We left Ros and Pete's at 8am, and were taken across Shanghai to the railway station for our train to Beijing. The high speed train cruised at 303KpH, left on the dot of 10am and rolled into Beijing South station, around 1500km away at exactly 2.55pm as promised. Frank, our guide, was waiting and whisked us off to the hotel, where we had 20 mins to check in before leaving to go to the acrobatic show.
For a city which had few cars until the early eighties, it's caught up quickly and the 8 lane boulevard through the centre of Tiannemen Square was one giant traffic jam between 4 and 5 pm.
The Chinese acrobatic show was amazing. It's the first time I've ever had a front row seat in a theatre, and we could see every grimace and beat of sweat on the acrobats. The finale had 8 motorbikes, their riders in leathers with blue LEDs, circling in a mesh sphere. The lights made amazing patterns.
After the show we were taken to a Chinese restaurant specialising in Peking Duck. Frank seems very knowledgeable so I'm sure we'll have an interesting tour tomorrow.