On Wednesday we packed up and moved to a new hostel where we were to meet the group for our tour! We found a few of them in the bar and later met the group leader. We are all about the same age and all get on really well which is good. Yesterday we all went to Tian'men square. It was the first day of good sunshine, no smog for once. We were hoping to see a demonstration but the army are everywhere keeping people under control. Was disappointed not to see any t...

Today we got up very early 7.30! and set out on our first Beijing bus. We got to the Summer Palace an hour and a half later and had breakfast / lunch. Here is a lesson for you - bout time you people learnt some culture!!The Summer Palace is a large park with lakes and lots of bridges where the royals retreated to to avoid the heat in the summer months.There were many temples and the majority of other traditional buildings have been convered into museums.We also m...

Day 4Got up at 8 and started packing stuff. We left Temple Side at about 11 and got a taxi to WangfuJing Youth Hostel - our next stop. It is far less traditional in comparison. Found a room called the boiled water station and we were both hoping this was not their equivilant of a shower. It looked like a hot water tank over a concrete bowl. Luckily we found a normal shower and we are still not sure what the 'boiled water station' is for. Met Ging for lunch (Mets ...

Day 3Today we slept in till 1pm - Ooops - forgot to set our alarms!We went to the Wangfujing Shopping district in the hope of sorting out a sim car and hostel for the next day. We thought it was about 15 mins away but took about 1 hour! It was surprisingly similar to London in terms of the shops, however still a lot of building work. Most of the advertising geared towards the Olympics. For lunch we found a cafe with and engligh menu - we gave in and had a 12"...

Day 2We were suprised to find an english breakfast as the only option in the hostel and found the vegitarian option amussing- "vegitarian option the same as regular but without meat!". We set out to Beihei Park and made 'discovery 2' - the bikes in Beijing are even more crazy than the taxis. We have seen several with about 4 people on and often they are carrying huge loads. They also like ringing their bloody bells!Beihei Park had a pretty courtyard wit...