14th August Spent the morning at Behai Park which is next to the forbidden city in Beijiing. I think this is probably the nicest spot in Beijing. The park is basically a lake with an island in the middle which has a big hill and a pagoda on top. The view from the top looking over the forbidden city are very impressive. In the afternoon we watched some basketball. We were fortunate to see China play - with our tickets we're never sure who we're going to see. China's star player - and probably the most famous athelete in China - [View Full Entry]

---

---

12th August Went to Beijing zoo this morning specifically to see the pandas. They are smaller than I expected. The pandas live the life of luxury which is probably to the detriment of the other animals in the zoo. They are entertaining animals to watch and certainly have a lot of character. In the afternoon we went to watch Greco-Roman Wrestling (I'll try anything once!). It's a very bizairre sport and even after watching it for 3 hours I couldn't tell who was winning or even whether the match had finished. Probably the most entertaining thing about this sport is [View Full Entry]

---

---

We've now spent nearly two weeks in Beijing. Probably easiest to go through day by day (if I can remember!). 8th August Watched the opening ceremony this evening on a TV in our hostel. We had tried to go to one of the big screen that had been advertised as showing the ceremony, but when we got there it was switched off. There were a lot of very upset Chinese people there who had travelled a long way to get there and now wouldn't have time to get back to watch it on TV. Fortunately it was only half an our [View Full Entry]

---

---

We are leaving London on 6th August [View Full Entry]

---

---