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Published: January 4th 2007
China
Locals playing an impossible game and making it look easy.The flight was delayed slightly which meant we didn't arrive into Beijing until late and it was absolutely freezing!! We ended up staying in the airport Hotel for a night and then headed to Tiananmen Square in the morning. We managed to get a cheap hotel then spent our first day wondering about to get a feel for the place.
Whilst in Beijing we managed to see a few of the sights. We went to the Tiantan Park and visited the Prayer for Good Harvest Hall and the Temple of Heaven. The Park was absolutely massive and filled with the locals practising their Tai Chi. Danny also managed to involve himself in one of their many games in the Park, he wasn't actually that bad and most of the locals found him amusing.
The following day we went to the Great Wall at Simatai which was quite amazing. We walked along the wall for 4 hours and met a couple from Manchester who had been to the exact same places as us. We really enjoyed the day and got back to Beijing exhausted from our day.
Our last day in Beijing we headed to Tiananmen Square and the
China
Me about to kick the s*&t out of Mr Miagi Forbidden City. On the way we were stopped by 2 locals who persuaded us to try some of the traditional Chinese tea and learn abit about their culture. We thought this sounded like a good idea, however 30mins later when the bill arrived we realised this wasn't such a good idea, over 20 quid each! Need we say more!! After licking our wounds we headed back to see the Forbidden City as planned. This was cool as was Tiannanmen Square, both places had alot of history behind them which was nice to learn about.
After spending 3 days in Beijing we caught an overnight train to Xian where we visited the Terrracotta Warriors. We met a nice couple in the hostel we were staying in and then bumped into them as we were heading to the ticket office at Terracotta Warriors. They gave us their ticket and we managed to get in for free, we'll knock that off the price of the tea then shall we!!?
The couple were laughing at the scam we fell for however this was short lived when they told us they paid 200pound for a carpet in Delhi. They didnt even have a house
China
Marlow at the Temple Of Prayer For Good Harvest so this made us feel a hell of alot better.
We only stayed 1 night in Xian as there's not much to do apart form go to the Terracotta Warriors.
We took another overnight train to Shaghai (17hours) where again there isn't much to do other than get a feel for the place and check out the old markets. Danny was strook by Delhi Belly again and didn't move from his bed for another 3days. Marlow ventured out himself and pretty much chilled out which was nice.
We found out there wasn't a Vietnamese Embassy in Shanghai so we had to make our way to Nanning (southern China) to sort our Visas out.
We spent 34 hours on another train to get there. Nanning was alot warmer than the other places which was a relief. The first day we found the embassy but had to wait 3days before they were done.
All there was to do in Nanning was shop and with the little money we have it still went a long way. Danny managed to buy 3 pairs of trainers in as many days, a new top and some socks, all in all not bad considering he
China
Me at the same Temple! only spent 35 pounds. Marlow bought 2 caps and nearly ended up spending a whole lot more.
Heading to Hanoi next and we hope South East Asia is as good as we think it will be...
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Goolagong
non-member comment
Happy New Year. It sounds like you are both having a fantastic time and the pictures are really good. I laughed my socks off at having to pay the £20 - Danny I bet you cried for days at that cos I know how tight you are but Im sure you will think of a cunning plan to get it back somehow. Its been great to see your journey and please continue to send me the updates. Take care Lots of Love Goologong