Xingyi Garden Hostel Beijing

... and burn incense as they pray. It was good walking around the temple. After the temple we went to Confucius Temple. It was good to walk around but not as good as the Lama temple. Three of us decided to cab it back to the hotel. We had lunch and we were talking about the afternoon plans. Janet and I decided we want to go to the Pearl market. Janet needed to pick up her pearls. I needed to buy a couple of gifts. We were there for a long time. The shopping was great ...

... but I saw it all as souvenirs, even if sometimes of a somewhat heavier price tag. For the good measure, they added the typical socrealist staple of Mao portraits with a lot of red booklets on the side, as well as occasional appearance by other well-known comrades in the mould of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin. All in all, I wasn't entirely sure how closely Liulichang Cultural Street now followed in the footsteps of what it once used to be. PingPing led the way on and we soon found ...

... he recalled. "In fact, we always worked overtime, sometimes the whole night." He worked so many hours that his eyesight deteriorated tremendously. Zhang said he believed that holiday arrangements that give people more time off are based on "a scientific idea". The retiree said that the long holiday was a rare chance for all family members to get together. "It is my happiest moment to have a jolly dinner with everybody ...

Watched the Opening Ceremony on TV last night and now it is time to get into some Olympic action by heading out to the Men's Road Race for the cycling. After starting from the centre of Beijing, the riders will head 60km out of the city before completeing 7 loops between Juyongguan and Badaling on the Great Wall. So naturally the place to watch it would be along the looped section or so logic would tell you. However as the day progressed that logic was lost on the Olympic Organisers ...

... a place where we were going to have our free lunch. But as everyone knows there is no such thing as free lunch and this principle of economics was once again confirmed today. To be more exact, before being allowed into the restaurant part of this huge building in the middle of nowhere, we had to spend some time in a big exhibition hall of Chinese jade, jewelry and other totally non-touristy items at completely non-touristy prices... After half an ...

We have arrived safely in Beijing but I am not sure I would recommend Austrian Airlines to anyone. Our first flight left Heathrow one hour late which meant we had the fear for the whole journey as our change over time for the next flight in Vienna was 55 mins. At first we were convinced we wouldn't make the connection and then it looked likely that we would but our luggage wouldn't ...

... fieste-lavorant e e vendin. E je une minoranze catoliche che e fas fieste e e va ancje a messe. Chiste comunitat, che o cjati ae messe grande al di di Nadal ae Nan Tang (catedral dal Sud) e je fate di forescj che e vivin e lavorin chenti, ma ancje di cines. Le messe, par ingles cun tocs di frances, latin e cines, e dure pase un'ore. Viars le fin, une file lungjonone si met adun par fa le comunion. Al predi al met in clar che le comunion e je dome pai batiats. Le file si ferme a voltis ...

North Face large camping backpack $15, two New Release dvds $2, two lacoste tshirts $4... an Italian meal in China after a week of traditional Chinese meals.... Priceless. The famous New York China town isn't even slightly comparable to the authentic bargaining found throughout China. Travelers must experience China through all of their senses. Seeing the historical sites, tasting real Chinese Peking duck, listening to the locals speak the intricate ...

... First we headed for Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. This is where you see the huge portrait of Chairman Mao hung over the entrance to an ancient Dynastic palace, opposite he lies pickled forever so that everyone can see the Monster in person. Inside the Forbidden City is a massive complex of buildings and temples all designed to house the Emperor and his plethora of young concubines ...

... old wall. Admittedly not a great distance, but it was incredibly up and down and quite difficult in part due to the section we were climbing being less renovated than the parts with hundreds of tour-group flags (although there is a new recent addition of a cable car so they'll be along soon - honestly, there's got to be more cable cars here than there are in the Alps!). We joined forces with a few other slackers and took hours over our ...