Beijing Guoren Hotel

... in such a small space, with so many bodies, I decide to look out the windows, only to see the street-lines painted on the side of the road. Even with the best of my squirming, the most I can view is grass on the median beside streetlines. After five minutes of riding like this I begin to feel nauseous, so I decide to count people. Keep in mind this bus is three seats wide; two on one side, one on the other. The aisles are meant for ONE person to walk through… I counted 17 ...

... for the entire weekend as they prepared for the 60th anniversary celebrations of 'the People's Republic'....which was a month away. Dismayed, both by the fact that we wouldn't be able to see what was on the inside of the 20ft high red walls, and that Adrian had now launched into a detailed run down of his various allergies and conditions, we thought we'd go and book our trip to the Great Wall for the next day, only to discover that the Beijing Sightseeing Tour ...

... were going to meet in North Korea. I didn't. I guess I was too tired to be bothered with something I perceived as less than essential. Now that I was all by myself for an hour or so, with nothing but a stack of read to kill my time with, I suddenly felt as sleepy as if I had not slept for days. It was then that I realised how exhausted I was and how taxing a pace I had imposed on myself over the past two weeks in Bĕijîng. Was North Korea going to be any easier?

... died they would have been buried alive with him, if they did manage to give him a child they had to stay at the forbidden city forever. They weren't allowed to remarry or be used by new emperors. Its quite interesting really. Looks wise it looked the very similar to all the other places we have been. Alot of Chinese style buildings, temples and alot of statues. We walked around for about two hours and then we were told we had the afternoon to do what we wanted ...

... Though fireworks are an integral part to many of their festivities (as anyone who lived in Taiwan knows!), they are banned in Beijing. Hence, a huge crowd of very excited people crowded between Mao's Masoleum and the Gate of Heavenly Peace in breathless expectation. No one seemed to know which way the fireworks would come from. Then suddenly, a small burst to get everyone's attention. It was truly magical to hear everyone gasp, jump up ...

... area there holding a sign of my name was a twenty one year old version of Ziyi Zhang. Schwing. Throughout the hour and half car ride to the hotel, she kept apologizing for traffic. I am thinking at least we are moving I have sat in Friday rush hour traffic in DC where it took me hour and half to go 15 miles. The other surprising thing was that she asked me what I thought of Beijing. I politely commented that I have ...

... they didn't know where the place was either, but the lovely receptionist rang the hostel for us and someone came and met us. Basically, you're not meant to find the hostel with these directions, its impossible. You have to ring them and they will meet you somewhere, but the hostel don't tell you this until you ring them in distress wondering where the hell they are. As the hostel is in an old part of the city in a "Hutong", its all alleyways, so I'd ...

... and hand over another slip of paper. That's it all over and done with ... we're free in China! We walk through arrivals and I can see a familiar face waving and calling, but we have to walk a long way before being able to reach each other as there is a barrier to keep the crowds back. Feeling a little disorientated I am glad to have Xiaojing meet us. She ensures we find a taxi and all the way into Beijing we chat - there is so much to catch up on as it is a ...

... south of the square. I guess I avoided tourists by chosing to walk the mile from the square to Temple of Heaven. As soon as I ducked off the main street into a hutong I felt transported back in time 100 years ago. This is the quiet, intimate China that I thought I would see more often. I couldn't believe that I was only a few blocks away from Tianneman Square. I smiled, exchanged 'Ni Hao's' and wandered ...

... with an ancient and often colourful past. We were even given the opportunity to go into one of these four-sided courtyard homes. Each side of the home has rooms for certain people in the family - Parents/grandparents in the rooms to the east, female children in the south, male children in the north and study area in the west. The rooms were very small and basic - a bed and dresser. The houses in this area are ...