Helloo everyone :) so for the first installment of our blog. We've been in Beijing for 5 nights and have been to the great wall, summer palace, tiananmen square, and a number of temples, parks and a museum. Every single one of these things is encompassed by a big wall, making sure they get every penny possible from you! Ironically the museum which perhaps would require the most upkeep was free!!

Our first visit was to the Summer Palace, where the royals used to summer to avoid the Beijing heat - it was still pretty hot so not sure it made that much difference. We had a lovely walk around lakes, up a big hill with a temple on top and great views.

We visited the Great Wall at a section described by lp as the busiest section in Beijing. We were unsure of our choice because of this, but it was definitly the easiest to access (without taking a private car!) When we arrived we decided to head in the opposite direction to the masses with their high heels, wedged platform converse and silk dresses! After an exceptionally sweaty walk we got to the highest point on our section where most Chinese decide to stop, so we carried on. This gave us the opportunity to get some great pictures on the wall all by ourselves!

The next day we went to tiananmen square, the national museum of china and the temple of heaven. The museum was an interesting experience, a whole floor on ancient china - lots of bronze stuff! As well as an exhibit on 'The road to redepmtion' that we thought we had to have a look at! The subtle way huge swathes of modern history was omitted like WW2 etc. was although predictable, still unnerving.

One of our favourite visits was the Lama Temple (Tibetan Buddhist temple) full of people carrying massive handfuls of incense to burn, huge wooden Buddhas and pretty buildings.

A couple of getting lost incidents led us luckily to a big tourist information centre - the first one we'd seen where we managed to get a free map of the city that was VERY useful! The subway became our cool air conned and easy to use friend taking it pretty much everywhere we could!

Tom enjoyed some baked goods for breakfast every morning from a scrummy looking bakery right by our hostel - im not sure this is going to stick as its a bit of a treat!

The time is already zooming by and we can't believe that we're already moving on to our next stop. We've found Beijing to be a lot less manic than we were expecting, and the people less friendly.

Off on a night train to Xian tonight which is going to be an experience…we had to get the 'soft sleepers' so we're going to enjoy the comfort while we can!!

Will try and keep updating throughout our trip, no Facebook/drop box/ or tumblr available on the computers here. So you'll have to wait for photos until we get to Thailand!

Love love