Geo: 33.15, 131.217I woke up at 2am or 3am. I don't know why or how. Anyway I tried going back to sleep. During that time though, I definitely heard something coming in the general direction of the lounge room. I heard a door slide maybe one or two times. And it was dark. I had never been so scared. What the hell was that I will never know and I don't want to know. I look over at Winnie and she's sleeping...ignorance is bliss it seems. She didn't quite believe me when I told her the next day. Anyway I'm glad we're leaving this hotel today. As we're leaving, the hotel concierges waved goodbye to the bus...and they kept waving and waving and waving until we were out of sight!We went to see the famous suspension ... read more

Geo: 33.16, 129.72We spent the morning in Huis Ten Bosch. We certainly could explore more now that there is natural light. Lots of tulips around and lots of waterways. We went on a boat ride and there were some swans around, beautiful white animals.Also, we visited a museum and it was very playful where you could almost immerse yourself in the picture. There was even a room in there where you could not see your reflection in the mirror, that freaked us out until we realised that it was just another room with all the objects in our room inverted to give the impression the mirror could not reflect you.What amazed me most was at lunch. I accidently paid the waitress Y100 extra for lunch (equates to roughly $A1). I didn't think much if it. About ... read more

Geo: 33.59, 130.41Once we landed, we headed straight to Fukuoka Dome where we had lunch. What amazed me was the number of vending machines...they're everywhere! I've seen them in cartoons and such but never thought they would be that coming...and they sell everything concerning food.At Fukuoka Dome, we played some games and won a few prizes. It was quite easy and if you didn't know how to play, a video is continuously playing in the background to show you how to win.After that, it was a long drive to Huis Ten Bosch.... read more

Geo: 39.9165, 116.391This is our last day in Beijing. Overall it was really good. Beijing was cleaner than I thought perhaps in preparation for the OlympicsWe left Qiaobo and headed off to some Chinese medicine place. They gave their diagnosis based on what they felt when they touched you. The 'doctors' pressed quite hard in some places and said you have this you have that and basically forced you to buy their medicine.Our next destination as Dr Tea. They showed us all sorts of tea. They distributed the tea and the lady demonstrated how it should be enjoyed. I must have done mine wrong because I choked on mine! That place contained the biggest tea pot I have ever seen.Following this we drove past the Olympics site. Still in construction but we saw the water cube ... read more

Geo: 39.9165, 116.391Jade City/Ming Tombs/CloisonneWe started off the day by visiting Jade City (or something like that). Basically a shop where they make all sorts of stuff out of jade stone. It was good to see what things they created if you're into that sort of thing but I really wasn't. Winnie wasn't impressed when one of the assistants put a jade bracelet on her and told her right there that she's got to buy it. She politely declined by taking the bracelet off really quickly.A trip to the Ming Tombs followed. That's where some or most of the emperors from the Ming dynasty are buried. A stop by a cloisonne (basically it is an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects - thanks wikipedia) shop was our last stop before the Great Wall. The decoration was ... read more