After the Temple of Heaven, Shirley walked us through one of Beijing's largest Hutongs to a local restaurant where we had hand made dumplings. This was a 'proper' local eating house, as opposed to a tourist restaurant and the dumplings were gorgeous, although I don't think I'd have wanted to visit the kitchen! After tea we went to The Red Theatre to watch a show called 'The Legend of Kung Fu'. A high energy show that told the story of a small boy called 'Chung ...

First impressions are 'what a huge, and mixed up city'. Very impressive newly built skyscrapers and 5 star hotels line the main streets but behind them lay the ancient and very poor alleyways that some of the city people live in called Hutongs. All are by the side of some the most impressive buildings in the world! The Forbidden City was only actually built to allow the emperors of China a lavish existence, so lush that they didn't even need to walk anywhere! As...

After leaving 'The Summer Palace' we were driven round to Tianamen Square. This vast space's only purpose now is to be the home of Chairman Mao's mausoleum and to provide somewhere for the Chinese people to pay homage to their hero! So much care is taken over the space we had to pass through a security checkpoint with electronic baggage scanners before we were granted entry. A few young soldiers march up and down the square in pairs, just seemingly keeping watch...

We started off the day at The Summer Palace. This is effectively 'The Emperors Garden'. Spanning over 72 hectares in the middle of the city, a lake dominates the center. We walked through the main entrance, guarded by trees that are over 300 years old, (we knew this because they had red labels, as opposed to green labels that are for trees of between 100 and 300 years old) and very large, mounted lumps of volcanic rock. The Chinese symbols of Turtles and Cranes...

We both woke up at 4 this morning, jet lag having got the better of us. No matter, today's a special day - our 20th wedding anniversary. We opened our cards and presents at 7am - we waited till then because thats midnight in the UK so that makes it officially our anniversary in both China and at home. Karron got me a small heart with a cherub on it - I got her a fine bone china trinket box and amazingly, the heart fits inside it perfectly - the chinese believe ...