We have spent the last three days in Beijing. It has been very hot but we were lucky enough to see two days of sunshine and blue sky. Our tour of China came to an end and so we had to fend for ourselves. Beijing is very tourist friendly since holding the Olympic games and so is easy to get around, especially by subway. We visited the Summer Palace which is where the emperors used to go for a holiday in the summer. It is very pretty with a large lake but was very busy with domestic tourists (now is the equivalent of our summer holiday). We also visited a crazy electronics market. We stayed in a youth hostel which was nice and cheap but very noisy. Yesterday we walked with our packs for 40 min from our hostel to the Vodkatrain hotel. It was very hot but good practice for Europe and good exercise! We then walked to Tianemen Square where there were thousands of people and then walked our way south to the Temple of Heaven. This is where the emperors used to pray to heaven for good food harvests. To do this, they would sacrifice many young calves which seems a bit mean! The park around the buildings was huge and peaceful, with rows upon rows of conifers. There was lots of grass which is rare in the cities but you are not allowed to walk on most of it! We miss grass! We met our Vodkatrain comrades last night who are a fun bunch. We all went our for dinner (tried the famous Peking Duck, really nice) and then went to the bar area for a drink. Unfortunately, buying a beer at one of these bars is nearly ten times the price of a beer in the supermarket. However, sometimes you can bargain and so one person got the price of our beers down from 30 yuan to 10 yuan which is pretty good going! Today we visited a park that overlooks the Forbidden City which was cool. We wanted to visit but the sheer number of domestic tourists make it like a tin of sardines so decided to miss it. Tonight we catch the train to Holhot and tomorrow onwards to Mongolia. Not sure when we next get Internet access but will update when we do. Ciao for now.