Hi Everyone,

Well - today didn't exactly work out as planned. We intended to get up early an go to the Summer Palace an walk round the gardens but got up late an by the time we got to the bus stop it was 12. So we decided to do what any god fearing english tourist would do - go shopping for fake clothes! We found some amazing knock offs an spent literally the entire day there.

Shopping in a Beijing market really is a totally new experience. The constant screams of "you buy you buy!" an people throwing goods in your face really is just something else. From the 3 quid Prada suitcases to the Quiksilver caps for 2 pound you really can pick up a large amount of goods.

We finally found a really nice place to eat. We walked into a restaurant an got sat down thinking "this looks like a swanky gaff" but for a massive meal for each of us the total price came to a whopping.............4 pound!

The sellers were not only rather vocal but also rather physical. I myself got actually dragged into a number of shops (I am not exagerating in the slightest by the way when I use the term dragged). I think in total Jules spent about 3 hours bartering from shop to shop for a pair of trainers but he brought loads of really nice things. We brought so much for about 30 quid in total there is literally too much to write down.

We also got hold of a place to upload more photos as this site thingy seems to take ages to upload them so for even more of our skillfully done photography go to www.magicalmule.com/dave

We are planning to go to the Summer Palace tomorrow (we are determined to get up at the right time!).

Laters all!