At 3.45am the alarm went off, although it felt like we had barely slept. In a sleepy daze we threw clothes on in our dark dorm room and stumbled out into those hours that are neither night nor morning. Despite the darkness as we rounded the corner onto the huge avenue leading on to Tiananmen we could instantly see the flashing police lights, hoards of people already behind the barracades and yes the dreaded Chinese tour buses, and it had barely passed 4am. As our taxi crept up to where we could be let our it appeared as though the worlds largest public square was filling in the dark before our eyes. After passing security we did the Chinese shuffle to squeeze as close as we could to the front barrier, foolishly thinking that getting
... read more