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Arrived in the afternoon and met Alex our honcho at the train station. We were driven to our hostel which was more like a hotel and our twin room was spotlessly clean and very comfortable. In the evening we went for a Beijing duck dinner in a restaurant round the corner from our hostel which has now become our favourite haunt for dinner. After dinner Alex took us to bar street in the sanlutin district where we found a bar which we stayed in for the rest of the evening drinking till late. The next morning we visited jingshan park where we were able to climb up to a temple to get views across the whole city which was quite impressive as you got a really good aerial view of the forbidden city. Following that we entered the forbidden city from the quieter north gate and had an hour to spend in there so we want to go back sometime as we didn't see much of it. After lunch we caught the bus to the temple of heaven which is situated in a large park which in areas were very quiet and a world away from the bustling city. Catherine even saw a chipmunk. The temple was very beautiful and impressive as it was built without the use of nails. Later we went for dinner in a hotpot restaurant which was nice but hard work as you had to cook your raw food in boiling flavoured soups which were in a large metal bowl set into the table with a fire beneath it. After dinner alex booked us tickets to see an acrobatic show which was really impressive and creative. We ended up in a reggae bar listening to live music getting rather tipsy. The next morning was our last with alex and the vodkatrain group so we picked alex's brains for any other interesting things to see or do in Beijing in our next two weeks on our own. However, most of the group we had met were sticking around in beijing for a week after so we were likely to have company.
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