7 Days Inn (Beijing Xueyuan Road)

... be better. It was quite a drive through the morning traffic - we took the opportunity to snooze and before we knew it we were at Mutianyu. There are several sections of the wall that can be easily visited from Beijing - we had chosen Mutianyu because the scenery was supposed to be spectacular and this section was not supposed to be as visited by other tourists. As we pulled up the rain stopped - after a quick discussion we decided to take the cable car up to the wall rather than make ...

... up, we visited the Temple of Heaven Park, with young men serenading crowds of women, who sang along heartily, while nearby, scores of old men and women bent themselves in half and perfomed other astonishing feats of strength and flexibility. Further into the park, there were large groups of people, ballroom dancing to music blaring out from huge speakers on trolleys, presumably carted into the park by a self-appointed compere. Sitting in the shadows, men ...

... me. Well, he did sound fluent to me, that was for sure. "Almost without an accent," she added. Accent or no accent, the guy spoke English, as well, as I could witness myself. He had to speak French, too. I was sure about that because French was an official language in Ivory Coast. And add to it the fact that he had to speak at least one of local, African tribal languages - I am sure he does - you had a guy who was a polyglot in several, grammatically mostly unrelated languages. Hat off ...

... the most noticeable categories, I want to give credit where it is due (and there is much credit to be paid), but also want to express serious concerns about the costs of Beijing coming out party. In my first blog post of this sort, I want to attempt to tackle certain changes in the nature and feel of Beijing as a city. Talking to friends who have visited here before (this is my first time), many have said ...

... do Hospitals, Schools charge, advertise for money giving patients and students? If you want to look how communism works, look at England. Free health care, free schooling, and government welfare to anyone who wants it (Educated, Skilled people not apply) - Posted by Travis April 8th, 2008 10:08 am GMT WHO CARES!!!! not me Ill not be wacthing any of these shame games except to to see what atheletes to boycott TO shame THEM. they Should all be asshamed of themselfs the chi-coms wanna ...

... which station to get off at. There are 5 subway lines and they interconnect quite often, so transferring between lines is pretty painless, and you can get to anywhere in the city. The subway cost 2 yuan (30 cents CAN) each, and once you exit you have to buy another ticket. Way better than $2.25 in Calgary for a limited choice on where you want to go. We arrived at our station for the silk market and reached street level. We didn't realize how massive ...

Mountain biking near the wild great wall , there are nice trails for either biking or hiking . there are hiking oppertunity on the most beautful great wall of all China, you will not miss. ITINERARY Day 1 - I pick you up from the hotel you live and drive 1 hour when we reach the mountain then you can do cycling I will follow , you can ride the bike for 2 hours , 3 hours or more . it is mountain roads and about 50 km bike riding , we ...

... some small demonstration but mostly was to try and sell us stuff. We were also taken to a tea house, where a lady served us many types of teas and teaches us about the properties and the ritual of how to serve it. Of course, they then try to sell it to you. Finally, we were exhausted and went back to the room. Friday : We visited the Forbidden City and Tiananmen square. The Forbidden City is a district lined with a high ...

... point and went into someone's hutong where we were served hot tea, peanuts, and hawthorne candies. I was a little skeptical at first but it was actually pretty interesting and the hutong owners were very interesting and sweet. The other highlight of the tour was when we almost got hit while in the carriages by a car while crossing the street. After the hutong tour, we walked down the street for a little bit and grabbed some of the yogurt ...

... red flags flying proudly on every capital building as far as you can see through the coke-town smog. My love of Beijing was born from the morning. I am wondering whether it will take me two weeks to leave as there is simply so much I want to explore and learn and savour. We hadn't eaten in the morning so we found the first local haunt that touched our noses. There was limited english on the menu so it was a game of guessing and pointing at the ...