Today started at 9am after we again had buffet breakfast. Today was great wall day. The wall is about 60km from the city. On the way we stopped at a jade factory. We had a tour of the factory and they showed us how they carved the jade, that there was hard and soft jade and that jade came in many colours not just green, eg white (local to Beijing), brown and rose. One of the blokes carving away had his iPod in his ear. What a dude. The jade factory guide then exp...

Today was a very busy day. In saying that we actually got a sleep in til 730am. Had a Lovely buffet breakfast downstairs. Very east meets west. Importantly there was jasmine tea, so yummy. It's great to see people eating breakfast with chopsticks and others with knives, forks and spoons. Interestingly enough the previous day on both flights the eating implements of choice were the knive, fork, spoon combination. After breakfast we were off to see the hutongs of...

Today we were up early and met our guide at 545am to take us to the airport. We were doing a day trip and went via air down to Xian to see the terra-cotta warriors, saves time and it is a fair distance, maybe around Melbourne to Sydney, maybe more. We were so quick at getting through security screening, again we pretty much just got waved through. Great to have an Aussie passport. We didn't have breakfast before we left the hotel so we took on the delights of bei...

Well we have finally made it to Beijing China. We both slept most of the flight. They had run out of the more western type if breaky on the flight so I can confidently say that this was the first time that curried prawns, anchovies and rice was consumed for breaky. Never mind, it's an adventure. We were greeted in Beijing by the tranquil sunrise. It just looked so peaceful. It was also 0 degrees, so a bit crisp. We amazingly had both our bags arrive, made our w...

Still hanging around at the Airport here in Malaysia. Free internet and a comfy lounge to sit in. Getting kind of sleepy though. Next stop Beijing. Expected overnight temperature there is -5degC. A Burrrr!!!!! Arriving at 6.30am, so a cool start to the day. Have fingers crossed for an empty plane so we can stretch out and have a good snooze. First big Chinese adventure tomorrow, riding bikes around the Forbidden City.