Word of the day: Yānwù - 烟雾 - smog. Highlight: Not getting robbed, despite all of the warnings. Lowlight: Fellow travellers account of the treatment of Elephants in Beijing Zoo "it's a pretty s***ty existence". Won't be funding that operation. Weather: 3° C, sprinkling of snow dust. Wandering the streets in one of the most populated cities in the world (over 19.5 million) is surreal and eye opening. Gargantuan brown buildings and old world lampposts c....

16 hours to go before we set off on our wee adventure. We will be leaving Auckland International around 9am tomorrow, heading for Beijing. I have had a quick look to see what we can expect from the weather over there and it is a balmy -1 with snow. It will make a nice change from this indecisive Auckland weather, that can't seem to decide if it is summer or winter! Krissy is just finishing the last hour of her 5 month contract with Tourism NZ and then there wil...