Written quite retrospectively as we've been pretty lazy with the blog in China....

Spent a few days in Beijing and found it quite a contrast to Japan. We were surprised at just how big this city is and seemed to take quite a while to get around c/w Japan. It's quite a smoggy city and I'm not sure we ever got used to the close proximity staring! (It's not deemed rude here and at one time I was eating a bowl of noodles in a booth with a woman literally 20cm away having a stare-off with me! Couldn't help but laugh.)

Our group on this Intrepid trip is fantastic. There's 13 of us, with Jenny our Chinese leader. There's a mix of ages and nationalities and everyone's really friendly and easy to talk to. We've been doing a mix of trips together and separate activities depending on what we're interested in.

The highlight has probably been our Great Wall trip. We had a good 5 hours of walking and the weather was fantastic. It was hard work but worth every step - what an amazing place! Every now and again we'd arrive at another turret and be greeted with the cry 'Hello! Coke-a, water, beer!' and a cheery smile, and find some vendor had climbed miles to sell their goods in the middle of nowhere. Think they probably do a roaring trade in the summer. Places like the Summer Palace and Tianenmen Square have been good to see but were slightly detracted from by the overcast/smoggy days. Our trip around the Hutong area (traditional old-style Beijing streets) was a good morning too, and we attended a charity called Hui-Ling to see the work they do with locals with Learning Difficulties. Not only did we eat homemade treats but were entertained with a show of dancing and singing by the trainees. I think they enjoyed performing it even more than we did watching it.

Food has been a real treat and we're enjoying the tradition of the banquet - lots of variety and a good chance to really pig out. Plus plenty of opportunity for the schnack-fest!