7 Days Inn (Beijing Beishatan)

... so they were the best of the best. The best parts of the show were the girls jumping around on a bike (at one point there were 15 on 1 standard bike) and the guys monkeying around on two flagpoles. This is not to dimiish the other parts that included the girls juggling yo-yo style things, the guys flipping through hoops, the girls juggling umbellas and 1 girl doing 1 armed pushups and figures on a rotating and growing platform! Tired out from just watching we braved a taxi home with an ...

A great incentive for travelling around the world (should you need one!) is having the chance to visit friends that have moved abroad. Seeing them when they come back to England for a fleeting visit is nice, but doesn't really give you any insights into the new life they've made for themselves. It is only by spending quality time with them in their own environment that you can achieve this and it can be as inspiring and eye-opening an experience as any other ...

... photo of Ivorian current President on the wall, whatever his name was right now, and a few motives from the country itself, folk craft and landscape photos. Things like that. And one more thing that probably very few other countries put on as a decoration in their embassy buildings. Dominating it all, there was a nature-size cardboard portrait of probably most renowned Ivorian citizen today. Didier Drogba, of course. Right by the drinking water machine, impossible to miss when you ...

... orange colour and it just seemed like a funeral procession despite the fact that Mao died decades ago. It was like as someone in my hostel put it a funeral that never ends. One of the reasons I decided to visit Beijing was to see the Great Wall definitely one of the things on my life's to do list. I didn't want to do the overly touristy part of the wall called Badaling. So I decided to book a hiking tour with my hostel. It covered the Jingshangling - Simatai section of ...

... at the match-we agreed on everything, except for my love of Manchester United (he's more of a Liverpool man). On an emotional note, I cannot describe how crazy the stands and myself went after we scored our goal in overtime-I screamed myself hoarse and I (may or may not) have had a tear or two... No joke. During the medal ceremony, I had one of the greatest patriotic rushes that I have ever felt. Instead of a rant, I will just ...

... to make it political. Please oh assumed worldly one, enlighten me with your wisdom on the dictatorship of the PRC, the CIA in Tibet and the true meaning of fascism. I honestly 'assume' you will also have the answers to who was behind the fiasco 2 weeks ago. (Now before you go get a big head - I am being sarcastic). If English is not your first language maybe you won't fully understand the rhetoric within my writing until I make it blatantly obvious. But that is ok, if you find ...

... hard in the States. Oh well, school hasn't started yet so I figure I'll have some fun. Come school time it'll be pretty much ass busting everyday. The placement test teacher already warned that I would be having a difficult time because she placed me in a class higher than what my abilities in reading/writing are because I'm more advanced than those in class in terms of speaking/understanding it. We'll see where it goes, I'm sure there are even more adventures to come.

... we did some shopping in outdoors market but it was so cold and raining that we headed back around 9:30pm. We purchases tickets for a tour at the hostel. Thursday : The next day, we went on a tour that took us to many places. We first hit a Jade Factory where they explained stuff about jade and showed us how they made carvings. Then we visited one of the Mong Tombs. Ming is a dynasty. There are 3 Ming tombs, one for ...

... Once the ladies had dressed us, Amanda told us that the clothing was typical for emperors and empresses. So, we took pictures with "our throne" in our "imperial garb" before walking down a pathway towards the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is huge and the English translations of rooms and different parts of the city are absolutely hilarious! It stretches on and on. The architecture like most that we have seen here is absolutely stunning ...

... an explanation in english so the purpose of each palace or temple wasn't that clear, however it was no less impressive. White Jade used to fashion and carve monster size buildings that were modelled by hand through what seems very much to be a labour of love by the people ingreatiating themselves to the Emperors of dynasties passed. The majority is from 600's through to the last emperor, through Quing and Ming and all manner of other names. It ...