We were up and out by 7.30 this morning along with CJ and Emily to explore Beijing some more. We headed straight to Jingshan Park where we got to experience rush hour on the subway which was completely manic and by the time we arrived at Jingshan we were covered in sweat from the trains, unfortunately it was other peoples sweat as we were packed in next to some very smelly guys on the train. Jingshan Park at that time of the morning was wonderful, it is set up high on a hill overlooking the Forbidden City and the views were fabulous. It was already starting to get hot and it was still very early in the morning so we knew it would be a warm day. We stayed in the Park for about an hour ... read more

Today was our second day on the Great Wall, and we are thankful we made the decision to do our extra day on the wall at the weekend. Considering what a full day we felt we would have, we were still only leaving the hostel at 11am which seemed madness. We had lunch on route to the Wall at some obscure, extremely touristy place where the food, albeit Chinese, seemed incredibly Western. It was also selling cooper wired pottery for an obscene amount of money as well as the other typical touristy gimicks. Once we had left here it was still around another hour to the Great Wall, and the weather was not looking particularly good. It was still extremely hazy, and we knew the visibility on the Wall would not be good. Once we finally ... read more

So today we were up at 5.30am to go on our first trip of the tour, this one is what we have organised ourselves as the tour doesn't officially begin until tomorrow. Today we headed to a remote and unrestorted part of the Great Wall of China with two other girls on the tour. It was a three hour drive there which was why we were picked up so early, but it was completely worth the early start, complete with a FREE McDonalds breakfast (unlucky James, we went travelling for 10 months and never got a free McD's!). The journey out there was uneventful, and on arrival we were directed to the cable cars up to the Wall, and what a sight it was! Miles and miles as far as the eye could see of this ... read more

So I thought I would start the travel blog a day early this time, even though I technically haven't left yet. Departure time is 1020 tomorrow morning, flying first into Helsinki then catching the flight to Beijing to eventually arrive there early on Saturday morning local time. It has been a mental week and to be honest I haven't really thought about leaving. Today has been spent sorting out last minute bits and once I am finished writing this I am going to attempt the dreaded packing, hoping it all fits into my backpack! My thinking is that if I can go away for 10 months with just my backpack then this should (in theory) be a breeze. We shall see! I have been told that gmail and facebook are no go areas on the internet ... read more