Super 8 Cuiwei Beijing

... and tiny noodle kitchens, I found a wonderful traditional shoe shop and couldn't resist, leaving with some very cheap embroidered traditional pumps, and also indulging, a few doors down, in a calligraphy scroll to adorn the wall of my new abode in Australia!

... swarm of salespeople ready to trek behind you during your entire walk along the wall, carrying t-shirts, books etc. And when you pass certain "checkpoints" they stand and delegate themselves into groups according to all the tourist. My friend got fed up and tried to outrun the seller following his group, she just ran after him! And once you get walking on the Wall, you really try and comprehend why they ...

... magical and deeply spiritual place has been restored over the last 28 years and its old, alluring, evocative halls, corridors and shrines emanate the truce, historical nature of the Buddhist faith in Tibet. There are Four Guardian Kings just inside the entrance, with a paved courtyard that has a throne previously used by the Dalai Lama (DL) (ie the 14th present). After this point, we couldn't take photos, so it was a good chance to study the ...

... You can't go inside and rightly so. Seeing the crowd outside, it's not difficult to imagine it would simply trample over everything there. So the authorities wisely decided to keep it at bay. By and large, just to get to the space from where you could see what's inside entailed fighting the mob as if free lunch was distributed. Or like in front rows on a rock concert as I used to be in my teenage days. And then once you finally get it, it seems as if you have only a few seconds ...

... destinations such as Xi'an, home of the Terracotta Warriors, and Guilin, home of the scenic Li River." The findings of the Visa survey are corroborated by a recent report issued by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) which found that visitors to China wanted to broaden their travel experience with cruising and green tourism among the growing attractions. China's diverse range of national parks and scenic rural areas are being actively promoted and marketed to ...

Well, this week, some birds flew out of the bird's nest. Lots of fireworks too. On Wednesday there was a dress rehearsal for the opening ceremony of the Olympics, and eye-witnesses reported lots of fireworks. We all know that China will try to wow the world on the 8th. Once they've blasted out the rain clouds with their 'superpowers', they will present an extravaganza on a huge scale, to those lucky enough to get tickets, and an audience of millions (or is it ...

... wall once; take the path of most resistance (available). although we knew we had to get a move on and hustle if we were to make it happen, we dilly dallied, making coffee in our room and taking time with the ****** breakfast buffet in our hotel. can't complain though, as it was cheap, and provided us with half our lunch as well. we had two options for getting to the wall, one more costly and easy, the other a little more rough around the edges. being on a budget, fresh from it ...

... shades of beige! Strangely, given Ev's love of magnolia, this has not gone down too well. However, it has been rather fun, if a little nerve racking ordering from the menu and not really knowing what you're going to get, even when there is some english on the menu. Whats more, they stand by your table as soon as you sit down and wait for you order - not great when you have absolutely no idea what you are doing. The Chinese seem to have the ability to order their food, scoff it ...

... huge. Which is interesting then that we still got stared at and & asked to be in people's photos - like we were a tourist attraction in itself. The building where huge & exquisite but they're doing a lot of renovation at the moment in preparation for the Olympics. As they are everywhere - not that i blame them if they want it looking its best. It cost 60 yuan to get in which translates as just over 4 quid! Unbelievable. We didn't bother with the audio ...

... grandma's dumplings, and just incredible. The students said these were more like the ones they had at home. We made wishes in the pig fountain and headed off to find the subway. Funny thing was, we had NO IDEA what stop to get off on because we really didn't know where our hotel was. No one helped us because they didn't really know where it was. None of the students or even Chelsea had been on a subway before. So, I bought us ...