We left the station and drove straight to our hotel for breakfast, which was not up to the standard we had come to expect. The food was cold, the toaster took forever, instead of scrambled egg they have french toast which would be ok except that, the bread here is moderately sweet which just doesn't sit well with me mixed with the egg! We all complained and Grace spoke with the management so hopefully better tomorrow (see later blog). After brekkie we went up to ...

We had a late checkout this morning and packed up and put our cases outside the door before heading down to breakfast at about 09:15. At 11:30 we left and headed out to lunch. By this point the temperature outside was probably about 4C. We then went to the hutong district and hired rickshaws to take us on a tour. This tour was just fabulous. This area was one of the newer hutongs and we first went to the house of a wealthy man who had a very traditional home w...

This will be quick as it is late and I am a bit tired. Today we visited the Summer Palace which is a very beautiful place. It was the summer home of the dowager empress Cixi, known as the dragon lady. The whole place has a very calming feel to it, difficult to put into words. The gardens blend beautifully with the buildings and the lake. After that we went for lunch before proceeding to the Silk Street Market. This is basically a large shopping centre but it has...

Both of us were awake earlier than we would have liked this morning: dad just can't get his clock turned around and once he is awake the noise wakes me up (see earlier blog for explanation). Down to brekkie at 06:30am and then left for the drive to the Great Wall at 07:00. The reason we left at this hour was to avoid the traffic and also the crowds. It worked a treat and we had a very smooth trip up and there were hardly any people there when we arrived. The souv...

The last day or so has been a bit of a blur. We left our little hostel yesterday morning and the cab took about an hour to get us to our new hotel. Saw some amazing (modern) buildings on the way. They really have a flair for design here! The new place is really nice; better than I actually expected. Our room is about three times the size of our last one and has everything laid on, including free internet and a TV with 100 channels (97 of which are Chinese!) The l...