More Temples, Towers and Tourist Sites

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This morning was the return of my dodgy stomach.....Not sure if it was all the beer, the food or the frozen water bought outside the Forbidden City but it wasnt fun!

Beth, Karwei, Lil, Rob, Briony and I headed out to the Temple of Heaven. I went to get some cash out, but at two ATMs my card wouldnt work. Following a 20 min, very expensive, phone call to RBS I was told that nothing was wrong and it should be working! Luckily my lovely friends leant me money during the day and i managed to get my card to work later and pay them back.

The gardens around the Temple of Heaven are magnificent and there are several other temples and a stone altar before you finally cross the bridge into the temple. The Temple itself is a fantastic piece of architecture and an amazing site. We speant some time wondering around the gardens and climbing some trees. We met up with Caleb, Dom and Andy at the exit and got the underground to the north of Beijing so we could go to Houhai Lake and meet the others, who had hit the Silk Market that morning.

We arrived at a station quite a way from the lake and spent the next 30 min trying in vain to find the bloody thing! Eventually we stumbled across a backstreet and found the lake. We had some lunch and then the others arrived. They decided to take out some peddalos but unfortuantely I had to go back to Silk Market to sort out my suit! Briony came with me, as she needed a new suitcase, and we then proceeded to get massively lost trying to find our way back, eventually finding some english people to direct us!

At the Silk Market I had my suit fitting and they promised to get it to the Hostel by 2am, good as I had to leave at 5am! I then went to get some "iPhone" headphones as mine were very broken. The lady started at 120rmb, not too bad as the real ones would cost around 300rmb in England, but I wasnt paying that much for fakes. In the end got her down to 40rmb which would do very nicely! Briony got her suitcase and we wondered around a bit more. I decided to take a look at some sunglasses but when you look at anything you are grabbed by the shop girls immediately! In the end I found a pair I could get away with wearing and snubbed her starting price of 390rmb to get then for 50rmb, with only one intermediate price. I have really nailed this haggling!

We headed back to the Hostel as Briony and Matt were leaving that evening. We all had dinner at a place where you can get a bucket of fried rice that are brilliant!! After they had headed to the airport the rest of us had a few beers in the bar to toast the end of a great adventure but the start of great friendships.....what a softy I am 😊

I headed to bed early as I would have to get up at 4am!

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