Beijing Haowei Mansion Hotel

... flip for sure. Alas, no. Our faithful conductor urges the people onto the bus, and once again I am pushed to the back as more people mosh their way in. At least five more people get on the blasted bus. At this point my purse is going one way in the crowd, I am going the other, someone to my left is trying to play accordion with my spine, and I am sustaining elbow blows to the chest by a girl in front of me. I fight back. As my hips are twice the size of every else’s on ...

... the 'real' China. We hadn't realised that their concrete rendering techniques were quite so advanced way back when, but then again the Chinese were the first to develop an alphabet, so who knows?

After lunch in a somewhat more authentic backstreet restaurant, where Adrian agonised over whether the tofu would upset his 'delicate digestive system', we went in search of the Underground City, a warren of tunnels, houses, shops and army barracks that Mao had built ...

... round of visa difficulties for travelers. This is a year full of sensitive dates, of course, from the 50th anniversary of China's big move on Tibet--Beijing is calling it "Serf Liberation Day"; Tibetans the world over have a whole lot of other words for it--to the 20th anniversary of what the government refers to as an "incident" that took place here. And yes, it's true that those two anniversaries ...

... going on... we stood waiting for a bit then got bored and left. After the Stadium, we all went for a Chinese massage. 143yuan for an hour and a half, full body. The spa was really posh and fancy, and instead of taking our clothes off we put on these pj's and were covered with towels. The masseuse didn't use oils just heat from the friction created by the pj's. It was kinda painful but felt way better afterwards. When we got back to the hotel we met the group ...

... with thousands of people, in Tianemen Square?? Can't be put into words. Nothing short of poetic. I was paralyzed. Way up there on my top 10 moments of this trip. Olympic Waterpolo, Canada vs China, August 22 Aaron and I were deleriously tired on this day. We had far too many 4hr sleep nights in a row, and basically drooled and fumbled our way through the days. In the morning we were too concerned just with getting there on time, and ...

... than the cosmopolitan Shanghai. I probably saw the same number of building cranes in Shanghai and Beijing. However in Shanghai these cranes are building something new and exciting while in Beijing they are tearing down neglected structures and replacing them with a fresher version of the same dab designs. Of course I did not come to Beijing for the architecture but for the history. We pull up to the hotel ...

... dwelling itself is facing north. The next day we decided to visit the Forbidden city. The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost five centuries, it served as the home of the Emperor and his household, and the ceremonial and political centre of Chinese government. Built from 1406 to 1420, the complex ...

... 20 twists and turns! Their history dates back 800 years and they are regarded by many as the window into Beijing life. My first impression of the house we will be staying at in the Hutong is that there is a real welcoming feel. We are welcomed by Yangzi who runs the B&B and as she speaks practically no English Xiaojing carries out the translation. Our room has a living space with a desk area and a wooden table with a chair either side, there is a shower room ...

... As soon as I stepped into the tree-lined park off the main promenade, I found myself transported into a tranquil world with hardly a soul. I wandered for hours amongt 700-year old junipers interupted by an occasional Chinese musician using the tranquility to practice. I sat and listened to several musicians who seemed thrilled to have me as an audience. I read my Lonely Planet, listened to birds ...

... s taping of their big Chinese New Year Celebration show. Big Stars, very prestigious ticket. Of course we were all over that. We met Hi Dongs father (seems like important someone) to get the tickets for the show and he treated us to yet another fantastic authentic Chinese meal. When we arrived at the television studio, Hi Dong recognized many big Chinese stars. When the show started, we both started to cry at ...