HOTEL TEMPLE OF HEAVEN BEIJING

... swarm of salespeople ready to trek behind you during your entire walk along the wall, carrying t-shirts, books etc. And when you pass certain "checkpoints" they stand and delegate themselves into groups according to all the tourist. My friend got fed up and tried to outrun the seller following his group, she just ran after him! And once you get walking on the Wall, you really try and comprehend why they ...

... to the great wall, wait for us to hike it, bring us back, and get us to the train station. He said "$40" and I said "done". He asked us what time the following morning we wanted to be picked up and I said "we're going now!" "Now" he laughed to one of his buddies as Jason and I climbed into the back of the cab and told him to get a move on. No time to explain.<br> Off we were, starting to sober, to ...

... s*me speed *s his, it w*s incredible to feel *ll four legs lift of the ground *lthough my bum w*s seriously bruised *fterw*rds! I'm he*ding to Hong Kong on Thursd*y in order to get my vis* st*mped before dep*rting for the Guilin *nd Yi River mount*inous *re* where I will be spending * month. I'm excited *bout * new p*rt of my *dventure *nd * different type of experience but, I will be very s*d to le*ve *ll the lovely people in Beijing (sorry Mum I h*ve invited ...

... when I last visited this Capital metropolis of the middle kingdom. It was a dirty but future looking city then, it is still a futuristic city now and it has cleaned up quite a bit for the Olympics. Traffic is light, there are no visible garbages in the street, and as Juliette noticed, only good looking Chinese people are visible. The Chinese government has done a excellent job ...

... dominance and domestic oppression." And China's authoritarian leaders are not about to let anyone spoil their party. When they won the right to host the 2008 Olympics seven years ago, Chinese officials promised to improve human rights, develop a more open society and clean up the environment. They also vowed to grant foreign reporters covering the Games free and unfettered access to every nook and cranny of the country. But international human rights groups are almost unanimous in ...

... their city, mine, travel, wanting to volunteer for the Olympics, just enjoyed chatting for about an hour and a half. They suggested some places for me to visit, which I didn't end up getting to, but I am supposed to come back to China in the fall I think, so now I have an agenda for then. And then the public park, where I sat down to write all of this. Willow trees and benches and flowering trees I can't name. The ...

... opening which was sealed when the tower was completed. It is believed that Tibetan Buddhist scriptures, Lama robes and other sacred articles are stored inside. The tower offers great views of the city, in fact, the best we had seen. Space was limited on the platform though so once we had soaked in the views and taken some photos we made our way back down. We have spent long enough in the park and time is moving on. We exit and walk to Dongsi, take the metro to Dongzhimen and ...

... I had one of many conversations with my sisters about beauty. The pictures i have of them really don't do them justice...they have full, high cheeks, beautifully shaped eyes, perfect teeth, noses, and gorgeous, tanned skin. BUT they point at my nose and give two thumbs up, saying big is good, and then squish their palms against their noses and give a thumbs down. They also think that round eyes are beautiful, and ...

... streams, willows, narrow lanes, lanterns, stone bridges. took lots of pix and did lots of window shopping (only bot some handpainted tees with dongba pictograms and a chinese outdoor mag). i was glad that i din stay too long in Dali cos Lijiang is nicer! unfortunately, the old town is really congested, with lots of chinese tourists as its the chinese new year 1-week hols. but the good thing is that there are ...

If Saturday expanded our cultural horizons, we thought Sunday may sensitise our spiritual values - so off we went to visit Yonghe Gong and the Confucius Temple. Yonghe Gong, aka the Lama Temple, was built in 1694 as the residence of Qing Dynasty prince Yong. It was reinvented as the Harmony and Peace Palace in 1725 and as a lamasery in 1744. The Temple boasts characteristics of Manchu, Han, Tibetan and Mongolian ...