Yuhuagong Hotel Beijing

... and Louis Vuitton were two of them), as the Big Guy is always inclined to do to the Little Guy. So the clever Little Guys just don't display the products from that brand anymore, but they have them in a catalogue, and you pick what you want and they send a gofer running off somewhere to bring it to you. Amazing.

I then got myself a large Dolge & Gabanna bag, made of real leather. I also learned something new today. As I was secretly admiring the bag ...

... when I visited. Then when I was in Beijing last year, we really got to connect and hang out. He was nice enough to buy my train ticket from Beijing to Qingdao this time. The guy refused to allow me to pay him back for it and treated me to dinner on top of that. Class act all the way, especially when he is doing this on top of recently having purchased a new apartment. I tried vehemently, but to no avail to give him some money. He said I could treat him to dinner next time, I'll ...

... of got to me because tipping is not an Australian custom either. Why should I be expected to behave in a way that is neither Australian or Chinese in a 2 star hotel in China’s capital?! Mum and I discussed the matter then decided that we would hold our ground. After a day or so of glum faces, politeness and friendliness finally got us a smile out of the door guy. Yes, we were stingy, but we were apparently a lot more polite that other ...

... think about how they themselves read China's media and evaluate what is being said and challenge and think critically about what is published...for if westerners can form a view (which Chinese presumably agree with) of China that is positive, DESPITE supposed unrelenting negative news campaigns, then isn't it the case that thinking for oneself outside the spectre of what's put in our face by a government run news system would be closer to reaching a realistic point of view?

... uno de los puntos mas emblematicos de Beijing. Lamentablemente nos llovio pero a pesar de eso las fotos salieron muy bonitas. Cuando terminamos la visita salimos para el lago Behai y fuimos a comer Pato Pekin que delicia!! Terminamos ese dia bastante cansados por la caminada en el palacio del cielo.

... pioneers opined that the Internet would increasingly make national boundaries and identities irrelevant, especially among the wired young. But Chinese netizens can be nationalistic as well as cosmopolitan. In the spring, after the Tibet and Paris incident, for example, fenqing ("angry youths") took to the net , creating YouTube videos and blog posts that denigrated Tibetan rioters and railed against the French. 7. Self-styled patriotic postings can make the government uneasy ...

... Mum tried to walk down before she lost it and fell down, then just kept going. The uphill bits we worked together to pull each other up. It was impossible to do it alone. It was too dangerous to walk to the end of the section and then down the road, like we had planned, so we walked (well, mostly slid) back to the bobsled place to see if we could take the bobsled down. The bobsled place would not sell us any tickets, for some reason, and so they vaguely ...

... the great wall. You would think there would be quite a few in around the Forbidden city but we found none. Rather than walking back to the one near our previous hostel, we opted to go to Francis's hotel and see what they had to offer. In the end we booked a tour that took us to the great wall and the Ming toombs. Unfortunately it ment we had to be at the hotel by seven in the morning!!! Early night then.

... at 20:45 for border cross and passport & visa check on the Chinese side and then had to have the wheels changed on our carriages as Mongolian train tracks are a different guage, this took from 21:25 to 22:20 and if you stay on board you can watch what should be called the 'a-team' change the bogeys (technical term you know) which was very intertestiing as all carriages are split up and then each whole carriage is ...

... that bad. A fried scorpio: Wanfujin night market - crunchy but couldn't taste much more than the fried oil taste. Jellyfish: weird jelly texture, but not a lot of taste in general Foods I have swore not to try: chicken and duck feet, dog, cow's stomach and pig knuckles! other food related info: Beijing people like "tang hu lu" as a sweet (sugar coated fruit on a stick), which is really tasty! Sweet potato vendors are all around Beijing, especially ...