Beijing Jingdu Zijincheng Hote

... in a crowded locker-room. One word, staring. Of course, the
funny thing about fear, the reality is not nearly as bad as the nightmare. I’m
just not at the point where I am willing to find out yet.

I think one of the reasons I strive so hard to be in Ahyi’s
good grace, is that I equate her to my own Grandmother, so her opinion has
become almost as important as my own Grandmother’s, and in meeting with Ahyi’s
disapproval I am in some sense ...

... hearts) affixed to the handrails outside the temple rattled in the wind. They symbolise love, security and wealth. On rare occasions you can see the phenomena known as Buddha's Light when rainbow rings produced by refraction of water particles attach themselves to a person's shadow in the cloud bank below the summit. Devout Buddhists, thinking this was a call from yonder, used to jump off the cliff of self-sacrifice in ecstasy!

We trekked along a river bed ...

... in with department stores, we had some grub at an Ajisen Noodle. Ironically having Japanese food on our first day in China, but it was very good. Afterwards we explored the street and found a Peking Duck restaurant a friend had recommended, so we planned to go there later. It was about -4 degrees at this point so we went back to the hostel to warm up, did some planning and watched Kill Bill over tea. 7/12/08 Today we went to visit the Forbidden City. We woke early and negotiated our ...

... Not the best start it has to be said but with a few enquiries and some fast running through the airport we managed to get on a China Southern flight that same evening...unfortunately our bags didn't! We arrived in Beijing at about 1pm instead of 9.30am and incredibly our transfer person was still there to meet us. After just making it onto our flight we had literally a minute to ping off an email to the tour agency to tell them what happened before all phones had to be turned ...

... is pure travelling not waiting for tubes to run or getting through the crowd) and still only get from one page to another on your 5 page tourist map. Does this make sense? I hope so. Basically, you need patience and stamina ot get going at the first place becasue the weather is so hot and humid. Again, I shouldn't complain because the conditions (pollution, etc) are highly imporved in preparation for the Olympic games as the government ...

... Chadwick (she of the 'strawberry blonde', RADA actor, pocket rocket, scrabble whiz, Sub-woofer dancer, drunkard), AND Parents - again (drunkards, far FAR more popular at Centro than I ever was). I have since finished my time in Centro in a whirlwind of crazy latino percussionists and have been to HK, SYD and am now in MEL (Hong Kong, Sydney and Melbourne for those of you not in the travel abbr. biz) but still I shall backdate otherwise Michelle, ma and pa and Cuz Em ...

The first time visit to China was last year, but the destination was Shanghai. The city of Shanghai was less attractive than Beijing except some canal towns in the suburbs, because Shanghai was too modernized or westernized. In that meaning, Beijing may be better for tourists to feel real China. Especially, old buildings like the Great Wall, Forbidden City, and Hutong Streets may satisfy you enough. Anyway, I chose Beijing before the Olympic Games as my destination this time ...

... holiday, and the 2 days vacation help save some vacation days from work. Here are some pictures that we took the first night in Beijing and pictures of Leo Hostel, where we stayed the first 2 nights. I do not recommend Leo Hostel. There were cockroaches in the room and no electrical outlet! We had to charge our batteries in the lobby. We also walked around Wangfujiang the first night to check-out the night market. Ran into some interesting snacks there.

... out with us, he turned and asked, "how much?". We told him, "nothing, he just gave it to us". The kid looked shocked. Our new friend started walking us to where the bus stop was, and tried his best to converse with us in English. We walked at least ten blocks in the opposite direction as Tiananmen square when he stopped at a bus stop. I read the number on the sign, and it said 60. The kid spoke with one of the ladies at the stop and I saw his face ...

..... such was the excitement as the group made it on to the train at Beijing's Western Railway Station. The station itself was an experience - an enormous mass of humanity, mostly sitting on massive bundles and waiting....We caused quite a stir - nearly 90 westerners marching through the station to our "special" train. The train had been built originally for high ranking party officials but refurbished ...