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Beijing. The rough diamond. When you dig a little deeper its a gem and a very enjoyable place to stay!!
Today is our last day in Beijing, we have been here since Sunday last week. We have been staying at a pretty cool backpackers/hotel in the middle of the city - Jade Hotel. Rooms are pretty good, there's a bar here which sells beers for NZD$1 for a 600ml and its close to everything. On Monday when we arrived we went out on foot exploring, it was a little disorienting as there are literally no signs in english and all the people we encountered didn't speak it either. We had a map in our lonely planet book which was crap and didn't have enough detail, so we ended up getting lost and walking for about 4kms around the city. We found a place that sold dumplings and had a few of those (turns out the guys there saw us coming from a mile away and ripped us off, a valuable lesson learned! (was still only $10 NZ for lunch but we should of got it for $3)
Day 2 was a much better day, we had a decent map, had gotten over our travel tiredness and were ready to go! We started understanding how to buy things and to bargain for everything (a must!). We found delicious and cheap food, got our bearings and explored some more.
We went to the Great Wall yesterday, a 3 hour bus ride from the hostel to get the to bit where there are the fewest tourists (Jinshanling). It was an amazing experience and something we highly recommend to anyone visiting the region. We walked about 2-3kms on the wall, scaling up big staircases in the intense (not as intense as KL....not even close) heat - a massive workout, The sheer scale of the wall and the fact that it was all built by hand is amazing and a part of our trip we will definitely remember!
Last night we had beijing duck and went to the night market with the tour group who are doing the Trans Siberian with us. At the market scopions on a stick were the local cuisine that everyone ate. There was also all manner of 'fear factor' foods, including pizzle or balls on a stick, starfishes, sea horses, crickets, snakes etc. We even saw someone eating a little bird on a stick!! i think it was a sparrow.
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Filipos You'd better book the wmibledon tickets before or you are screwed.Here's a site that will help on supplying cheap plane tickets:FlyAirfares.comI think you should try Heathrow and then take a train to Wimbledon