Reniassance Beijing Capital Hotel

... by a girl. I cut her off, and she was helpful enough to point me in the direction of a Real estate office. I hand the smirking agents my note, and in their defense they tried their best. The place I looked at wasn’t all that great, and the guy was trying to get me to commit. I tried my best to say I had somewhere else to be and another place to go to.

By that point, I realized I didn’t want to be in Wudaokou. So I hopped the subway back to the hutong and ...

... particularly given the bruised state of my bottom and aching knees, but I couldn't resist another visit to the wall, particularly given that this time we took a tent and sleeping bags. Arriving as the sun was setting, we scrambled along a particularly overgrown and dilapidated section, forcing our way through the undergrowth until we reached a suitable lookout post. We then pitched the tent, unpacked the many bottles of beer we'd carried up and settled ...

... We got a ticket to look around inside and started in the museum section. Here there are lots of pictures and details of different big Theatres and Opera Houses from around the world, and then there are models of the proposed National Theatre (proposals 1 and 2) Proposal number 3 is the one that was agreed upon and so there are then photographs of the construction process. It looked very complex as there was so much to achieve. We were then able to go and look around ...

... up the image and the level of service that they have been portraying and providing throughout the Olympics in the coming weeks, months and years, they will truly be a world power to be reckoned with. These Olympic games have served to put the world on notice that the sleeping Dragon is no longer in a state of slumber, but alive and ready for anything. I heard some children singing Beijing's other motto, "We are Ready" in the subway. 3 days after ...

... We ate everything that was brought before us, and it was really delicious. Sammy, who has a job in the tourism industry had organised Hutong tours and a hike to the Great Wall for us. She said that her boss said that she could come with us to the Great Wall, which is exciting. Sammy also said that she is taking us to the school on Monday, and is taking the morning off for us. Rebecca noticed on our calendar that we had just one day off, so she invited us ...

... is also a recent creation, dating from the 1950s when Mao, encouraged by his Soviet advisors, ordered the clearing away of the old government ministries. There were plans to "press down" the "feudal" Forbidden City by surrounding it with high-rise buildings and smokestacks, but the fledgling republic lacked the resources to carry out the plan. Summer Palace (Yi He Yuan) Later in her rule, Cixi spent a considerable amount of time ...

We're trying to overcome jet lag, but apparently Dave doesn't have such a problem because we've diagnosed him with narcolepsy. Moogie has not been so lucky because she has ADD and basically hasn't slept in 3 days, except for brief 15-minute increments. No matter how much I stay up, I still can't sleep for long at night! I think all the afterhours makes it feel normal not to sleep for 3 days every weekend ...

We arrived in Shanghai two days ago here at 2:30pm on 1/1 (1:30am at home). When we got here we had to go through three sets of customs. Interestingly enough there is English all over the place, so we had no problems whatsoever. We met our tour guide named Scottie Pippen, after the basketball player, apparently he learned his great english from watching American TV. He is adorable. We ...

... Russia & Kahzakstan, for 182 days. These guys are just grizzled to hell, all hair and sinew. Honestly, maximum respect.. that is some serious travelling! I realised after the last post that I had forgotten to mention our bus odyssey to and from Simatai. This was the bus ride from hell, and a fairly startling introduction to the insanity that is Chinese driving. The scheduled time of the trip was 1 & 1/2 hours each way...so of course, it was 4 hours in and 3 & 1/2 ...