Beijing 2008

We met our first challenge soon after landing in Beijing. Having negotiated customs, the airport express train and the subway system, we were feeling pretty smug. All that was left to do was locate our hotel. Unfortunately our google maps printout was way out, after two hours staggering on our jet-lagged legs, we found a kind lady and between us, using our finest pointing and gesturing, we managed to get a taxi going in the right direction.

Interest from Chinese people has been good fun - we've had a few minor-celeb moments, with Chinese tourists coming over and asking for pictures with us!

Olympic Stadium

On our first full day, we ventured back out onto the subway and headed out to the Olympic stadium. The subway system is a bargain (about 16p for a single ticket)!

The stadium was pretty imressive, and the weather was lovely and clear (it was a Sunday - we would find out how nice it actually was when the factories started up again the next day).

Great Wall

Mutianyu is further out of Beijing than other Great Wall sites, which means it's a bit quieter. We got up to the wall by a nifty cable car and returned down by an even niftier toboggan. However, reliving commuting frustrations, we got stuck behind a sunday-toboggan-driving local on the way down...


Beijing has been super-busy. We've also been to see the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Wangfujing night market, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace as well as a Kung Fu Monk show.

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