Hello,

We got up early today to visit the Temple of Heaven. The temple is not far from the hotel so we decided to walk. We stopped at a market on the way which was fun but a bit of an eye opener as they sell everything including all bits of animal - chicken beaks & feet, pig trotters (they eat everything here). Gail was looking at scarves and when we walked away the woman was running after her shouting 'you like I give you for 50, 40 30... hey lady' We stopped at Starbucks for breakfast (ease ourselves in gently) and noticed the Chinese people staring at us through te window - they seem to be fascinated by our blonde hair or something. They're no shy about it either and stand there pointing, nudging each other. Me and Gail think this is what it must feel like to be a celeb and its a bit weird.

The walk to the temple took us about 40 mins. We paid to get in then walked through to the public park - it was hilarious as there were masses of people doing what looked like the slosh! Apparently this is common all over Beijing and the public parks are filled with people exercising, dancing, doing tai chi etc - we tried to join in the dancing but we couldnt do the steps! It was good fun though. We walked through the temple seeing all the sites and spent a few hours there. For a laugh we had our photos taken of us dressed as empresses. We both had on Chinese robes, I had a funny headress and Gail had a furry hat thing on. We caused a bit of a crowd and afterwards we had people following us trying to get a nosy at our photo.

We had our first experience of China public toilets which is basically a hole in the ground or 'squat toilet'. I think the less I say about that the better...

After the temple we went to McDonalds for lunch - really getting into the culture! Both of us had sore feet so we changed footwear and went back outside to explore the shopping areas. As we stood at the traffic lights, this young guy came up to us and said 'hello, welcome to Beijing'... he told us about a flag ceremony at Tianamen Square so we decided it might be worth a watch. Headed down to the square and the flagpole was guarded by soldiers and we watched the changing of the guards, switching on of fountains and a marching ceremony before they lowered the flag and took it to the Forbidden City. Not sure why but the ceremony takes place every night - was interesting to watch.

We wanted to find the night market to try the street food but we couldnt find it. We went to a chinese restaurant next to the hotel which said 'cattle noodles' on the front. I took that to mean 'beef noodles' and assumed they would have english menu but not a word! They ushered us in and after a lot of pointing at pictures of food in a book, we managed to get a plate of rice and a chicken dish. I really hope it was chicken!

First impressions of Beijing; more modern than I thought but probably due to the Olympics being here in 2008. Friendly people although they stare at us. The Chinese also seem to spit - doesnt seem to be as disgusting as we think at home and often hear them hocking up behind you which is a bit strange!

Not able to upload photos on this computer but hopefully when we move on I can get some on.