Yesterday we finally checked out of our first, underground hostel, and moved to another nicer one. Further from The Forbidden city and Tiananmen Square, but closer to the station and with no shortage of sights to see! We then went to Tiananmen Square for a while, and walked right round. We only got there in the afternoon, by which time the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall was shut. The Square itself is apparently the largest open urban square in the world, but didn't seem too grand. Perhaps because everything in Beijing seems huge. The roads and buildings are massive! It's almost like they planned a city and scaled it up for the extra population! After that we popped across the road for a wander around one of the parks of the forbidden city, and also took a boat out on the moat.

In the evening, feeling tired and not wanting to walk too far for dinner (and because it was Daniel's birthday) we had dinner in a fancy hotel. After eating, we went to the rotating restaurant on the top for cocktails, which was very nice, and had amazing views over Beijing at night, despite seeming like we might get motion sickness at any point!

Today, we went to the Temple of Heaven Park, where we relaxed a while (on the way, we'd been interviewed by a group deciding where to put some statues, which recorded us on camera as well as filling out forms...very bizarre!) The Temple of Heaven itself was spectacular...the attention to detail on the building and the painting of it was impressive to say the least. After spending what felt like most of the day on our feet, we decided to brave the Beijing Subway system rather than walk back, which was surprisingly easy (it's brand new, the signs have English translations underneath and the fare is 2 Yuan (about 17p) to anywhere! We then went back to our hostel (about 20 steps from the underground stop) for dinner and to relax.