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The Birds Nest
This was pretty impressive close up Hi there, well I have been here in Beijing now for one week & I have eaten my body weight in dumplings & peking duck & the worst thing is I could eat more, I just can't get enough of the food, it'is all just so devine. I even really bit the bullet and had some scorpian (I guess you could say bit the scorpian) it tasted like pork scratchings but I did draw the line at monkey.
Also I passed my deep water swimming test & 200m swim, this was all so we could swim at the water cube, so I am now the proud owner of a photogrphed certificate, but we could only swim in the warm up pool, we were only allowed to look at the competition pool and take pictures and of course dream. Ahh!
I am totally templed out, I think I have peaked too soon, seeing I am only one week in to China, and can't keep track of all the dynastys' (and I am not talking about the Colbys' either). Ming dynasty Qing, & Yo Ping Po, blimey, give the soap any time. So I made the travellers decision to swerve the
One of many temples
This is one corner of the Forbidden City, it's surrounded by a moat and is like everyhting else in China HUGE! Forbidden City but did see the Summer Palace. I know these mean nothing to you but these are major attractions here in Beijing. Tiananmen Square is just huge & of course there was Chairman Mao memorial & dead communist leader #2 (I'm rack'n 'em up). This one was alot busier than Lenin, obviously more popular but the queue moved quickly but could only walk past one side of him and we got the right side, apparantly the left ear has dropped off and they have had to stick back on but apparently they made a bit of a hash of it & it doesn't look the same. One thing said about the Russians, they do know how to preserve their dead. Again, though, as with Lenin it looks like they have put a light bulb in his head, they seem to glow from the inside.
Enough of the dead, lets stick with the living, but not too sure if this is much better, of course ther was the wall, no not the Berlin wall, The Great China Wall. No, it is not true you can not see it from space but it does go on as far as the
Tiananmen Square
Again huge & a picture of the chairman, be it in the distance eye can see and then some. It is a pretty mind blowing thing to see, well in my opinion anyway I know not everyone will agree. Just for the record I saw Mutianyu section which is 90km northeast of the city.
One other unexpected highlight was the 798 Art District, a disused sprawling electronics factory built by the East Germans now is home to Beijings art community, it was a good day out.
So my next move, as I do now have a plan. Tommorrow I am on the overnight train to Pingyao to see some stuff, it is supposed to be a bit of a gem here in China, then to Xi'an & to see the Terracotta Warriors, then onto a provence called Sichuan.
The train should be interesting, the tickets get booked up quickly here & all what was left was a hard sleeper, umm, can't wait.
Thanks for reading & take care all. Will let the pictures do the talking now.
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