Shen Zhen Beijing

... 15 years old and their English is really, really good. It is so good; they are just learning new words and more difficult sentence structures now. They are really fun. They like to talk to me about Gossip Girl, and Kevin Garnett and Lady Gaga and want to know everything about America. I would say that is my favorite class. Then on Friday afternoons I teach Business English at Sinopec, which is a giant oil company. That is pretty fun ...

... my stomach seems strong enough to handle most of the foods here. I was lucky enough not to have any real problems and have been enjoying the food so far. Every week, I am trying new foods and eating at new restaurants... it's quite amazing.

2. Presenting a PPT in Chinese
At work, we recently had a division-wide marketing meeting involving multiple cities via video conference. Since the top managers were European, they obviously ...

... not asking me where I'm going.

Houhai always confuses me, I never figured out the name of the lakes. I walk in the rain for the next 30 min trying to find the cafe. Liu Chang's there already, I step in and realizes my t-shirt is always soaked from sweat and rain. We planned to take the public bus to south 5th ring where the Beijing-Shijiazhuang Expressway toll gate is and try to catch a ride there. With the rain and our packs we ...

... plastic plates etc and felt like fast food for Brits. After the food we got the tube back to our stop with Peter and Jason and looked for a bar that might be open as it was only 9.30pm. There doesn't seem to be any bars as such where we are so we just got 4 bottles of beer for 30p each (and they were like the size of a large Magners bottle). We took them to our hotel and drank them there and then the guys had to head back to their hotels before the tubes stopped at ...

... wall, I had an emotion in my whole body. I could not believe I was standing on the Great Wall of China! This was spectacular! We finished our day with a bit of shopping and dinner at the Lan Club of Beijing. This was a unique dining experience. The decor was fabulous and the food presentation was small works of art.

Morning has broken, but it wasn't me, I promise. We are all up and ready for day 2 in Beijing. First stop, breakfast in the hotel. The same buffet as the day before so we know what to expect this time. Our day's itinerary starts with a trip to Peking (or Beijing) University. We hear from Leo, our guide, that Peking is actually the Mongolian word for the city, though the modern name Beijing is now in use. PKU is the first ...

We boarded our 'Z class express' train to Beijing from Xian with a sense of excitement- this train will be the most advanced sleeper we use on our voyage. We were initially not disapointed, with luxuries like individual airline style TV's in every birth and a very slick looking carriage. Things went rapidly wrong however when a very fat objectionable man slumped his jabba the hut figure into our compartment. We knew he was bad news- so fat ...

... took me awhile to find the correct ticket window and to find someone who spoke English. I purchased a soft-sleeper ticket for 400RMB and then headed to the Forbbiden City and Tiananmen Square. Everywhere I went Chinese people stared at me with out any hesitation. They also constantly tried to sell me things. I would say "No" and then I would say "No" again, and again. But they didn't give up. At times they would even grab my arm and pull me over to there little ...

... hotmail.com The price includes: 06 nights of 4* hotel accommodation and 03 nights of 4* Yangtze River Cruise Ship accommodation (on twin sharing basis) with breakfast in hotel; meals as listed above (06 lunch and 05 dinner in local restaurant or local family's house); all transfers and transportation within ...

... arrive at the Temple of Earth which was converted into a restaurant. The ceiling was beautifully painted and the walls covered with wonderful pieces of art. The day ended with a small sample of Chinese opera. For those of you who have never experienced it is something that you have to try just once. The singing is quite unique as the pitch used is quite high. I liken it to a young child singing really high (at least for the female parts). The male performers don ...