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Well what to say about China! So far we have had a fantastic time here and are loving every minute of it (except the Great Wall - more on that later!) The tour has been great and our group are lovely!
Beijing - is very busy indeed! Katie Melua is right there are indeed 9 million bicycles in Beijing and they are all trying to kill me!!! The traffic is crazy and a green man at a crossing means nothing here! Our first hostel was a bit grotty but served its purpose and luckily we had a dorm room to ourselves. We saw Tianamen Square which was bizzare as people get so excited to see us - I've lost track of the amount of photos we have had taken of us! And in restaurants people will stop eating to watch us (although this may be to watch helens attempts at using chopsticks - very amusing!!) We also have been round the forbidden city which was amazing and so beautifully ornate its impossible to describe! We have also eaten several amounts of crispy duck I'm sure you will all be relieved the here!
We then moved to meet up with our intrepid tour group and were in a much nicer hotel! Went to see the Temple of Heaven, Beijing Zoo (saw pandas but apart from that quite distressing as all the animals were in very small enclosures and the elephants were chained!!!), the Pearl Market, the Summer Palace (beautiful but unfortunately very misty so we couldnt see the amazing views!) and the Lama Temple which was amazing as we happened to stumble upon a big ceremony and procession as well as a buddist service! Have also wandered Donghuamen night markets and eaten snake, scorpion and grasshopper, been drinking in the busy bar areas and seen a Kung Fu Show! Overall Beijing has been fantastic and I would highly recommend it!
The Great Wall - literally one of the hardest things I think I have ever done!!! I cannot put into words how hard it is or make you imagine what you have to face! We went to a part called JinshanLing whichis very remote so very quiet! It is so steep that it is pretty much overwhelming as you stand there and there are no proper steps - just rubble and holes! Also it was snowing so very slippery and there were no walls or barriers to stop you from falling! It would'nt be allowed in England! It was bloody hard and has I had know how hard it was beforehand I probably wouldn't have done it! However I did and moaned my way through alot of it! I also compiled a list of things I would rather do which included taking every exam I have ever done again and fighting zombies!! Also scared the crap out of myself when I fell but managed to "arrest my fall" (thats landing on your bum in climbing talk!!) One member of the group, cott, stayed and did it with me though which made it muchg more enjoyable and meant I was able to laugh at myself!
What is weird though is that the vendors follow you up to try and sell you stuff! One women did half the 6km walk with us! Honestly she wouldn't leave me alone and I was very tempted to hit her over the head with her book - honestly that is not the situation to barter!! So overall I am very proud of myself for doing it but never want to do it again (or at least not until I am a size 8!!)
Xi'an - we took an overnight hard sleeper train which was hilarious as its 60 beds in an openplan carriage with 3 tiered beds! We drank far too much but still got no sleep due to the amount of snoring! Xi'an is lovely and has a really local feel about it! Spent the day with Sean and Emma from the tour seeing the Bell and Drum towers, haggling on the jade market and doing a 15km bike ride on the city walls (yes my legs did recover from the Great Wall!) Also saw the Muslim Quarter and took a tour to see the Terracotta Warriors which was great. Unfortunately our guide got into trouble for taking off her badge like 50 feet from the gate and was fined 1000 Yuan (70 GBP for us but like 10,000.00 GBP in comparison to the average wage!!) It was awful so we all chipped in to help her but she still had to take an exam and have points off her tour guide licence - so so harsh!! We also sampled the delights of Kareoke in China which did not have nearly as good a selection but a supermarket to buy your own alcohol! Nice! Also had JD and coke in a bottle! Today has been fairly relaxed but I have done the 15km bike ride on the city walls again as it was so nice and also good to get some exercise, especially before a sleeper train!
On to Shanghai next before heading to Guillin and the more remote parts of China! Sorry for the long blog - there's just so much to say!
Laura xx
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