tues: most uncomfortable ride ever!! guy also spilt a cup of milk over me. got to p loft hostel around 12:30. dropped stuff and went straight to tiananmen square. walked arund. alot of guards and a baggage check. theres a big road seperating the square to the building which i didnt realise. they hide it qwell in all those photos. then decided to go to the olympic site. nice place. saw and went in the birds nest. thinmk 50y is too much for the entry fee. saw the cube. decided to wait there till dark to take some photos. then went to mall, but couldnt find it. only food place was a mcd's and was packed so had to sit outside in the wiind. its warm but very windy and the wind is very cold. alot of roads around site are closed and not used and it also looks like many of the buildings are closed down. got back to hostel at 9. had a couple of beers and bed at 11. hostel common room was pretty empty.

wed: got to the embassy but was shut. i slept a little late today. got tube over to bagou and then a tuk tuk to entrance of summer palace. not too busy at all. west side walk was very quiet. met a girl so was chatting to her for a while. great place to spend a peaceful few hours. tiananmen square and forbidden city has got nothing on this place. its such a nice setting and ur able to see more buildings than at forbidden city. definately the highlight of beijing for me (great wall is outside beijing). went to sunlitan in night. very quiet. went to live music and pole dancing bars. was back by 11 due to tube closing.

thurs: bus pick up at 7. took 3+ hours to get to jinshanling. stopped at petrol station and encountered the worst toilets ive ever seen! started the hike just after 11, hiking to simatai, about 3+ hrs. walked from tower 2 to tower 32 which was about 14km. much of wall was very quiet. left my group as they were too slow. for periods i was the only person hiking that section. which felt pretty damn cool. it was a really great experience. when we got to the end i caught a zipline down over a reservoir and a speedboat back down. got back to hostel at 7:30. hostel had a party, 2nd anniversary or something. it was 80y for food and open bar. and boy did i make the most of it. got in at 3:15 after playing numerous games of table football and cards.

Fri: woke up drunk. got to embassy at 9. visa cost 700y for day or 800y for an hr processing. eitherway i didnt have that money. so will see about getting it in kunming. had breakfast and went to forbiden city. ok for a walk around but chinese tourists; hate them!! by the bus load literally. no queing, just force their way through. it was actually dangerous at some points. the chinese people are really friendly people but no manners or respect, well very very little. in evening walked around the local hutong. stayed in hostel tonight as cant be arsed to go out. lot of effort and subway shuts at 10:30.

sat: checked out and went to the popular hutong. very pretty place, river running through it with pedlos and little boats. streets on the riverfront are all bars and cafes. probably a better night out than sunlitan, looking at it. got back to hostel and chilled there for a bit, sorted accommodation for chengdu. took hour to get to train station. and it is collossal! freaking huge. got the damn middle bunk when ticket guy said id have the top.

funny thing about the roads: they have their zebra crossings like us with the green and red man. but they work slightly different: the green man is just there to indicate when it is the safest time to cross. sometimes it just wasnt safe at all!!

its also extremely differcult to get food. id say 98% of the places only have chinese menus and they dont speak english. so there is no way to tell what you could have.