After a late night and a long snooze in the morning we arrived at Tiananmen Square in the hope to see to Chairman Mao however when we got there the queue was without doubt the longest queue I have ever seen. Starting at one end of the square and running the entire length of the square to the tomb before entering an equally long winding queue to ...

The folk at the Japan Travel Agency said next month - October - they will be able to offer 3- and maybe 6- month business visas for China. This is great news, considering all the **** foreigners in China have had to put up this year with the Olympics and the scatter-gun approach to security. http://www.jta.biz/chinavisa/china_visa .htm

Everyone has been watching with interest the skies over Beijing. Will they clear up? Would it rain on the parade? Well, it didn't rain on the opening ceremony, and spectators have endured high temperatures and humidity (without much sun). And the USA made a strong statement (perhaps not clear to most Chinese) with the carrying of the flag into t...

Beijing is a beautiful city. It has blown my expectations right out of the water.

This is our last day before we begin our journey home to Arizona. The forecasted heavy thunderstorms haven't come as we head out for the Forbidden City here in Central Beijing. Before showing you a bunch of unique photos, remember that the typical views of Beijing are more like these... The Forbidden City was the palace of the emperors of the Mi...

And so back to the other side of the world. Deciding to be ambitious and spend the day in Hong Kong during my stopover after I'd already been travelling for 18 hours didn't turn out to be the most inspired of decisions. Four days later the jet-lag was still hammering away at the inside of my skull. After lying on my bed, wondering which continen...

Bit of a retro entry here as it's been a while since I was actually in Beijing, but i've got one or two photos to put up so let's see if I can remember anything... Having left London 13 hours earlier, touching down in Beijing wasn't much of a culture shock, just an impenatrable mass of symbols. Sticking with my usual motto when travelling, "taxi...

Finally! The Wall! We booked this the night before & thought sod it. had a bloody fantastic time. Although some really odd bits. As with any cheap tour you've got to do the shops - which are all about the hard sell & can get really annoying as you're followed around the shop by hoards of staff. So.... one jade factory - where we were suc...

We've made it to China! Leaving Tokyo was a mess, as there was a mixup with our "pre-paid" transfer from the hotel to the airport. We've got some yelling to do at our travel agent when we get home. Oh well, it's not really a big deal. We're in our hotel right now in Beijing (which is gorgeous). It's 4 degrees and rainy, and tomorrow is supposed ...