ni-hao, thats hello in mandarin (i think)

well i finally got here, it felt like i wasn't going to on the train haha, i can't beleive it, i've just finished the longest single journey some1 can do, 7 timezones, 3 countries & 6000 miles, madness, it suprisingly was amazing. We were abit sceptical at first, as we were scared as to who we would be sharing our, room with, but we fell on our feet as every1 in our truck spoke english, there was weird phil, a portugese guy who was studying a degree in england, we shared a room with him, i'll tell u when we get back why he is weird phil haha. an english couple and two americans, next door, all really cool, it was amazing really. most nights we'd drink together or have chats, was really good, they helped pass the time and we've made some really good friends through it, with invites to visit them in america and portugal. Future trips maybe??

Anyway, it took ages but were finally here, in the most populated county in the world (1.3 billion) phil told us lol. we got off the train about midday, and the sun was shining which was a supprise as it is usually the same weather as russia, so we were happy to get there on a nice day, the previous day we had been worried as to how we were gonna make it from the station to the hostel which is 30 mins walk away with our packs on, but just as we had finished saying our goodbyes we were approached by a guy holding a sign offering free taxi's to leo hostel (result).

the drive through the city was amazing, seeing all the chineese walking the street celebrating their new year, we saw all the food stalls selling everything from scorpions to chickens feet. Stupidly when we got to the hostel we realised we had no cash on us to pay for the hostel (oh dear). We told our guide Lee, a really nice guy about it, after scratching his head for about 5 minutes he asked "can u ride bikes". awesome!! two minutes later we were busting through beijing back streets on push bikes rushing past people as the bank was soon to shut. it was so cool, never done anything like it before every1 was smiling and shouting hello at us. We were doing fine till we got to the main road, then Lee realised it was the carnival, the street was grid locked with stalls, markets and the carnival. but instead of driving further on where it finished, lee decided to cut through, so cool, we joined the back of the parade, with all the dragons and drummers, so that we could make our way through the mass of people watching on.

that night we went for some peking duck in its home city with the english couple and matt. we decided to go to the most famous restraunt in beijing, its speciality being peking duck. awesome, loads of famous people had been there like george bush snr and fidel castro!!. was well nice.

the next day we met up with wierd fill and 2 old people we met on the train who lived in beijing who we nicknamed, storm and micheal palin lol. they said that they would take us to a really remote part of the wall that only locals knew about. was amazing, we went up the side of the mountains for like 45 minutes, walking through shrubs and stone, untill we reached the top.

It was so beautiful. the view was breath taking, never seen out like it. the haze was sat on the side of the mountain and u could see the wall snaking all over the tops of the,. They had taken us to one of the oldest parts of the wall which hasn't been restored since the 1400s, it was proper retro wall. not all done up like the tourist parts, was like we had found an anceint ruin, i suppose we had really, lol. we walked along its broken top for about an hour then went back down, was one of the best things i've done in my life, wish u was all there with me, but hope my pictures give u a glimps was amzing.

i'll write soon

xxx