Today is our last day in Beijing, what a fantastic city!! We've both thoroughly enjoyed our time here... Before heading off we decided to head up to the Olympic Village again, this time for a swim in the water cube in order to get away from the 40c heat and the ridiculous humidity!! On our way to the Olympic Village we stumbled upon a strange little side street right in the heart of Beijing. The street was littered with stalls selling everying to live scorpions...

Another big day to day as Frank seems intent on us seeing everything that Beijing has to offer.. We start by taking the tube to the Summer Palace, unfortunetly me, Sandy and a couple of others got seperated from the rest of the group and ended up getting off at the wrong station! We found a helpful Chinese lady who let us use her mobile and the problem was quickly solved by Frank. Later, whilst boarding the tube to Tiannamen Square Frank was keen to ensure that ...

Today we visit possibly the most well known tourist attraction in China, the Great Wall. Its an early start in order to avoid the mental Beijing traffic and to ensure that the wall wasnt too busy and hot! We arrived at the wall at about 9am and caught the cable car up to tower 14, the cable car ride took us high above some woodlands but because of the bloody smog we couldnt see a thing! once we arrived at tower 14 we headed along the wall through several towers...

After a flight which seemed to go on for ever thanks to the limited choice of movies and the terrible coffee available on board we have made it to China!! The first thing you notice when you arrive in Beijing is the smog, I'm told its at its worse in summer but its bad enough to make Middlesbrough look like a polution free zone.. The second thing that hits you is the traffic, I've never been any where so busy and the locals are all nutters.. Lane discipline doe...