"Knee-How" from Beijing

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Sarah: We've have had four fabulous days in Beijing. The local people are lovely and really want to welcome you to their city.

We've visited all the major attractions you'd expect but also stayed in the hutongs which are the backstreets of Beijing, where the local people live in tiny little ramshackle lean-tos and their everyday life basically spills out into the street. This for us is the most fascinating part and has been a welcome relief from the big, busy roads and the big modern buildings that are springing up everywhere, impressive but impersonal.

The Forbidden City, where the Emperors lived, is bigger than huge and more opulent than you could believe. As for the Great Wall of China, it is beautiful, although walking along it for 10k we were hotter and more exhausted than ever before - steep is an understatement.

Later on today we take the night train to Shanghai...

John: the wall was beautiful if not totally exhausting! The weather is so close and you start sweating as soon as you walk outside. The steps were HUGE and i can only guess how the little chinese could climb them.

The food is great and a welcome relief from the pot noodle type food we've had to endure on our train trip across half of the world! We have found some great little delicacies such as that well known "battered vegetable ball thingy" which we have come to label it (we don't know the real name since we can't communicate with the street seller). "melon slice on a stick" is simple and refreshing as well as the "cabbage and something pancake". I also like the "dough sesame covered ball with black bean mulsh" - quite sweet but probably good for you :-)

Have bought some chopsticks. Hah-so.

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