Hello everyone!

Well, we have arrived in Beijing and so far everything is going well. A few mix ups when we arrived and a very long flight which has left us very jet lagged and confused! We arrived in Beijing at 9.30am local time and took the airport train from the airport to downtown Beijing. It only cost us about 2 pounds so we were very happy we picked the cheapest option! When we got in to the city we had to take the subway to the location of our hostel - just like London tube really only much more advanced, cleaner and faster!!! We didn't really miss London at all!

When we got to the location of our hostel, we couldn't find it... not a very nice suprise when you are jet lagged, exhausted, hungry and in a foreign country where hardly anyone speaks English!! A lady came to help who didn't speak a word of English and we understood from her that the hostel had closed - she pointed towards a heap of rubble - that was the hotel remains! So quite annoyed, we had to find another room for the night. Luckily it was only midday so we found a hotel a bit closer to the centre which we will be meeting our tour group in on Wednesday. We paid about 40 pounds for 2 nights which is quite expensive but at least we are warm and safe and there is a hot shower!

This evening, after a nap, we literally ventured up the road and found some food. Matt had amazing spare ribs and this oily bread stuff which was amazing and Holly had vegetarian pancakes which were really yummy. We also sampled plum juice which was very different to anything we have tried at home! Now we are going to bed - it's only 8.30pm but we are shattered and keen to get our body clocks adjusted to Chinese time.

We will update our blog tomorrow when we have done some more things and upload some photos as well! Lots of love M & H xxxx