Yuhong International Hotel Beijing

... as the sun was fading so we hopped on the metro and returned to our area and wandered westward to the shopping district where the big department stores are and we found a shop C& A where I bought a fleecy cardigan which was perfect as an added layer to keep the cold out. That night we had dinner at a place on the main road and enjoyed rice and pork strips with veges. Mine was sweet and sour and yummy and Waynes was blander but still a good meal. Back at the hostel, the moon was full ...

... the guy was probably talking about the flow rate and capacity, I realized I had no idea what he was talking about. Instead, I posed a question which changed the subject to "What about this product? What's different about this one"

3. Stop and think - Sometimes it's best to just stop and think. Perhaps I really did get more than I initially thought. If I think harder, the word could come to me. The trick is mainly to get them to slow ...

... good feeling.

The Octagonal Pavilion has evil eyes around the eaves (many of the buildings do) and contains steles with lions that have recorded the history of the temple.

Most of the buildings are red with yellow glazed roof tiles. The wood beams are painted in blue, red, gold and green.

A large pot, Porridge Holloware, was 1.5 m high and 2.5 m wide was made in 1744. It was used for making gruel. Prayers were said here for a good harvest.

Beijing, China theresabill

... our clothes on including socks & hat! Somehow We couldn't get warm with cold air appearing to come up through the mattress so lights were on again half an hour later! I put down the mountain hardwear goose body-warmer I had with me as a kind of mattress topper & Jack put on another fleece. This worked well for me & woke up next day feeling very snug in my bed! As it was day1 & we had no cash we opted for brekkie in the hotel. Staff here are very friendly & ...

... for most of the day. However the seas continued to be calm and we managed to fill our day quite successfully with another lecture by Graham Ascough on making the most out of the rest of your life, then a good session learning how to Samba, and finally Trivia again before lunch. We felt good about the Samba as we actually managed to learn a few steps - probably forget them tomorrow though. The afternoon was spent quietly catching up on the diary, reading and relaxing. We did go to the ...

Since there was some free time between the visit to Temple of Heaven and dinner, my guide asked me where I wanted to go within the Chongwen district. I chose to see the ruins of the Ming dynasty city wall and the Red Gate. Running along the wall ruins and between a busy city street, Chongwenmem, is a slender park. To masked the noise of the city, there is music piped through speakers disguised as rocks. This made for a ...

Ok so after a long delay we finaly managed to make our way to Beijing, although we did have to do it in a seat on a train for 12 hours, not to comfy but good enough. Arrived early in the morning and found our selfs a nice cheap hostel. Sam had a nap and i checked out how to 'do' Beijing. Also did some walking around and stumbled on a massive dome, turned out to be the performace arts center. FUN! Next day we rented some bikes ...

... all jumped on a bus that drove us out to this impressive construction. 6000 km across the mountains and lots of walking that day, can only be slightly imagined how much work was involved in building this massive defense wall. And in the end Dragon let us know that at a certain stage the Mongols managed to climb over the wall into China, so the sole purpose didn't hold too long apparently. Still it was gigantic and we had a great day at the wall. At night us 3 boys of the ...

Countdown to departure: 15 days Beijing has proven to be an impossible place to recover from a cold. The fever lasted about two days, but the coughs just won't go away. There were a couple of days that I felt my lungs were going to collapse with every violent cough. It seems to be a combined symptom of the cold, the air pollution, and the dry weather. I feel I'm on the mend, though. Since last Saturday, I have not coughed so ...

... nog steeds tegen. We maken wat foto's en besluiten om nog wat te gaan drinken bij Femke en Wendy, het is tenslotte oud en nieuw, dan ga je niet om tien uur 's avonds in bed liggen. Het appartement van de dames ligt op de 20ste verdieping van een flat, dus biedt mooi uitzicht over de stad. Rond twaalf uur worden mijn gebeden toch verhoord en breekt toch zo onderhand de hel los onder een kakofonie van geluid, luide knallen, geratel van de duizendklappers ...