Hurrahh, we are on solid ground again - Beijing!

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First impressions of Beijing - where do we start......

Everyone is putting a lot of time into preparing for the 2008 Olympic Games and everywhere you look, there are signs celebrating this.

We have had a pretty relaxed couple of days after our massive train journey.  Spent 3 nights in a hotel near Muxitu Metro line before moving to a more centrally located hotel - The Harmony.  This is our first bit of luxury in a while - hot water, showers and air con - lovely!

We had a quick visit to Tianemen Square on Monday evening and its amazing how big it is.  Lots of people were around and we weren't quite sure if they were demonstrating or not?  However, there was a burst of red and blue flashing lights and the crowd suddenly disbursed so I guess they were.

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We had our first Beijing Roast Duck on Monday evening when we visited a traditional restaurant in the Hutongs - delicious!

The Subway system in Beijing is really easy to use.  Only two lines - one circle and one going from east to west. The tickets are a flat rate of Y3 (about 20p) for any journey.

The beer etc is good value too - around Y3 in a shop or Y10 in a restaurant for a 600ml bottle - our advice is not to drink the cans of beer - not good, stick to the bottles which are far nicer - and bigger!

Lee outside Mao's Tomb on the edge of Tienamen Square
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We took a bus ride (approx 90 mins) so a section of the Great Wall on Sunday morning.  What an amazing place - seeing is believing.  We took a cable car from the bottom of the hill to tower 14 and walked to tower 20.  Didn't think I would live to tell the tale - must have climbed up and down a million steps.  Basically the towers are like a zig zag formation and tower 20 is the highest up.  Beyond this tower the wall is still unrestored and you can see the huge job they have to do here.  We then walked back down to tower 6 and took a fantastic toboggin ride down for 30 yuan.  Its strange to think that you can visit the Wall which has stood for over 2000 years in one form of another and take a cable car up and toboggin ride down.

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On Monday we took the Subway to Tianamen Square to visit the Forbidden City which was incredible.  Its amazing just how big the palaces there are - took us around 4 hours and we only scratched the surface.  After this was took a trikshaw ride through the Beijing Hutongs which is where the people of Beijing traditionally lived - lots still do.  This give us a really good opportunity to see the daily life of the inhabitants.

Love Jan and Lee