Hi everyone, sorry it has taken so long for us to come back online and write the rest of the blog but we have just been mega busy. This one will be a long one but i promise we will update more often so it isn't like reading 'War & Peace.' (Rach Stott try not to fall asleep like when i'm telling one of my stories! ha ha!)

So since the last blog...

Tuesday Night

We went to the Schezuan Government Building were they make traditional Schezuan food for travellers visiting from that region. to make them feel at home in Beijing. It is known for their spicy food and the copious amounts of chilli's.

The food was really nice and Will order a dish that was a huge plate of dried chillies with chicken and peanuts, where you just had to pick out the chicken and peanuts amongst all the chillies.

Me n Matt had a chicken dish that had three different types of whole chillies in it, its safe to say that the large bottle of beer we bought came in handy.

It was Will & Danny's last night so we had a few drinks with them when we got back to the hostel to say goodbye to our roommates. (It would be rude not to)

Wednesday

Today we took a trip to the 'Great Wall' we got picked up at 7am and it took around 2 1/2 hrs to get there as some tools got up late at another hostel and we had to wait for them. When we got there we had 3 hours to walk along the wall and then meet back to go for lunch.

There was a cable car that took you up to the centre of the wall on the 6th tower, you could either go right towards the non restored part of the wall or left to the the 24th tower. It was really misty when me n matt went, you could only really see about 2 towers in front of you which we were a bit gutted about but the eerie atmosphere was immense.

We made our way to the right so we could walk to the 24th tower to get the best view, by the time we got the 15th tower and we still couldn't see much in front of us we decided it wasn't worth it and headed back to the 6th tower and then walked to the un restored part.

The steps were mahoosive!!! now i'm lanky and i had to literally put my legs over my head to try and climb up them but it was worth it to see a different side of the wall.

We had to make our way back to meet the rest of the group now you can either get the cable car back down or you can go on the toboggan run...mmm now which one did we choose?

TOBOGGAN ALL THE WAY...it was amazing, speeding through the trees and mountains and then about half way down there was a clearance, you could just see all the way across the mountains and see the great wall it was breathtaking. So much fun that me n matt nearly went back up in the cable car just to come back down again, but we had to meet up with everyone else. (I took a video of it but i cannot put it on the blog yet until i get the a more developed part of China.)

There were lots of stalls selling souvenirs at the bottom of the wall, i bought a laughing buddha. When i asked the seller how much she said "368 yuan" (which is about 36 pounds) i said no way and offered 50 yuan (a fiver.) The woman tried to get us to pay more so we just walked off, she came running after us shouting 50! 50! and we said no we didn't want it now, the woman said 30! 30! so we bought it for 30 yuan which is 3 pound!! I like shopping in China!

We got back and we had two new roomies called Paul & Tom, i was shattered after the great wall and like a loser went to bed at about 6pm and didn't wake up till the morning. Matt stayed in the bar with Paul,Tom,Simon and the legend that is Adam from Canada aka 'Justin Bieber.'

Thursday

Today me, Matt and Paul went to the Summer Palace (Tom was to hungover) which is were the Royalty in China would come and stay in the summer to get away from the insufferable heat in the Forbidden City. It is made up of lots of temples, gardens and a massive lake called Kunming Lake that you can boat trips across. We saw about 75% of the summer palace as it is absolutely massive there is a corridor there called 'The Long Corridor' i'm sure they could of thought of a better name than that! It has over 7,000 pictures painted along the roof of it. (Bit of Chinese History for you there.)

On the way back from the Summer Palace we went to the Olympic Village to see the Bird's Nest and the Aquatics Centre all lit up. We got there quite early at about 4pm and the lights were not coming on till about 7pm, we had a look around and then got tickets to go inside the Bird's Nest it was huge! We stuck around for a bit more and then decided to go back to the hostel and come back another night to see it all lit up properly as it was freezing.

That night we went to the bar and had a few drinks (there seems to be a theme occurring on a nightly basis.) I met Adam and taught him the wonders of 'Celebrity Juice' mainly just saying 'Potato' in an irish accent and spent most of the night and the next few days saying that a lot! Reminded me of home (Rob you will know what i'm talking about.)

Friday

Matt, Paul and me ate scorpion (Tom chickened out!) it tasted of just greasy crunch we even ate the stinger part as well!! Trying to swallow bits of scorpion leg from the back of your throat isn't nice.

Saturday

Today we went to the Silk Market it is basically 6 floors of just shopping and haggling, i managed to control my shopping urges a bit (as much as it pained me..but me n matt couldnt be bothered carrying it around for the next six months!)
We bought some chopsticks and they were selling Ugg Boots (fakes of course) now Adam had told me that someone had got them here for really cheap between 60-120 yuan (between 6-12 pounds) so i thought i would give it a go. Big mistake obviously my haggling skills haven't developed enough yet to get this good a deal, i tried a pair on and me n matt kept asking how much they were (she kept saying try first, try first) then it came down to price she wanted 1,200 yuan (120 quid) i mouth nearly dropped to the floor. I told her no way and that i know someone had got them for 60yuan and that is all i am paying she kept saying no, no,no! Told that was all i was prepared to pay and practically got chucked out shouting "crazy lady" at me!! Ha Ha!

Didn't want them anyway ; )

That night me, Matt, Paul, Tom, Simon, Adam, 3 other girls (cant remember their names) we to a place called Hou Hai Park which is a strip of bars and resturants on a lake. When we arrived there were loads of chinese people doing ballroom dancing of some sort in the middle of the street.

We went to the 'Reggae Bar' which funnily enough didn't play Reggae music but did sell Jaeger Bombs... i seriously nearly wet myself when i seen it! It had to be done.

Sunday

Sunday again was a day of rest well for the day part anyway. Simon's friend John arrived and we all went out to watch the Football at Paddy O'Shaes (wherever you go in the world there is always an Irish Bar.) As much as i love spending time watching football (the Man U match and the Liverpool match) it was all worth it cause we all went to a KTV bar which is a Karaoke bar. Not just any Karaoke Bar it was about about 12 floors high and each floor had private karaoke booth! To say i was in my element was an understatement.

We seemed to of adopted a guy that tagged along with us don't remember his name, don't think he even told us but his rendition on a certain part of 'Killing in the name of' will stay with us forever!

The next thing the barman walks in with a 5 litre beer bong, some peanuts and a plate of fruit! Four hours later at 4.30am we all stumbled out of the Karaoke bar and made our way to the nearest McDonalds to our hostel (some things will never change.)

Monday

Hangover kicking in big time after hardly any sleep, we all went to Tianamen Square where we watched the ceremony of the chinese flag going down. This parade is done everyday at sunset and there is another one every morning at sunrise.

We all went to a food market where Paul, John bought and ate a tarantula spider, it looked rank Matt ate one of the legs he said it tasted like really smelly bad steak. I was really proud of him.

Tuesday

Today was the hostel's two year birthday and they had a massive party!! It started at 6pm and there was a 3 litre beer jug on our table ready and waiting. We learnt the chinese word 'Jambai' which means to down your drink. Nine free 3 litre beer jugs later, and a lot of 'Jambai' there was a massive cake fight with everyone in the hostel including the staff and management and lots of flaming B52 shots. The only thing we had to pay for was the shots it was an amazing party lots of fun.

We got free jumpers with the hostel 2 year logo on them and also the manager gave us a Hostel World Gold Card, we can get discounts on hostels. This hostel is amazing all the staff are just so nice and friendly and really make you feel like your at home away from home.

Wednesday

We went to the Forbidden City today we couldn't get to see all of it as part of it was blocked off by guards still not to sure why. The forbidden city is where royalty stay for the most part of the year apart from the Summer. It was a lot more of temples and wide open spaces which we have seen a lot of already and to be honest we weren't really that impressed with it.

It was Tom's birthday today so we the usual gang went for duck and pancakes and came back to the hostel as we had secretly arranged for them to bake tom a cake. They brought the cake out we all sand 'Happy Birthday' and the hostel even wrote his name on the cake it was soo cute. We ate cake and drank beer!

Thursday

Yesterday we went to Beijing Zoo and we pretty much hated every minute of it all the animals were in really tiny enclosures, the tigers were in concrete boxes and were just pacing back and to as there was nothing for them to do. There was rubbish in the areas where the animals lived and pretty much just smelt of pee. I felt so sorry for all the animals and some of the Chinese kept kicking the cages, laughing and throwing food to the animals so they would do things for them for good pictures.

I nearly kicked a chinese man to see how he liked it!

On the way back we went to the Olympic Village again, Tom came with us this time (he was to hungover last time) we saw the Bird's Nest all lit up and the cube building and then came back to the hostel.

Friday

Today we leave Beijing and head to Xi'an, we leave the hostel at about 4pm for an 11 hours train journey. Paul and Tom are travelling with us for the next four weeks, which is gonna be a right laugh.

Well i think i have bored you all enough now, me n matt send all our love to everyone and i promise next time it will not be that long. We keep trying to put our pictures on and as soon as we can we will do (think there is only 600 so far!!)

Love to you all and speak to you soon xxx