Time is just flying by here! Can't believe it's been over a month since I last updated this thing! There's been plenty going on so here's a run-down of the latest happenings in China...

Shenyang - My first trip away from Beijing and I went to visit some of the people I met at UIBE during the first month of teacher training. The trains were surprisingly easy to figure out and I got to Shenyang without any hiccups! There's not really much to see or do in Shenyang but I still had a good time hanging out with the other teachers. We went to see the big statue of Mao in the centre of town and the girls took me to the underground shopping market which was gigantic! It was nice just to chill out for a couple of days as life in Beijing was also pretty hectic!

Weekend of "B's" (Bikes, Boats, Beer and Bob!)- Possible one of the best weekends in Beijing so far! I'd had a really good week of teaching - the theme was music so I took in the guitar and taught the students "Let it Be" which they loved and so I was pumped up and ready for the weekend! On Saturday morning a group of us hired bikes from the hostel and we rode from the hostel around the Forbidden City and then to Hou Hai lake. When we got to Hou Hai lake we saw that there were loads of people of the lake on pedal boats so we quickly dumped the bikes and hired a couple of boats (not before picking up a few beers to enjoy whilst on the boat!) When we were done to the boats it was time to get back on the bikes and head back to the hostel only there was a slight complication - one of the bikes wouldn't unlock. We stood around for an hour or so (drank some more beer) and waited for someone from the hostel to come and unlock the bike for us. When it was finally unlocked we made our (slightly intoxicated) way back to the hostel. On Sunday we had promised Bob that we would go back to KTV so me and Thomas headed back early to experience some real chinese culture - karaoke!

Inner Mongolia - Some of us were developing a taste for adventure so we headed further afield to explore what Inner Mongolia had to offer. This time I got to experience the sleeper trains which were surprisingly comfortable! When we got to Hohhot (the capital of inner mongolia) we went straight to the tourist office and asked them to arrange for us to stay in the Grasslands. They were pretty shocked that we wanted to go a month earlier than the tourist season usually starts (we were to find out later that this was due to the extremely cold weather before May!) but we assured them we would be fine and so they ordered a car to take us to Xilarumen Grasslands. When we arrived we were shown our traditional Inner Mongolian yurt where we would spend the night and we were then treated to the bizzare culinary delights of Mongolia! As there wasn't much (or anything come to that) to do in the Grasslands we opted for a 5hr horse ride accross the grasslands. Although it was a painful experience to say the least, riding accross the grasslands as the sun was setting was one of the best experiences I've ever had! After spending a freezing night in the yurt we were up early the next day and went back to Hohhot. We spent the day taking in the sights of the city (maingly the temple of 5 pagodas and the Muslin Quarter) and then crashed at a hostel in the evening. The next morning we were up early to grab some food and head back to Beijing on the bus.