Novotel Beijing West Zhongguancun

... wouldn't last long. By the time I left Beijing everyone was taking my picture.

As you walk up to the city you get met by loads of con artists, ironicly asking if you want to come look at an art exhibition. Its an amazing place. The only thing is that the info points at each of the buildings are rubbish! "Built in the 14th Century by Ming, made out of cedar wood in a rectangulr formation first used...." but sod all about what is was used for or what, if anything ...

... the complex, it was still set to close fairly soon, so I scurried through and then hopped back on the subway in the direction of the Pearl Market. Usually I'm dead-on with my sense of direction, but with Beijing this wasn't the case. The maps at the metro exits were all in Chinese and therefore illegible to me, so when I assumed I should get off at one stop versus another to get to the Pearl Market, I was dead wrong. I got off ...

... unlike any market I have ever been to, basically 6 floors of tiny stalls crammed with goods and even more stall attendants than customers. Passing up and down the rows of the silk market is similar to running the gauntlet while being manhandled at every point by stall attendant's attempt to sell their wares by any means possible. T-shirts, kimono, jeans, watches, jewellery, jumpers, jackets and many other "bestest quarity" goods are for sale here. Looking to replace my heavier ...

... steaming like a teakettle! Pretty ingenious, but pretty not yum. USA vs. Brazil gold medal match in women's soccer, we got one ticket for free and paid 100Yuan for the other. Face value was 800 yuan a piece and it included the Bronze medal match! After our paparazzi press time outstide the stadium, we watched the ladies win in the rain, surrounded by 10,000 Chinese in yellow poncho's yelling Jai Yo! USA vs. Brazil gold medal match ...

... in a fit of high-spirits. Ok maybe I exaggerate a little bit, but her frequent rest stops were definitely not for her benefit! After a steep climb, we got up to the wall itself, and looked down - not a good idea, we were very far up and it was quite crumbly! I can only assume that the guys who bike the Great Wall do it on restored sections, because the wall was doing it's best to get to the road far below! We travelled up and down for a few miles until ...

... room full of people. There were about 20 to 30 people there, most ranging from 14-18 years old. Some were playing cards, some were talking, but it seemed like a lot of them were doing...homework...Carl and I sat there watching them confounded, it made no sense. It looked like they had been there a while too so this was no early start, they were pulling all nighters on a Monday night? God had no presence in this place. We sat there ...

(Peter blogging) Tuesday we went to the Summer Palace, where many Emperors and wives spent their summers. The place is unbelievably big and very scenic, with a huge man-made lake and island, numerous houses, and boats. We roamed around there for several hours, along with about 20,000 other tourists. We saw several elderly men using long ...

... drove us right to the subway stop and was even concerned that we didn't have an umbrella! Anyway it turned the day from a bad one to a great one and we went for Peking duck and 20p beer! Speaking of which it' s 7.30pm so I'm off for a shower and beer! Beijing has been fun. dean and I loved having a long time there and there was lots to do. We went to Tianamen square countless times altho we never got to see Chairman Mao cos his Mausoleum was closed for repairs - to the ...