

What a spine tingling way to start the morning. Tianamen square. Yes, it was freezing! But mind bogglingly huge, ancient and filled with traumatic history. Such an extraordinary different culture to anything I have experienced or imagined. Wow.