We landed at 9.30am local time on the dot! We both said it was one of the smoothest landings we've ever had.

Had a good chat with the purser on the flight, a guy called Tim who's been working the Asia flights for many years. He gave us some good advice about haggling in the markets & he also recommended visiting the Silk Market, although he said that the Pearl and Russian Markets are also good.

He also recommended a local run restaurant called 'The Red Lantern' which is opposite 'The Holiday Inn Lido' if we are close to it so we'll need to keep an eye out for it or ask at the hotel.

Whilst waiting to pick up the baggage, Ray got talking to some more guys out here with the Great Britain Triathlon team. It's the Asian leg of the world championships for both standard and paraplegic competitors and we've got around 20 individuals here this weekend apparently.

Go Team GB! We're doing really well internationally in Triathlon right now with the Brownlee brothers getting 1st and 2nd place in Hyde park this year. It makes me very proud to see these dedicated team mates traveling around the globe to compete and only helps to inspires me ever more to get my own Olympic Triathlon done in 2012!

We met our Beijing guide Shirley at the exit of the baggage area and she walked us through Beijing Airport terminal 3 to our car and driver. It's black with blacked out windows! Gee, it's a bit of a mafia looking car - no wait, there seems to be loads of cars with blacked out windows! Guessing it must be pretty much the norm here?

We had an amazing ride from the airport to the Hotel - past Raffles and The famous Peking Hotel, passing Tinnamon Square, The Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven on the way.

It's quite strange but it seems that awesome historical buildings are mixed in with high rise flats that have seen better days and Hutong's (the ancient alley ways of the city) - hopefully seeing more of the Hutong's before we leave Beijing.

After about a 45 minute drive on 4 lane roads through the middle of Beijing City centre, we arrived at the Grand Mecure Hotel at about 11.30 am.

Soon after arrival the manager Ivy also told us that as it was our 20th anniversary, they upgraded us to a deluxe room on the 9th floor :-) Get in - who says long term loyalty isn't worth anything these days.

Well, it's now 13.15 local time and I've been sat in the bar with a beer (a Tsingtao beer to be precise) whilst writing this blog cause Karrons catching up on some much needed shuteye due to the fact she didn't really get any in the plane and her body clock is telling her it's 6.15am right now and she's been up all night.

Having just written that, I'm now thinking I should be joining her for a bit so I'm revived and ready to go for a stroll around the Hutongs and the street markets later!

Got some shut eye - it's now 18.30 local time! Looks like we'll miss the Hutongs today, shower and off to look at the shops instead.