Home Inn Beijing

... date to the Qing dynasty and have been recently restored. A serene oasis of tranquility, the mosque has four courtyards, the first of which contains a 9 metre high decorated wooden arch, built in the 17th century.

Info on the Small Goose Pagoda:-

43 metres high it was constructed to store sutras (scriptures) brought back to Xi'an from India along the Silk Road. It's brick tower, completed in AD 709, was meant to protect ...

... nature. At times you were 30m over the ground in this flimsy little cart. Two friends and I got running once we reached the top of the cableway, and were first up to touch the rock. It's not for the faint being all up there, and there were no rails, just a sign telling you to watch out. We came fairly early so there wasn't too crowded. We still had a lot of time, so we trekked over to another rock in the area, the frog ...

... will dart left turns in front of oncomng fire engine trucks and blast their horns with entitled bravado over the sirens - Fat foreigners in chinos and flip flops or unfortunately short shorts - Strips of roasted Peking duck skin glistening with rich fat rolled in sugar - Sublime appreciation for being completely pampered at the Hilton Wangfujing...it's next to everything - Deluge of tourist groups at the Forbidden ...

... need to plan, nor to worry about the next step--I can relax. We all can relax. Pete took a long nap after lunch and Joseph slept for three hours until he was dragged out of bed to go to the Olympic men's and women's swimming event. Pete called from the National Swimming Center, as ...

... a multi-entry visa the past four years but was rejected this year. So every other week, he goes to the visa office in Hong Kong to get another short-term visa. Most of his buyers from Turkey have it worse, he said, and haven't even been able to get a single tourist visa. He estimates that orders are down 80 percent as a result. "Many Chinese suppliers can no longer do business. They ask me, 'What's going on? Why aren't the customers coming?' " Kilic said. Richard Vuylsteke ...

... a while before they warmed up to us. We were chatting in a weird mixture of Chinese and English. We had a assembly after 2 classes. I saw mum there talking to a teacher. (She was teaching a teacher for the week.) I also saw Hayley and Elyse with their Chinese buddies. For lunch the teacher mum was helping today took us to a nice restaurant. We had hot pot, it was different and ...

... around. The day after we arrived the third ever subway line and the the first for 30 years opened with a station slap band next to where I was staying which made it ridiculously easy and cheap to get most places. And with the new line they actually dropped the price but 33%. Still for further out things like the Summer palace and the stadium I couldn't resist joining the masses on a bicycle. It's actually despite being flat not an ...

... and excessive sweating. Nothing of ours ever seemed to be dry, even if we had worn it five days prior. As we were packing, the fire alarm went off, and I thought it was even more motivation for us to get out of there as soon as we could. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm. We left our bags with the hostel man and went to the Sogo "Freshmart" in Causeway for the last time. I ordered two Beard Papa puffs, which are like massive cream puffs. We had to buy ...

... easier to understand because more sounds are pronounced with the lips and tongue. It was really interesting listening to Justin speak to people throughout our time there - he did a great job navigating for us! It would've been extremely difficult had no one spoken Mandarin! We flew out of Beijing on Christmas Eve, on China Air, and when we boarded and took off they were playing Christmas songs on the plane speakers. Next blog will be about our next stop...Thailand!

... middle of all the other passengers. Uggggh!! But the weird thing is, no one else seems to mind, in fact it seems that the louder one can perform this act of throat clearing, the more acceptable one is. It was one of the hardest things for this Westerner to get used to, especially when you are walking down the street humming to yourself, and right behind you is the unmistakable sound....hooghuk!!!! On the other hand, people in Beijing are incredibly friendly and helpful ...