Beijing, China!

D & S on the great wall
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After the longest flight that we have on our trip in all, a total of about 30 hours, I thought I was going to cry if we didn't get to our hotel that night in Beijing, all I wanted to do was sleep! We finally get there after being ripped off by the taxi man and then he wanted a tip after dale had put the bags in the car and took them out of the car in the rain, when he didnt get a tip he basically told dale to go back out and close the boot... he was swiftly told where to go!  When we got into the room we just slept for a good 15 hours I think and finally we got ourselves together and ventured out into the city.  It was already getting dark and it was COLD !! horror, what were we doing in a cold place !  We finally got our bearings after getting our first thing to eat in china and it was street food, have to say it was pretty good, some pancake thing with noodles in the middle and a lot of spice.  We got on the subway and made it to Tianamen square.  Have to say it was pretty impressive but did think it was going to be bigger, we pottered around there for a while and got some dinner and headed back to the hotel.

The great wall
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The next day we moved lodgings to stay with Derek and Angela, friends I havent seen in 6 years or more (travels a great thing, we just land in on people !!)  I do have to say that I didnt realise it was 6 years since I'd seen them but sure enough after catching up over dinner its been that long since derek and I lived in the mansion !!  We stayed with them for four days and their apt couldn't be better situated to get about beijing and Angelas help with the chinese was without doubt what set us up for an easier time in china.  We also must say that we ate very well, while leaving all the ordering to Angela and Derek we had Peking Duck, Hotpot, Mongolian BBQ (I think??) to mention a few and we got to see everything we wanted.  I really enjoyed the forbidden city even though parts of it are being spruced up for the olympics and both of us loved the great wall.  Before I go any further I must say that I thought I would be under-awed by the great wall and over-awed by the terra-cotta warriors but it was the other way round.

millions and millions of steps that we trekked but every step was worth it....

Seo in Tianamen Square
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We did a 9km trek on the great wall on the un-restored part rather than the tourist part.  Mainly cause Derek said it was a nice walk !! I nearly died, I really did not think that I would make it though the whole 9kms with the millions and millions of steps that we trekked but every step was worth it, it truly is an amazing structure and the scenery is breathtaking.

The day after doing the great wall, we had a fantastic massage that was recommended by angela in a place called bodhi, If anyone is going to beijing they should go here, I was in heaven and then we went to the temple of heaven that day too which was our last in beijing but we were getting a feeling that china was not going to as intimidating as we origionally thought :0)