Ni Hao (Hello in Madarin),

OMG, I can't believe that we have been to Beijing, really amazing place... mainly for the sights rather than the atmosphere or backpacker scene, but the sights were truly amazing!

We arrived on the train from Xi'an pretty early in the morning. The train station in Beijing was massive, so huge that we even managed to get lost just getting out of the place a couple of times. By the time we did manage to get out of the station it was past 8am, which was good as it meant that the buses were running. After again having a bit of a struggle to find the bus we wanted amongst the masses, we eventually got on the bus and were headed toward our hostel near the centre of town. The hostel was located in one of Beijings many 'hutongs' (alleys consisting of traditonal courtyard homes), and it was great being amongst all the hustle and bustle of day to day life. The room itself was very basic, and the bathroom had a very potent stench to it, but it was nice enough.

On our first day, we didn't do a great deal, as always. We had a wander up to Tiananmen Square, the world biggest public square, which was quite impressive. The area that the square covered was immense, around 1km squared, but the chinese being as they are had built alot in amongst it. The biggest of the lot was a memorial hall dedicated to 'the great helmsman' Mao. If you wanted, you could go in there and see his embalmed body... we didn't have the time, but it is quite an interesting idea (imagine having the queen mother on display in a case)! Other than walking around the square, which took around 15 minuetes to walk from one end to the other, we went to the 'Gate of heavenly peace', which gave stunning panaoramic views over Tiananmen Square and the surrounding area of the city. The gate of heavenly peace would once have served as the front gate to the forbidden city! The gate originally dates back to the Ming Dynasty, completed around 1420, and it was a great first insight to Chinese dynastic history. The architecture was incredibly intracate, and you really got a sense of grand a structure it would have been when it was first built. Afterwards, we continued wandering around for a short while, before heading back to our hostle and chilling for the rest of the evening, getting as much rest in as possible before the manic few days we had ahead of us.

The next day, we got up early... not by choice though. It turned out that our guesthouse just wasn't the best place to get a good nights sleep. We were woken up at around 6am every morning and kept up until at least 1 am every night! lol, that's what you get for booking the cheapest room I guess! Anyway, after brekkie we headed out for a day of sightseeing... first stop Lama temple! Lama temple was a tibetan monestry, and a sprawling complex of temple buildings. It was all very interesting to see, and was filled with a mixture of western tourists and locals who were just going about their day-to-day prayer business. We wandered around for a good couple of hours, watching the locals give their incense offerings and just appreciating the buildings themselves.

It was a nice way to start the day, and after a bite of lunch we had a stroll through the foreign legation quater. The foreign legation quater was also quite interesting to see, a bizarre mixture of the colonial architecture from the imperial powers of the 19th centuary (Britain, The Netherlands, Japan, USA and even Belgium) amongst the traditonal and modern Chinese buildings. We saw a gothic church, several buldings that would have been embassies and banks and sat in a small park which felt very much like a park you would find somewhere in London... even the benches and trees were very similar. Afterwards, we had another stroll, and took it fairly easy. As Beijing is such a big place, even seeing two or three sights a day can be quite a daunting prospect.

The next day, we thought that we would start out by heading down to the 'Natrual History museum', not the kind of sight we have been inspired by throughout the rest of the trip, but our guidebook said that it had a graphic displays on human anatomy, showing human cadavers and spliced body parts. When we got there, we quickly found out that it was totally CRAP... Thanks alot lonely planet! lol. After spending about 20 minutes walking around the museum, we went to the 'Temple of Heaven park'. As soon as you stepped through the gates, all of the noise of the city was left behind... it was really nice. We sat for a while, watching people practice Tai Chi, and doing other bizarre exercises such as walking along clapping. We actually came across a whole bunch of around 20 people standing around clapping, not at anything... it wasn't a round of applause, just standing around clapping. Really very bizzare! It was really nice to walk through the park, and just take a slow pace for a couple of hours. There were lots of temple buildings, and pavillions dating back to the Ming dynasty (1400s) and used for annual prayers. There was even an old man playing this funny one stringed guitar. Nina watched him for a while and he asked where we were from. When Nina said England he started playing Frere Jaques lol. Every time we went near him he shouted 'England england' and would start playing it again.

The next day we woke up fairly early and headed to the Forbidden City! We were well excited. It was amazing, just the scale of it all.....it was so huge! Running down the middle were the big temples, and halls, all beautifully decorated with old thrones etc inside and prayer flags and incense. All along the sides it was full of little lanes with small buildings, where the concubines would have lived and people would have waited for an audience with the Emporer. It really was like a city within a city. There were loads of little courtyards full of old men and women sleeping. There was even a massive garden full of these really old trees that had grown in spirals and twisted together. Some were literally hundreds of years old. There was also loads of big rocks around little ponds, just like you imagine in China. Also saw some huuuge bronze pots which would have been like old school fire extinguishers. They would fill them up with water and put them over a fire to stop if freezing over. God knows how many men it took to lift them. They obviously didn't work coz a lot of the building burnt down quite a few times! We also went to the hall of clocks. It was pretty amazing. All these incredibly elaborate clocks with spinning flowers made of jewels and musical clocks. Some were 10foot tall and others were as small as a thumb nail. At 2pm certain ones all chimed together and spun around etc. Was so cool. It was such a lovely day, could have spent so long in there, was like a totally different world and you could really get a feel for how they would have lived back then.

The next day was the greatest day. We went to see the Great wall and it really was GREAT! We caught a bus and then a mini bus there and started a long and very steep climb up the mountain. Luckily it was a beautifully clear day and we had chosen a spot that wasn't crowded with tourists and hawkers. When we finally got up there it totally took your breath away. It was all built literally along the mountain peaks and went on as far as you could see. There were loads of watchtowers which you could climb up. We though it would be a nice stroll as that section was only 3kms long but it was actually incredibly hard going. Some of it was set on hills so steep you were almost climbing vertically up these tiny little steps. It took us 3 hours to do half the wall! Eventually we got to one end and there was a sign saying dont go any further. However there was also a little path snaking off behind it and we could see people going past the sign so we followed and were so glad we did. The path wound through these bushes along a crumbling bit of wall and we came out at this old wathtower which had fallen down. There were only a couple of people up there which was lovely and the views were so stunning. I've never seen anything so beautifull. We were so high all you could see was mountain peaks all around and bits of wall dotted along with little watchtowers and temples. We also had an amazing view of the rest of the preserved wall snaking off into the distance. We sat up there for soo long just taking it all in. The pics (when we can finally upload some, having difficulties atm) will do it more justice than words can. It was just breathtaking. Unfortunately we couldnt stay up there for sunset as we didnt fancy walking down the mountain in the dark! At the end of it our legs were literally shaking from all the climbing but it was so worth it. One of the most incredible days we've had out here so far! Definately an experience that I don't think either of us will ever forget. That evening, as we had had such an amazing day, we decided to treat ourselves and go out for a nice meal, in a proper restaurant. Something we hadn't done at all in China. As the speciality dish in Beijing is 'Peking Duck', and duck with pancakes and the works is one of Nina's favourite dishes, we found ourselves somewhere that specialised in the yummy bird. It was a great meal, loads of duck and a pork dish that was basically just fenugreek seeds, loads of corriander and loads of onions fried up together... but as with many things the simplest can be by far the best, and this definately fitted the simple but great category.

The next, and final full day in Beijng we intended to finish off the rest of the main sights that we wanted to visit. However, after visting the forbidden city and climbing the great wall, we were truly knackered. So... rather than another day of being flat out on the go, we decided to go to Jinshan Park, which overlooks the forbidden city. Again, as soon as you entered the park, it was almost as if someone had hit mute on the outside world, and all was peaceful again. We had a stroll around, and a nice slow pace, and climbed the hill (made from earth excavated from the forbidden city moat) to see the views over the forbidden city and surrounding area. It was a really great view, and we must have sat there for around an hour snapping photos and just admiring it all. Again, this was once a park strictly reserved for the emperor, and it was filled with the same granduer as other sites throughout Beijing. After visiting the park, we stopped at the moat that surrounds the forbidden city, and watched old men fishing. It was a very relaxing day, and nice not to feel to rushed, and we didn't do much for the remainder of the day. We did take advantage of the DVD player in our hostel, and watched 'Anchorman' and 'Snatch', love those films!

The next, and final day in Beijing, we again set out early. This time, we planned on visting the Science Museum, which was meant to include a bulletproof vest you could have a go at, a MagLev train in action (floats on the rails) and a robot performing Tai Chi. We spent about an hour getting up there on the subway, and arrived only to find it completely deseted... we were well gutted. Having wasted half a day getting up there, and with nothing else within miles we went to a supermarket, exciting I KNOW, and stocked up for our 28 hour train journey that night. It was located in an expat area, so they had some great food... we settled for some baguette and cheese with a few snackybits on the side mmmmmm! Afterwards, we headed back to our side of town, ate dinner and then jumped into a taxi for the train station..... Ahhhh, of course there was a massive traffic jam, and as our driver could see we were in a rush, he started to drive like a madman, over-taking on the wrong side of the road, and general madman-ry! Lucky really as we made it to the train in the nick of time (with 5 mins to spare)... and after running through the MASSIVE Beijing train station (with Ben carrying both big bags) we boarded the train.

Back down the country to Guilin/Yangshou our first and last destination in China. The surroundings were that nice, we thought it was worth two visits =)

Anyway, best toddle off. Next stop after Yangshuo... Hong Kong. Will tell you all about it soon.

Love to all lots. Big Hugs

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