Hello! Well we realise that we are a bit late updating our blog, unfortunately it's been so hectic that we literally haven't had a chance to do it! So we have now paid for a few hours in an internet cafe whilst waiting for our train out of Beijing and thought we would use the time to update you all on the last few days....

So on Wednesday night we met our group. There were only 8 of us that had arrived and the other 8 had been delayed at Heathrow. We were so lucky to have left home when we did! We all went out for dinner together and had the famous Beijing duck (well, Matt and the others did, Holly just had veggies and rice). The group is great - there's another couple from Leeds, three friends from Manchester and one girl travelling on her own from Oz. We all got on really well and the guide (who came for dinner with us) is called Lilyan and is Chinese and really lovely. She is very patient with us and answers all our weird questions and has also attempted to teach us Chinese but we can still only really say "hello" and "thank you". Oh and we learned how to say "no" as well - which has proven to be helpful (more on that later!).

We decided that on Thursday (as we had a free day) we would go to the Summer Palace which is slightly outside Beijing city centre. We went with Natalie, the Ozzy girl whilst the others went off to the Olympic city that we had seen the previous day. We were really proud of ourselves and managed to navigate ourselves to the right tube stop (yay) and get a taxi to the Summer Palace. It was honestly the best thing we had ever done and the photos will prove just how beautiful and immense this place is.

To give you a bit of a background (Holly is being a geek as usual), the Summer Palace is actually a park full of temples, gardens, pavillions and lakes and was designed for the emperor to come to in the summer to get away from the insufferable summer heat in the Forbidden City in Beijing (where he would live). The site was originally a royal garden and was enlarged loads in the 18th century for one particular emperor (Emperor Qianlong for anyone who wants to know!). Over time it got burned down (damm French) and even flooded by the huge lake in the centre of the park but now it's all fine and of course used as a tourist attraction. We only paid about four pounds to get in so were buzzing!

The minute we entered the park we felt so relaxed, it really is the most serene place. It's so massive, and even though it was full of tourists (all Chinese, we were the only western people there as usual), once we got through the main gates and away from the crowds a bit, we felt as if we were completely away from the world. The lake is in the centre of the park and was completely frozen so we got some really nice photos. The beautiful pagoda that you will see in the photos is called the 'Buddhist Fragrance Pavillion' which we climbed (knackering as there was about 10000 steps). Looking down across the park, you really do feel as if you are in heaven as the view is so stunning and it's just so quiet there. It really bowled us both over and we were so happy to have had the oppotunity to go there.

Once done at the Summer Palace, we went back in to Beijing city centre and met some of the other guys from our group to properly look at the Forbidden City which we had only briefly seen on our first day. This time we actually paid and went in. Geek time again... The Forbidden City got its name because it was off limits to the public for 500 years and was the home of Chinese Emperors for two dynasties. They wouldn't leave the Forbidden City unless they absolutely had to (maybe if they craved a McDonalds?). After seeing the Summer Palace earlier, this was a bit of a let down. It's just so huge and as it's so cold outside that you find yourself hurrying through and not really paying much attention to things. Don't get us wrong, it was amazing to see and one of the main reasons that we wanted to come to Beijing but once you've seen one section of the city, you've seen it all! The iconic buildings that you see in the photos continue over and over again and you keep walking through the same sort of thing - it's like having de ja vu constantly! And as you get to each building and read about what happened and when it was built, etc, you read that it was burned down about a hundred times during wars and then rebuilt again!! Also, most of the buildings hold thrones, Matt said he felt a bit 'throned out' by the time we got to the end! However, just when we thought that we were completely frozen, we found a tea house at the end and were rewarded with a nice cup of green tea to warm us up!

That evening, we went out with the group to a lake where apparently all the 'ex pats' go. We didn't encounter any ex pats, but we did encounter about a million neon Budweiser signs and loads of overpriced bars and restaurants booming out music - we felt like we were in Corfu! So we had a quick dinner and then returned to the hotel for some sleep as all the sightseeing in the cold had really tired us out!!