Hired push bikes out today for a ride around the city, one if the best most exhilarating rides of my life! Me az and smera went with our new found companion, after annaliese's unexpected, unexplained departure - debbie the machine! Haha she flew to china and brought a bike and paniers/ saddle bags etc to cycle through the country so wanted to try out her new bike ( she already has a tent, sleeping bag and stove etc having just come from spending 2 months trekking through the Mongolian wilderness on a horse!) mentalist
So left the hostel and rode to find the 'lama yonghegong temple' where Chinese can visit to practice their religion. The bike ride was incredible, there is literally no rules on the roads out here! We shared them with animals, tuk tuks, buses, taxis, bikes, mopeds, street vendors and just about everything else that decided to walk out into the road. We dodged and dived our way through the streets with the biggest smile on my face, all the time in the shadows of huge skyscrapers. Made it to the lama temple with a massive adrenaline buzz and inside, considering the fact that we were in the centre of one of the busiest cities in the world, was just pure calm and peace and quiet. Surprisingly big, the temple was surrounded by walls all around which cut out the noise of the city and of the numerous intricately decorated places of worship and temples inside, all consisting of different gods to go and make an offering to, and pray to, one temple had a 16 metre bronze Buddha inside. There are huge drums of burning incense sticks everywhere where people make offerings to their gods.

After the temple we went in search of an iced coffee ( which we later found out makes deb even more hysterical!) biked back through the hutongs and stopped at a few places on the way, and absolutely loved the ride again!

When we get back we decide to get the subway to the train station and sort out the train tickets for our onwards journey to 'tai'an as have to buy tickets a few days in advance over here, the 4 of us have jokes all the way there and all the way back, really happy with who I'm traveling with!
Pretty knackered after today and yesterday's antics we opt for a quiet 1 and the fantastic 4 go out for Peking duck ( gotta have Peking duck, in Peking!) the meal was so good, the chef expertly carves this huge Peking duck at your table and considering the 4 of us shared a whole duck, all had beers, 4 mains dishes and rice it was under £5 each! bargain. A few games of cards and bed!