I did set my alarm for 4am just so I could get up, walk along some of the wall and see the sunrise at 6:30am but when I opened my curtains in the hotel room all I could see was fog. I would have really liked to have got some nice pictures of the wall at sunrise, but the few extra hours sleep that I got instead were really good too.

We returned back to Beijing in the morning and were dropped off at the Silk Market and told to be back here in 7 hours so that we could catch the train to Xian. The silk market was basically a market selling knock off jewellery, hand bags, shoes, clothing, electrical goods, etc, etc, etc. Although I didn't need anything, I had 7 hours to kill so decided to have a look around. What a mistake, you could not walk 2 paces without being grabbed and asked if you wanted a Louis Vuitton wallet, or an iPod or a leather belt or a suit case or some trainers or a North Face jacket. It kind of got a bit boring after a while.

We all reconvened outside after having the same experience inside and decided to go off for some lunch and then find a supermarket so that we could pick up some food and drink for the 12 hour train journey this evening.

We arrived at Beijing Train station at around 19:00, got our bags x-rayed, found a spot on the floor with the thousands of other people in there and waited for our train, whilst making sandwiches of cheese spread with cheddar cheese on top all with the aid of Claire’s Swiss Army knife. The time came to board the train and after the big bundle by the locals to get on, we headed over and boarded our sleeper carriage. It was 6 fairly compact bunks to a compartment, Jess & Craig, Tom & Sarah and Emma & Jane in the first one and Claire, Roy (guide) and myself to the other one along with 3 strangers. Lights out at 22:30 and Craig, Jess and I went off to the dining car for a few beers before bed to help us sleep.

I have been quite surprised by the reactions that we got in Beijing from the local people. Everywhere we went there were hardly any Westerner’s around and we seemed to be the only white people amongst the crowds with the odd white couple here and there. Most tourist places we went to we got the same reaction from people. They would stare and point at us and even ask to have their photos taken with us (although some would just take a picture anyway). It was almost like they had never seen a Westerner before and I can only presume that these people were Chinese tourists that had come from some of the more remote towns in China and that they actually hadn’t seen a while person before, let alone a group of 8 including 3 blonde girls and a blonde guy from New Zealand who was over 6 and a half foot tall!