At midday on Friday, I headed out with a few hostel-mates to find the bus to Terelj, the National Park not far from Ulaanbaatar. There was a charming man (trying to persuade us to get a taxi with him instead) talking to us in Russian at the bus stop. He was very interested in who we were and where we were from. He had some interesting preconceived ideas. For instance, there was a man from Australia, so, of course, there was a short Kanagaroo impression, for the girl from Austria, a short rendition of Mozart, and for the two of us Brits his comment was 'Ah, John Major'. After a short discussion about politics (mainly Northern Ireland and the Basque region, but I added Scotland to his repertoire), he took some convincing that we were poor, ... read more

I went to the bookshop first thing this morning to try and find some maps of china, but could only find road atlases, so I picked up some artist renditions of the Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven. After which I go the subway round to the Temple of Heaven to have a look round. It is a very big park. I hardly saw any of it. I wasn't really in the mood, as as soon as I walked past the perfectly manicured lawns, I started sneezing. I haven't had hayfever all year, and did not enjoy this. It's October, hayfeveer, go away. The park was full of all sorts of people, all ages, doing all sorts of things. Lots of exercise groups doing dances and tai chi, people playing badminton, learning musical instruments in groups. ... read more

This blog probably should be called 'The Great Wall' or something like that, but unfortunately there was toboggan, and that kind of makes a better title. However, I made it! I woke up every hour this morning until six am, and then decided to get up, wriggle into my clothes, and was out the door in five minutes. Booyah! It took me a while to find the bus station from the subway, but the map found online was considerably better than the one I used to find my tickets. I had to walk a mile or so past the bus station to a yard filled with coaches. I took bus 867 at 7am to Mutianyu. The journey cost 16yuan (£1.60) and took about two and a half hours, but I made friends in the queue with ... read more

I was adopted today by two Danish girls. I met one of them yesterday, and over breakfast this morning we discussed going to see the Forbidden City. We set off at just past eight, hoping that the crowds would not be as huge as they had been in the Danes' experience the day before on their ill-fated earlier attempt. The City itself only opens at half eight, and yet by the time we'd walked the km or so from our hostel to through Tiananmen Square the place was completely packed. Tiananmen square is 440,000m², and every last bit of it was covered with people milling about. For some reason there is also a giant bouquet of flowers there. When I say giant, I mean absolutely huge! I'm not sure I am able describe in enough detail ... read more

Today I handed in my tax forms (I love HK tax forms, it was very easy and I didn't have to pay anything). when I came out of the Revenue Building, I came across a protest outside the Immigration Building. Protests are a regular occurrence in HK, there are: Pro-China, Anti-China, Pro-Britain, Anti-falun Gong, Pro-Democracy, Anti-protests... in fact, you name it; Kongers will protest. But these weren't Kongers. This was a group of domestic helpers; the Tetes, or 'Aunties'. Their chant, "We are workers! We're not slaves!" may seem a little extreme, but is, in my opinion, more than justified. Two months ago, a football match between Hong Kong and Philippines was marred by HK fans chanting "You're all just slaves!" at their rivals. And this kind of behaviour is not restricted to football hooliganism. It's ... read more