Beijing Central Garden Hotel

... Central Park in New York. Groups of people were playing hacky sack, playing cards, or singing in groups. Some of the singers were really good. The Temple was amazing and it was cool to see it as the sun was setting.

On our way out of the Temple, while passing through the park, we were approached by one of the street vendors selling hacky sacks. We have become adept at saying "Bu hao" (“No”), but this guy started kicking the ...

... The colors and shapes?

In other words, I believe this symptom of being desensitized is tied to one's personality. Perhaps we can measure each person's "travel personality" with the following criteria:
1. Pace – Do you like to focus on place or keep moving?
2. % visiting common attractions – Do you go to where everyone does or places no one has heard of?
3. Level of interest in ...

... trek through a few more checkpoints. I could feel that it was extremely hot and humid when I stepped off the plane, so I immediately regretted my sweatshirt, and was pretty nervous when I saw signs reading: "Temperature monitoring system in place".

Anyway, the airport is huge, beautiful, and made of glass. The international arrivals wing was all but empty, creating a very eerie feel especially when coupled with the fact that nearly every worker wore a mask. The Beijing ...

... that we were planning to walk to Tianamen square as it was a half hour walk??!! Originally walked the wrong way & had to ask some young shop keepers directions; they too giggled at the fact we were planning to walk - what on earth was so funny?! I have to say you do have to keep your wits about you a bit as there appears to be no real road rules at the traffic lights, yes there may be a green man for you & a red light for the traffic, but that doesn't seem to stop ...

... we checked the area for our belongings before descending the many steps to the top of the elevator. But oh no, guess who didn't have his key card for the ship? Kevin had taken it off while washing the body beautiful at the top. So, he and Gary went back up the steps and up the steep path but to no avail, despite help from the few locals who were there and who rummaged through the bins and the long grass. After backtracking down the elevators and finding a supermarket type shop to ...

... The pollution is pretty bad in Beijing. First stop, the Confucius Institute. We pull up and unload, and wow, we are greeted with a gauntlet line of the employees. As we pass between the two lines, they all start to clap, and continue to clap for us until we have all passed through and entered the building. The entry hall of the Institute is where we begin. It is lined with flags from around the world ...

... a dam to a little platform and then took a short boat ride to the lunch place. A great way to finish our little trek. We did the Summer Palace next, it has a large lake and lots of temples on a hill. It was muchos busy as it was a Saturday. Not bad overall but the wall's still the winner. We also went to the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower which were used to herald the start and end of the day respectively. Quite cool but a lot of steps for our ...

... of supreme harmony is shut for refurbishment....very annoying!! Still definatly worth going to. Tianamen sq seems to just be a huge meeting area, but as I wandered around it the sun was beginning to go down and there were loads of kites being flown. Really nice. I finally got chatting to a couple of english girls at my hostel (Becca and Jo) and organised to spend some time with them the next day. 5th November Becca was coming down with the flu though so ...

The train ride from Hanoi was a mere 42 hours - ha! We laugh in the face of such journeys. The Vietnamese train was alright, the staff were a bit scary and only interested in changing money for terrible rates or selling you pot noodles for crazy prices. We were glad to have used their services later though when no-one could get their hands on any Chinese currency for love nor money later in the journey... Obviously we were pretty smug about that, drinking Chinese ...

... and either black, silver or white and with a european emblem on them. And the parking attendants look more like security guards than anything else. This is not one of those run-of-the-mill spas.... When we walk through the doors we're greeted by two young ladies calling out in unison "kwei lin gong nee"...which is "Welcome" in Mandarin. Sarah's dad and I are ushered into the men's side and Sarah and her mom are ushered into ...