The twelve hour train journey wasn't too bad although I didn't actually get much sleep. Ady managed to grab a few more hours sleep than me but overall it wasn't too bad! After walking the wrong way as usual we finally found our hotel down a very small alleyway which the Chinese call Hutongs. The hotel was really small but the room was ok and it had its own restaurant. The hotel was in the old part of Beijing and near to the Lama temple. The first thing we did was sleep when we got in our room we were so tired after the train. In the afternoon we decided to take a look at the Lama temple next door which was really nice. The temples date back to the 1400's and were really beautiful.

The next day we decided to go and check out the Olympic stadiums. We caught the tube again and we were surprised to learn that the tube is only 20 pence to any stop on any of the tube lines around Beijing which is great until you discover how many people actually use the tube because of this! No matter what time day or night it's packed and you have to push your way on and push your way off whilst getting stared at by all the Chinese!

The Olympic stadiums were pretty impressive up close although the smog in the city made it hard to get pictures of it from a distance. After the stadium we decided to go to a few markets and try are luck again with buying some souvenirs and getting some bargains! We went to two markets including the Silk Market and the Salitun Market. The silk market is in a department store type building and as soon as you walk in the hassling starts again! We managed to buy some trainers but it turned out are bargaining skills had deteriated since SE Asia! We discovered we had paid a little too much on some things so I was determined to go back in the week and get some better bargains! The next day we decided to do some sightseeing and visit the famous Tiananmen Square. It was really big but unfortunately had lots of touts and people trying to scam you or sell you something you don't want! We also went to the Forbidden City and had a look around most of it but the ticket office closed at 3:30 so we were unable to continue through o the palace area so we went off for a walk around the main city area and pass by some Hutongs. We arrived at a food market after a 30 minute walk and were amazed to see what was being sold! They had scorpions on a stick, silk worms on a stick, cockroaches and lots more disgusting treats. We weren't feeling brave so settled for a coconut drink which we ended up getting ripped off with!

The next day we had booked our trip to the Great Wall of China. We left the hotel at 8am and thought we were in for a nice trip straight to the wall then off for lunch and too the Ming tombs. This wasn't to be as we discovered this was more of a "lets get tourists to pay extortionate prices for things they don't want" day. Our first stop was to a ceramic factory where they show you how they make the pottery etc then you get to the shop which is massive like the prices! The tour guides then informed us we had to stay there 40 minutes inside the actual shop so that they get their commission for taking us there! Then we got taken to a jade factory which was the same thing. The guide then said we were going to the Ming tombs so we thought the shopping was over for the day. The Ming tombs were 13 of the emperors in china were buried during the Ming Dynasty 1368-1644. After seeing all the sculptures we carried on to the Great wall. Our driver was an absolute maniac not in a funny way! He drove like a mad man and we actually started to wonder if we would make it to the wall in one piece! We stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant which was actually not too bad then carried on to the wall. We decided to go to the Mutiyanu part of the wall. When we got there we took a cable car to the top where the wall begins and the views were amazing. It was quite a surreal experience actually being on the Great Wall of China after you see and hear about it your whole life! We walked on it for about 40 minutes then went through an obstacle course of sellers to get to the bus! We thought we were off back to the hotel but the tour guides had other ideas! We found ourselves at a silk factory this time. We had to watch the whole process of how silk is made etc before having to spend 40 minutes again in a shop with overpriced clothes in. Afterwards we were all getting pretty annoyed with the shopping so we asked to be taken back but again we were told one more place a tea factory this time!!!! It had got to the point where everyone was tired and harassed and couldn't be bothered. So we all sat down in this tea factory place in a small room where we got given 5 tiny cups of tea then they were in for the hard sell. No one wanted to buy any and the girl was trying really hard. It got to the point where Ady and another guy started laughing and couldn't stop! I think she gave up on us all so then it was off back to the hotel at long last! We spent the last day at the temple of Heaven Park which has a temple that was built in 1406 for people to pray for a good harvest. The park was packed full of local people and it was great to see them all singing, dancing, doing tai chi and even knitting! It was a lovely sunny day so we had a nice walk around and lay down on the grass for a while before doing some last minute shopping! We decided that we would surprise everyone at home by coming home 5 days early from our trip. We flew from Beijing on March 9th at 12:15 in the afternoon and had another 10 hour trip back to the UK and back to reality!