Arrived in Beijing on the 25th September at about 11pm. Got into a taxi after a long queue at the airport only to find that the taxi driver spoke absolutely no English!!! He couldn't even say 'okay, I know where this is' when we handed him the address of our hostel. After about an hour of driving on his part and an hour of back seat nail biting on our part we thankfully pulled up outside the hostel. If you have trust issues you should not visit China. Stayed at YMCA in Railway Square, very basic but clean, except for bathrooms, which also had the new horror of the 'squat toilet'!

Changed hostel next day to meet up with our Geckos group. Another taxi ordeal! Landed at a hotel with the correct name but the wrong address. Eventually got to the right address where we met with the group and our guide Tina. Had a group meal at the hotel, lovely fresh Chinese food, people laughed over using chopsticks. Our tour guide had a funny accent and kept calling one of the girls Betty (her name was Becky)  which caused lots of amusement - especially as it was Becky's birthday and Tina got her a cake which said ' Happy Birthday Betty'. Group seems nice, lots of Australians, couple of New Zealanders, couple from London one Scots guy and us.