Our final day in Beijing was reserved to go and see the Zhoukoudian village where "Peking Man" was found. The archaeological findings here changed the known history of man, pushing back the date that present day man was known to exist, to 600 thousand years. This was where evidence that man had the use of fire, was also found. Peking man is the link between Modern Ape and Modern Man. A very well set out and labeled museum was on site. 

We also found another museum, which was about earthquakes and we were fascinated to find out that China had invented a simple but accurate seismograph in AD 132!

Back to Beijing, in very heavy rain, and our guide delivered us to a different hotel, the Red Wall. 

Our expertly organised travels through the China based “Absolute China Tours” were at an end after two weeks and now we begin the first part of our Beijing to St. Petersburg train trip, organized through a different travel operator, “The Trans-Sib Experience" booked in Australia through "Flower Travel”. 

Our first train tickets, to take us to Mongolia, were waiting for us at reception with some instructions on how to find our train. The only thing we had left to do now in Beijing was to go to Tiananmen Square and to buy some food for the train the next day. The rain eased and we negotiated a price for a funny little electric rickshaw to take us there. On our return in a private car posing as a Taxi (a complete No, No but hey it was raining!), we found a street selling fresh fruit for our train supplies. Back in the hotel an early night was in order, to get some sleep, before our 5am early start for our next big adventure.


Footnote: Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian is UNESCO World Heritage listed.