Well there was carnage after our last blog entry. We popped along to our favourite hotspot Sakura for a bite to eat and discovered a bit of a party going on. We were invited to join a table of Brits, Germans and Australians and before you knew it we were all a bit worse for wear (all helped along by a Mexican guitar player creating a great party atmosphere). Don't know what time we headed home but we didn't emerge the next day until lunchtime! As we were in Bei...

We were up at 5am this morning for a 3 hour drive to Mongolia (no less!) to join the Great Wall at Jinshanling for a 10km walk to Simatai. We were joined on the trip by a guy called Thorston from Germany who is working in China for 6 months. The guide was hilarious - she couldn't speak a word of English, she kept taking short cuts and lagged behind us most of the way - completely pointless!! The walk took 4 - 5 hours, visibility was great and the views were st...

Our first encounter with China was Beijing airport which was impressive to say the least - new, shiny and big!!! We took a taxi to the youth hostel and drove along a new motorway which even had flower baskets on the verges - not your typical M62! It took an age to circle Beijing - it is a vast city - but eventually after a rather hairy drive through the city dodging cars, bikes and buses we rather worryingly took a left turn into what can only be described as ...