Ping An Fu Beijing

... Looka, looka.” But they are not overly pushy and quite happy to help with directions if we look lost.

We also love the ad hoc chats. A bored young security guard in Jingshuan Park engaged us in conversation. Fairly basic, as his English was limited but he was genuinely interested in where we came from and our journey. We also managed a bit of mutual language teaching once we got on to meals. Many folks just want to practise their ...

... helpful too, and offered us an extra 10% off as we had originally planned to stay for so long. Coincidentally, all the people we met there were Dutch, save for one English couple.

Beijing is very different in comparison to Ulaanbaatar and even more so of Moscow. In Russia everyone ignores you, whereas in Mongolia everyone begs money off of you, and in China they desperately try to sell you their pointless memorabilia. But on the otherhand the Chinese are so friendly, whenever ...

... Summer Palace; which to me was mor eimpressive, and I felt the name hardly did it justice. Not just a palace, but a huge complex of lavish buildings, pagodas, treasures and bridges set around a gorgeous and pretty enormous gated lake. It took a hefty few hours of walking to see the main sections, but really we could've squeezed out more time here.

Food-wise we had many great experiences; particularly sampling the local hot-pot, where you cook slices of meet ...

... to get a few things before we leave tomorrow. It was about a 20 minute walk from the station but we all had bargain hunting on the brain so it passed quickly. I sort of knew what I wanted before we get there but just hoped it wouldn't be a load of rubbish stuff when we got there. The building was alike a large indoor market on 3 floors with a great big neon sign outside so you couldn't miss it. The first stall we came to I ...

... 9000 rooms. A little overwhelming at first, but very impressive once I got used to it! I was actually rather underwhelmed by Tiananmen Square - it was smaller than I expected. However, later on, when I was somewhere else looking at postcards, I realised that I had only seen a quarter of it. There are lots of hoardings up with displays about the olympics, and they block the view through to the rest of the square! Had a brilliant day ...

... Where China's Rivers Run Dry ASIA: The most dramatic national transformation in human history is being threatened by a lack of water. Orville Schell The view from the top of the luxurious Morgan Centre (which will soon host a seven-star hotel) down onto Beijing's Olympic Green, where the 2008 Summer Games will begin in less than 500 days, is breathtaking. There, far below, lies the stunning Herzog & de Meuron-designed "bird nest" Olympic Stadium. Right next to it is ...

... some soy to give myself quite a good stir fry. I'm goig to have to try some different meat too, though I'll do some research this time. On the food theme. We met this guy Tommy (again, English name). He is Chinese from Hong Kong, but spent quite a bit of time in New York opening up a restaurant there. Now he owns a restaurant in SOHO (our building complex). And he just opened up another in Wang Fu Jing. Wang Fu Jing, if you rmemember, is ...

... got caught up in the excitement of a group of young chinese girls flirting and chatting excitedly around a toffeefruit stall and as I enjoyed watching the excitement, I decided I would give it a go too, so got a stick of all sorts of fruits - pineapple, banana, grapes, dragon fruit, lychee type things, plums and tomatoes, and all covered in a type of toffee stuff!! Like toffee apples I suppose, but softer toffee! Really yummy, but so sweets I could only ...

... and bustle on the street, especially at night, all sorts of crazy foods being served - pigs trotters and faces being especially popular. The Peking duck is... amazing. I can't say we've seen much of the city so far, and being so close to the tourist attractions I'm sure it's not a good indication of Chinese life in general. The people are very friendly - the hawking, spitting, staring folk I'd expected aren't to be found (thankfully). At least not here - I'm ...

... And all around, you have naked guys walking about. We're done with the sauna and head to one of the rooms off to the side. We get there and there's a couple of guys waiting to give us a massage. I don't know what I agree to but my F-F-I-L gets me a body scrub and a milk massage. Apparently, Sarah was getting the same treatment so he thought I might want the same thing. So I popped myself onto the table and lie face down ...