Hey everybody

Well decided to sit down and write something. I have been writting in my diary everyday, just have been a little busy to sit in front of a computer.

Well after arriving in China and getting to the hostel, there was already a problem as they did not seem to have the reservation for the first night, or even in fact have the details of being on the trip - not a great start, after that was sorted I ventured out to start exploring.
Although the road system is a bit like Milton Keynes (Hi mum and dad) it is a little different as the road signs don't sometimes match up to the information on the map. Unfortunately I had started walking in the wrong direction, but after asking a few people I managed to find the first bug attraction - it is a massive park called Bei Hai park. It is a big park filled with these temples, with names like the Hall of Heavenly Kings In the middle is an islet which has a large bell like structure on top which looks like it is covered in gold leaf. It was very cold that day (thanks dad for telling me to take a hat).

Before i go on I must mention the road system - it has one rule - LOOK IN ALL DIRECTIONS. The traffic does not stop for people. As my taxi driver said "there are just too many people in Beijing for them to stop!" They can always turn right so you just have to create a six sense. It is nuts.

After the park I headed to another place called Jingshan Park. It is filled with trees and was created from the dirt from the Forbidden city moat. On the top of the hill you can see the Forbidden city. In the park you found out that an emporer decided to hang himself during a revilution - nice!!

The second day I met an ozzy - Brad who was also joing the tour. We headed out to see the Forbidden Palace and Tiananmen Square. Tiananmen Square was massive and full of secret service men and police - I think to make sure no one starts to demonstrate. The forbidden city is set on a site of 22 hectares - not a bad little pad for an Emporer!! Most of the buildings were built in 1420. The statues carved out of stone and metal are awesome. We did have some people come up to us and try a scam of seeing if we wanted to go and try some tea outside - thankfully we saw straight through them. Apparently he was a history teacher with 30 students - but only 1 came with him into the City - hmmm sounded a little dodgy.

In the afternoon we headed to the Olympic Stadiums. Again got a little lost. I was getting hungry so found a resturant and after a lot of pointing and using a calculator I managed to get something, and when I mean something I have no idea what I ate - possibly dog!! but I would imagine pork. The stadiums are spectacular, but also I thought they would be a little bigger. Rode the subway - which is soo clean. One thing you do notice here is that everyone is working - they have people constantly sweeping and cleaning. I saw one person cleaning the lamposts!! There are a lot of patrol men standing on corners - which does come in handy.
In the evening met the rest of the group and they all seemed a great bunch of people - confirmed as the evening progressed. We all went out food which included 'proper' peking duck, sweet and sour prok ect - all fab, apart from Pork Jelly - NOT GOOD!!!

Since then (notice I am trying to shorten what I write) we have been to where most people live in Beijing - called Hutongs, they are filled with alley ways and great shops - one is a yogurht shop which has on its doors - "OPEN UNTIL SOLD OUT" how cool!! Have been to some markets were you get hassled all the time as you walk down the aisles, "you want belt, wallet, bag, jeans," "you come lokk" "i give you good price". Such an experience. Managed to barter and buy a set of chopsticks - probably still got ripped off though.

Went to The Temple of Heaven, which is another local park filled with people doing anyting they want. Ate some very suspicous meat on a stick - again not sure what it was. we ended up by all the dancing were an old lady saw me taking pictures and came over. she dragged us onto the dance floor and I got to learn some new dance moves. Looking forward to trying them out back home.

31/1/10 - (best start using dates) Me, Jarred, Roz, Olivia and Brad headed to the Zoo to see the Giant Panda to tick off one thing from the t-shirt my brother gave me (see above photo). They are very cool. The rest of the zoo is a bit depressing as the animal pens are just dirt or concrete.

In the eveing most of the group headed to a Kung Fu show. It was wicked - it was the story of Kung Fu. Some of the stunts just made you gasp. They were flipping from their heads, one bloke laid down on swords, had a blokck of nails on him + another block and then a concrete slab which they hit with a sledge hammer?!?!?!?

Feb 1st - The Great Wall. A long bus ride to the Jinshanling part of the wall. The sight was spectacular at the top of one of the turrets. We were followed by a lot of locals who kept tellng you stuff and then asking if "you want souviner" It was hard going at times and wicked to see parts of the wall that had been built in the 7th Century. At times we had to climb the steps with hans and feet it was soooo steep. Found a section of it though so we could race to the top. Will have to accept second place - although Josh did get a bit of a head start. Third was John (aka Gibbo) and last was Brad. We ended the walk at Simartai - after 5 hours of walking and we had only done 30 towers and about a finger nails width in total of the wall!!!! the last bit was finished with a zip wire over a partially frozen lake

Feb 2nd - seriously early start - 5am!!! we got up to try and see the sunrise over the Great Wall but it was too cloudy - all we got was Cold as it was about -10 degrees. Got some good pictures and also learnt there are dance steps to 'Nut Bush - City Limits' by Tina Turner - thanks Carly, Elise, Roz and Olivia.

Today we have headed back into Beijing before a 13 hour train ride to Xi'an - terra cotta warriors here I come!!

take care everyone

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