[1 GBP = 9.9 RMB (¥) ]

We followed Roxie for 5-10 minutes to a waiting minibus. We then had a drive across Beijing to our hostel conveniently located close to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Drivers in Beijing seem much more calm and disciplined than in Mongolia which is a welcome relief.

Once checked in to the hostel we had an hour free time to settle and freshen up before our official meeting with Roxie. As both Kirsty and I were not feeling great, we took the opportunity to step out and get something to drink and something to snack on. Aiding our decision was the fact that, due to some works being done at the hotel, there was no hot water available. It was a harder task than anticipated as we were not able to change any of our Mongolian currency at all in China so we got directions to an ATM first.

At the meeting we were told about the big 6 tourist attractions in the city and some other general information. We then all went out to a restaurant to try some Peking Duck. On the way we stopped at a foreign languages bookshop to pick up a Lonely Planet guide to South East Asia. We also wanted to buy one for China but discovered they're banned for political reasons. We had heard the rumours but until we saw it with our own eyes we didn't believe it. In the Lonely Planet Taiwan is shown as a different colour to mainland China and the Chinese government believes this infers that it is a different nation.

The duck was really good, certainly an experience to eat with only chopsticks and the whole meal together with drinks, four side dishes and more fried rice than you could want set us back 65¥ each! And that's at an expensive restaurant!

When we left we went straight to the night market which sells all kinds of different foods. A couple of the group bought exotic treats such as skewered snake, spider and sheep's penis. They weren't enamoured with these delicacies which gave us all a chance to sample them too!

This was followed by a stroll through Beijing's main shopping street. Beijing has a great vibe to it and feels quite relaxed. Food, drink, transport et al all seem reasonably priced especially for a capital city. Even entry to the tourist places seems cheap. Have to see how it goes but I think we'll enjoy being here.

Although the bed was very nice and provided a nice sleep the workmen working outside did not! According to Kirsty the noise started at 5am but I didn't notice until 8am. Having decided to get out of bed I managed to get a hot shower before the hot water was switched off due to the works. Unfortunately (for all concerned) Kirsty did not.

We spent the early part of the morning using the internet for the first time in a week just to do research on further elements of our trip and other admin bits and pieces. Once sorted we then decided to head out to the train station on foot to buy a ticket for our overnight train in four day's time to Xi'an.

After walking for an hour and a half and still being a long way from our destination we decided to use the subway. We tried to buy a single ticket (2¥ which entitles us to travel to any station as long as we only used the subway once) but for some reason the machine would not accept our money. It was at this point we were fortunate to come upon an act of kindness carried out by a local teenager who, having seen our woe with the machine, went to the counter and bought an extra two single journey tickets for us and thrust them in our hand wandering off without a single word. We were stunned, couldn't imagine that happening in our capital city! The subway system was fairly easy to us as all stops and announcements (if we could hear them) were in English as well as Mandarin.

Once out of the subway we got a little harassed by the taxi and tuk-tuk drivers but we walked away a little from the melee and when we said no they left us alone. It was still another half a mile walk to the station, Beijing West, which was massive and, being a Saturday afternoon, absolutely heaving. So busy it was a little intimidating for us.

Out of the 35 ticket counters only one had a sign saying English speaking so we dutifully joined the line. The three words "English speaking counter" were the only English words in the entire building and we still weren't 100% sure we were in the right place to buy what we wanted. The rest of the queue was full of Chinese people so we weren't certain. Eventually we got to the front and Kirsty managed to ask in English for what we needed. We handed over our passports and got the tickets for Thursday departing Beijing at 17.50, arriving Xi'an 12 hours later. We were so satisfied with ourselves. Not sure what platform but we'll sort that out on Thursday.

On the walk back to the subway we bought our first load of street food - a quarter of pineapple peeled and chopped and a vegetable spring roll with spicy sauce. Total cost 60p and both delicious!

Once back in the subway (this time using the counter to purchase our own tickets) we were just checking which side we needed to be on to get our train when an employee ran up to us talking in Mandarin and thrusting a map of the underground at us. We were obviously wary at first but soon realised this was our second act of kindness from a local for the day.

During our subway journey about half a dozen children got in and found it highly fascinating to see two westerners, in particular such a blonde haired white woman as Kirsty. They were giggling and chatting amongst themselves while staring at her. Very harmless but highly amusing for us too.

We left the subway at the main shopping thoroughfare (Wangfujing Street) and looked in some of the shops and checked out the location of our new hostel from tomorrow. We managed to cancel a night of our booking (as we are taking the overnight train a night earlier) and to ask what time we could bring our bags (anytime from 10 apparently). We then returned to our current hostel, read some more of our recently acquired Lonely Planet guide to China (stolen from the hostel and replaced with a different guidebook bought from a friend of Roxie) and planned our day tomorrow. We then met up with the others and went out for hotpot with them.

After dinner we took the bus to the bar area around Huawei lake for a beer. It was the last night of our tour and, for a number of the others, the last chance to kick back before returning home. Travelling in a group has been a worthwhile experience and has eased us gently into our time away but I think we're ready to go it alone!

We moved hostels the next morning. The tour officially ended meaning we had a leisurely sleep until around 10 then packed all our stuff and traipsed off to our new hostel. The walk was approximately 25 minutes but with our big heavy packs on it easily felt longer! We'd decided to split it up by stopping and, as Kirsty was unwell, chose a western venue (McDonald's). After enough pointing, we managed to refuel before hitting the road again.

Once we arrived at the new hostel, we were surprised to learn our room was ready so we took the room key with delight and headed to our room. It was a bijou room but perfectly formed with a double bed and a useful tv full of Chinese channels! The room was situated underground and we shortly discovered that we could hear the metro trains rumbling along just beneath us!

When we were ready we popped out heading for our local metro station and a ride down to Qiamen Avenue. This is a recently restored pedestrian street full of shops which is a big draw for tourists. It's been restored in the style of the traditional Chinese architecture and has an old style tram car running along its length. It was modern shopping that drew us here however as we had heard there was an H&M in the street and we wanted to have a look at the clothes. Finding nothing to our liking, we wandered along and down a side street full of food kiosks, restaurants and cafes before emerging out the other side.

From here we headed to the Forbidden City (thank you Helen for the wedding gift), where we were approached by many street hawkers and got carried along with the tourist crowd (mostly Chinese tourists) before even entering. Once a ticket was bought and we were safely inside it was the size of the place that really astonished. We have blisters to prove how big the Forbidden City is!! Please have a look at our photos.

When we'd negotiated our way through we then, again going with the flow of the tourists, went under the road into Jingshan Park where we found relative peace and a shaded tree under which to take a moment.

It was during this time we got our bottle of Sprite out to take a refreshing drink when we were approached by an older Chinese lady who started speaking Mandarin at us. Not having a clue what she was saying (and thinking she was after some Sprite) I quickly finished the drink before she could have some. Turned out this suited her as she was after the empty plastic bottle and was very grateful we finished off the drink so quickly for her! Apparently they're worth a few pennies when recycled.

After our rest, we then climbed up the hill in the park to two separate pagodas where we had great views back over the Forbidden City and the rest of Beijing. When we were all photographed out we left the park the way we came in and wandered back to the hostel. On the way back, though, we decided it was better to pick up a few items at the supermarket and get something to eat.

Shopping done we went in a cafe-cum-restaurant and managed to order some Chinese dishes by pointing at the menu. The staff obviously found it strange to have a Western couple and it seemed the youngest member of staff was "volunteered" to serve us. The food when it arrived was delicious and filling and eating with chopsticks gets easier with practice.

We then headed to the pharmacy as we needed some paracetamol. After a long conversation involving a phrasebook, some miming, lots of pointing and lots of inspecting of random pill packets we came out with what we think were ibuprofen. We decided that, as Kirsty was still ill, it was better to have something rather than nothing.

Finally we returned to the hostel for possibly the best shower in the world, some hand washing and to plan our day tomorrow.

Beijing is massive! As you'd expect for a place with a population of 18 million but still I'm not sure the maps are to scale! Navigation is doubly hard because a number of the streets change name along their length several times, a result perhaps of the fact that there is no standard translation of the Mandarin street names into English! Not only that but the metro system although cheap, fast and clean is nowhere near as comprehensive or compact as Moscow or London. The stations are few and far between meaning some walking is inevitable.

Before leaving the hostel we booked ourselves on a tour to the Great Wall tomorrow. The section we wanted to do is currently closed so we opted for a shorter part which hopefully still avoids most of the crowds.

We started the day, after the metro ride, at Temple of Heaven Park. The sun was out and it was a lovely day to mosey through the park. We saw some of the locals doing some dancing to music, others practicing their Chinese calligraphy (on the pavement using oversized paintbrushes and water) and some other groups sitting around playing cards and Chinese board games we didn't recognise.

After spending an hour or two in this slow paced environment it was time to exit and head over to our next destination, Beijing Underground City, a warren of bombproof tunnels built in 1969 to counteract the threat of nuclear bombs. It took all of our navigational skill to find as it lay in the middle of a backstreet in an underdeveloped part of Beijing. There were also no signposts! As we arrived a local cycling by, noticing that we were tourists (not hard to spot as we clearly didn't belong) told us in good, polite English that the place was no longer open without slowing down at all. How friendly they are here! So we took a photo to prove we made the effort and moved onto the more touristy area for a spot of lunch.

More touristy definitely but only with Chinese tourists so all the cafes had menus and marketing all in Mandarin. We sensibly chose one where we could point at pictures and got some delicious noodle salads for lunch. Once again unbelievably delicious and cheap too - our lunch including drinks costing 40¥ altogether!

When our bellies were full we walked to Tianamen Square, scene of the 1989 protests and riots. I vaguely remember the famous image of a solitary student protestor versus a row of Chinese government tanks. Things today there are much more cheery but the size of the square has to be seen to be believed!

While we were taking a breather on the curb in the Square and reading our guidebook we were approached by a couple of Chinese tourists who asked if they could have their photo taken with us, just because we were white and therefore unusual to them! I've never been famous before! It is true that over the past few days we have received a number of not-so-subtle looks from Chinese tourists obviously intrigued by our Western looks and in particular Kirsty's blondeness but in the heart of tourist Beijing odd to think they'd never seen a white face in reality.

We wandered through the Square from South to North before exiting and skirting round the Forbidden City (been there, done that) and walking parallel to it along another interesting street and entering Beihai Park, famed for its large lake. We spent another relaxing couple of hours exploring the park even enjoying our first ice-cream of the holiday.

Around 5 we were tired and ready to head for home, another 30 minutes walk away. Back at base we re-organised our stuff and went to Wangfujing Snack Steet for a stroll along the various stalls munching on a turkey kebab as we went. Before also going to Donghuamen Night Market and sampling a chicken pancake roll. We also visited a souvenir shop and spied a couple of things but will wait before purchasing.

The following day didn't start well as we were told to meet in the lobby at 8am for our pick up but it had already arrived at 7.30am. We received a phonecall to our room (who knew we had a telephone?!) telling us this but fortunately we were virtually ready. With hindsight we should've expected no less from our guide who was overzealous with timekeeping throughout the day to the detriment of her guests' enjoyment.

We were the first to be picked up and the only other pick up was an Australian couple at 7.45am. We managed to have some breads in the minivan before our first stop which was a jade museum where I made the discovery that jade isn't always green. At the museum shop we were followed around the whole shop by a shop assistant silently trying to coax us to buy something (which we couldn't afford to, nor did we want to). Funnily enough the shop was the only part of the day where we felt we had too much time.

The next stop was one of the Ming tombs called Dingling. I'd love to say I learned a lot here but we were literally frogmarched round by our guide told a few snippets about the history before being shooed back in the van. No time to stop and take photographs. Very disappointing but it's the risk you take on booking a day tour.

After an hour's drive we finally reached the destination for the main event: The Great Wall at Mutianyu. We resisted the call of the cable car (and commercialism gone mad in our opinion) and took the stepped path to the Wall. It was surreal to finally be able to set foot on the Great Wall (thanks for the wedding present Shelley!!) and the scenery was stunning. We picked the perfect day as the sun was beating down, the hawkers kept to themselves and the tourist crowd was very modest. We walked as far as was possible passing a number of watchtowers and pausing sporadically for photos. Please take a look at them!

We then clambered down (refusing the equally commercial dry toboggan run) before finally being harassed by the local hawkers at the bottom. It was always my plan to purchase a "I climbed the Great Wall" T-shirt to wear while travelling (ok so a little commercial I'll admit...) and managed to snuffle one up for a price I was happy with, making all the man-handling that had been inflicted on me by previous hawkers worthwhile!

After a delicious and filling lunch at a café we then returned to Beijing to visit a Silk Museum where we were shown around at an adequate speed (!) before once again finding ourselves in a shop. We were tempted by the silk duvets and silk sheets which were relatively cheap but as we're still on the road for over a year it's not really practical!

Finally on our last visit we walked around the corner to a tea shop where we got to sample four different types of tea: Jasmine, Ooladong, Pu'do and Fruit tea. The sampling experience was quite good and the tea house employee knowledgeable about her subject but once again we were accompanied around the shop afterwards which wasn't a great experience.

At this point we were offered the choice of being dropped off round the corner to look at the Olympic Park and make our own way back to the hostel or get the guide and driver to take us back. We decided to bale early, needless to say no tip for the guide (not that they appreciate tipping in China anyway) and we walked over to view the Bird's Nest. The photos don't really do it justice, my only excuse being my feet hurt and I was hot and tired after a busy long day. My heart wasn't 100% in it.

We then took the metro back to the hostel, rested for an hour or so then popped to the food court (as we both wanted something quick and easy) to enjoy some more Chinese food before heading home. Eating with chopsticks is a new skill we can both add to our CVs, although with two foodies like us, it was never going to take long to master!

The following day we decided to have a beach day. Just without the beach. Our exertions over the previous days in Beijing (and the whole trip up to now) had left us a little fatigued and we decided to take the opportunity to slow the pace a little. Our main task for the day was getting Kirsty's winter coat posted back to the UK. A simple enough task normally but having never experienced the Chinese postal service, we weren't sure what to expect. As it turned out though, after filling in a couple of forms including the customs declaration the coat was gladly receipted and on its way back to England. On our way back to the hostel we bought a couple of things at the supermarket including a mug each (not just useful for the hostels but also in the overnight trains).

Following this we went to the food market for a spot of breakfast and decided on a couple of spring rolls at an advertised price of 6¥. However the lady server tried it on with us and asked for 16¥ for each one. Nobody rips me off with my food, so I said that I didn't want them! Realising she would miss out on a sale, she immediately relented and gleefully accepted my money.

While walking back we made our plan for the day, consisting of sitting around in the communal area at the hostel with a coffee and something to eat while reading our travel books and learning more about the next places we're visiting, together with using the internet to check things like border crossings and visa requirements. All very boring but very necessary and it was nice to take the weight off our feet for a few hours!

For dinner we returned to the food court where we sampled our first Chinese dumpling dish (pretty much the same as Mongolian dumplings!) and talked about tomorrow's plans. Before leaving the shopping centre we wound the clock back and entered C&A to have a mooch around, unfortunately not finding anything to purchase. We then returned via the supermarket as someone (who wasn't me...) wanted some chocolate before bed, something in short supply in China. Despite locals having a sweet tooth, chocolate desserts are certainly not widely available.

We spent the rest of the evening reading and having a chilled out finish to a chilled out day. Bodies recharged and fighting fit ready for tomorrow when we leave Beijing heading for Xi'an.

Next morning (our last in Beijing) we showered and got dressed, ate our supermarket breakfast before packing our big packs and checking out. Luckily we were able to leave our main bags at the hostel and we headed for the main shopping area where I bought a souvenir bookmark with a panda motif and Kirsty returned to C&A to buy a sunhat.

For lunch we returned to a restaurant we visited a few days ago and with the knowledge it would be our lunch and dinner rolled into one, we had a bigger meal than normal. Afterwards we returned to the hostel for a cup of tea and changed our China travel plans (again!).

At 3.30 we picked up our big packs and headed on foot to the metro underground. The metro was packed on both our trains (we had to change lines) and we got a fair few stares from the locals obviously unfamiliar with foreigners and backpacks on their subway!

A half mile walk followed as, annoyingly, there is no metro stop at the train station we needed. (At the moment anyway, this is work in progress). Along the way we stocked up on fizzy pop and water. It was another warm day and walking with our bags was just making it hotter!

We managed to correctly guess the entrance to the station, joined the queue and, at the head of the queue, flashed our tickets at the lady in the booth who let us into the departures area. Here it was relatively easy to work out that we needed to be in waiting lounge 5. We checked with the staff even so just to be sure!

Waiting lounge 5 was absolutely packed with Chinese people, never seen so many faces in one place! We got the now customary stares and some people were even taking photos before finally we could "check-in" for our train which involved queuing (a very loose idea in China), getting our ticket stamped and being allowed down onto the platform to enter our carriage. This was our first time in hard-sleeper which consisted of open bays of triple bunks facing each other. We weren't disappointed. To be honest, not enough headroom on the top bunk but there are seats on the opposite side of the carriage and the bunk is for sleeping on only!

The highlight of the carriage was a little Chinese boy around 4 years old who was travelling with his Dad, both on the lower bunk beneath us. He spent the first 30 minutes watching the world go by and then watching us like a hawk with curiosity etched on his face. We saw him snack on nuts and seeds, eat his dinner, have his temperature taken and listen to music, all while keeping a close eye on us. So cute!

The train marks the return of the dried noodles which again are ubiquitous (as they are in Russian and Mongolian trains). As mentioned we ate a big lunch and didn't partake this time, bringing only drinks on board.