Ni Hao from Beijing!

Sorry for the delay in writing, Beijing has been crazy and we have been busy sight seeing and mainly getting drunk!

We had a good train ride from Mongolia to China, which was a bit sad as it was our last Trans Mongolian train but we were so excited to be arriving in Beijing. Our train left at 8am so we has a whole day to sit and watch Mongolia and the Gobi desert flash past. We thought it would be really pretty scenery but it turned out to be very flat and desert like and about 100 degrees on the train so we spent most of the day sleeping!

We eventually arrived at the Mongolian border around 9pm and got through quite quickly. We then arrived at the Chinese border and although there was no trouble getting through the chinese border, the train tracks in Russia and Mongolia are bigger than the rest of the world, so when the train arrives at the Chinese border the wheels of the train have to be changed (its called changing the bogies!). This was an amazing experience as the train is pulled into a shed where the carriages are split up. The carriages are then lifted up off the wheels, a smaller set are put in its place and the carriage is then lowered down. This is all done whilst the people are on the train and it felt really weird! Take a look at the pics to see what i mean!

We were finally allowed to get off the train and we were desperate for some water as it had been so hot. Stupidly though we did have any money on us and there were no ATMs around and when i tried to exchange a 20 pound note i had on me they would accept it as it was the new style and they had not seen it before! Urgh it was so annoying. We couldnt find anyone on our carriage who spoke enough english so we had to use the boiiling water from the urn on the train and wait for it to cool down, it was stupid!

Once we left the border (after about 5 hours) we wen to sleep and woke up to soe very dramatice scenery heading into beijing. It was really impressive and we went through some cool tunnels and spent ages looking for the great wall which we never saw! We arrived in Beijing around 2pm and it was so super hot and really humid. We found our way to out hostel which is really near Tiananman square and the Forbidden City. It is placed along one of Beijings hutongs, the famous winding streets and the stret is amaing. Everytime i walk down it it looks differnet and there is always so much goign on. It really reminds me of china town in London and then i remember that's because im actually in China! The smog and pollution is really really bad. You can hardly see the sun and the sky is never blue, just a hazy geay colour, its horrible. They say breathing the air in Beijing is like smoking 70 cigarettes a day, its so gross.

We have had a crazy few week in Beijing, which included meeting up with Rachel and Naomi, Renny's friends from home, who joined us from Oz. We have been to see the Forbidden City and wandered through Tiananmen Square loads! We also visited Beihai park and rented a boat to sail round the lake which was cool. We did a trip to the Great Wall with our hostel which took us to a secret part of the wall which hardly anyone visited. It was soooooo cool! The wall is massive and the parts we were on had not been renvated so we got to see the original wall. The scenery was amazing and we all really enjoyed the trip.

We have also been hanging out with loads of people at our hostel and spent a lot of time partying! The hostel has a really good atmosphere and a bar area where everyone hangs out. We have had some crazy nights out including a fancy dress night where some of the girls dressed as communists with outfits bought from the market and the guys in dresses bought from the chinese lady on our road!It was hilarious!

We leave Beijing tonight to head to Xi'an to see the terrecotta warriors which should be fun. Beijing has been a crazy crazy place but lots of fun along the way! We havent had chance to see all the sights but we have done enough for this trip! I cant even imagine how mental this place will be next year with the olympics but there are posters and shops everywhere already and i think it would be quite an amazing experience.

I hope everyone is well back home. Again sorry for lack of photos, its really diffcult and takes ages i will keep trying though!

Lots of love Sarah x x x