Wow here we are in Beijing! After a VERY LONG day where we flew out of Sydney at 11.30 am we then flew to Nanjing(2hr+ stopover) & on to Beijing. No one was waiting for us at the airport which had it's moment of worry but as we'd linked up with quite a few Aussies in the plane who were doing our same Tour we all put our heads together, luckily our guide, Jackie arrived soon after, after having been delayed. The plane trip was quite long but what was great was we only had 70 people on board so lots of room to spread out! We got to our Sheraton Hotel at 5am our time so had been a long day. Here is 3 hrs behind ESTime in Australia. After a few hrs of sleep we were up & on our bus by 8am. The Hotel is amazing & I can't believe included considering the price we've paid for our Tour. Beijing has a population of 20 million plus but I'm very surprised such a modern & well developed city, the parts that we have seen. I'm sure there are more poverished areas. We visited The National Grand Theatre and had a Tea Ceremony on our way to Tiananmen Square then on to The Forbidden City, absolutely amazing! We had a lovely traditional Chinese lunch.After that we continued to the Summer Palace where we explored royal gardens, pavilions and their living Halls. In the evening after dinner we saw a Show which was an incredible experience. TBC