The highlight of breakfast had to be the pigs ears with leeks. If only they'd used sheep ears then Sand would have been right at home! After that excitement we took the subway to the Forbidden City. A HUGE complex of palaces used by emperors through the ages. And I thought Lake Minnetonka had some huge homes....oh no, they're like outhouses for this place! From there we had lunch and then wandered around some of Beijing's hutongs or alleyways. Very much the other end of the economic spectrum but just as interesting. The fact that we were on our own instead of among thousands of other tourists also made it way more relaxing. The crowds at the big attractions here are overwhelming. The kids have been photographed a lot again today. It's strange to think that ... read more

Hello from Beijing! The trip here was 23 hours door to door. All pretty painless, especially for Sand and Carys who got upgrades to business! They enjoyed champagne and smoked salmon while Ben and I battled for bread and water. The good news is that they owe us now and we look forward to payback. First impressions on Saturday afternoon of Beijing are good but honestly we could be in any western city. we were met by the very friendly and talkative Chen Dan Hong aka Alice who did a great job selling us on a trip to The Great Wall. So that's where we are heading today, Sunday. Opening curtains this morning revealed a nasty haze across the city. Last night the air was very clear. Apparently the factories were very busy last night. Yuk! ... read more

Just four days remain until we leave. Our bags are not even close to being packed and the list of things we have to do before we leave is getting longer every day. Not a good sign! Nonetheless, excitement is really building for our big adventure. When asked yesterday what one thing we're most looking forward to, Nick's answer was the day with elephants in Chiang Mai, Sand's answer was the Asian food (and the looooong 20,000+ miles of flights!), Ben said the fancy electric toilets of Tokyo and Carys is keen to see monkeys in Bali! We have a broad mix of things planned, so hopefully something for everyone. I suspect we're going to need another holiday to get over this one.... read more