China, the first few days.

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China is fantstic. There, thats it, because this country is too cool for any of you until you have visited. But i guessing as this is a blog, i should fill you in on what i have been doing the past few days.
On saturday we rose early for a trip out to the Great Wall, or at least one part of the 6000km long structure. The views as you climb up just get better, however it is incredibly steep, and really gives your thighs a good work out. We did joke about Genghis Khan and how he just bypassed the wall by trekking his army around it when he wanted to invade China, however when you are stood on it you can appreciate the immensity of a structure that as legend goes is formed not only of stone and cement, but by the bones of those workers who died in its construction. The area we visited was very busy with tourists, yet this does not take away from the beauty of the area, if anything it makes you wonder what the non-touristy areas are like.
Once we were on the coach back into the city of Beijing, we took a detour, firstly to the new Olympic stadium, nick-named the 'Bird's Nest' due to its criss-cross style, and then to a traditional Chinese tea-house. Within the tea-house we sampled various gorgeous teas and were given the reason for the consumption of each one, and then had a wander around the gardens within which the teahouse was situated.
I left the group for a few hours on saturday afternoon and had a really chilled time just meandering through the Beijing city streets and hutons, and enjoyed the summerlike weather. That evening we all met up again and had a big blow-out for our final night all together....MESSY!!!

Sunday was extreme chill-out, ie. hangover, and so a few of us went to the Temple of Heaven Park, and, despite the entry fee, we had a great time, primarily due to the cracking sun, and it is one place i am definitely going back to when im in Beijing again in 2 weeks.
That evening myself, the 4 irish, 2 aussies and matt the other english guy caught our train to Shanghai. Unfortunately we hadnt managed to book sleeper tickets, and so had to spend the 12 hour journey in regular seats, pretty uncomfy and when the lights dont go out, incredibly hard to sleep in. Therefore yesterday we were all pretty grumpy, and although Shanghai is great, we didnt really appreciate it until today.
I got up early this morning and had breakfast with Nicki and Stacey, the Aussie girls who i met on day 1, and who are leaving for home tomorrow. We have had a pretty good, if tiring day, going to the Bund, which is the old colonial business and shipping area, and grabbing some street-food for lunch. Less than 1 pound for a huge bowl of beef noodles on a street'stall may sound dodge, but it was lovely,and really filling. We then mosied accidentally into Old Town, an assortmant of buildings that epitomise old China, and fake-goods offering street-traders that epitomise the new China. There we went to YuaYuan gardens, which were beautiful, and despite being in the centre of one of the most populous cities on earth, and of course the hordes of Japanese toursists, were deathly quiet, so much so i managed some good nap-time!!
I have also been practicing my Chinese, in the (probably vain!) hope of being able to converse in the language by the time i leave in 3 weeks. This practice saw us end up chatting to a middle-aged Chinese fella, who then took us to a tea-house where we enjoyed more traditional tea for an hour or so.
Unfortunately it is tipping it down with rain, so my plan of McDonald's for tea seems to have gone out the window, but i will let you know how i get on with the Big Mac meal very soon!!

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