The Final 'Must Do' For Beijing

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After our failed attempt to see Mao's pickled body laying in the centre of Tiananmen squarewe caved to the desire for some last minute shopping and went to the Lonely Planet recommended tourist shopping centre. After years in Asia this was one of the most intense shopping experiences....people where literally screaming and grabbing at anyone that walked past and offering starting prices so low it was almost sad the level of their desperation. The array of accents and foreign langauages spoken by the stall holders was incredible.

We finished our very very long day of Dawn Tianaman, Forbidden City and shopping with one of the final tourist essentials for Beijing, a delicious dinner of Peking Duck.


We left Beijing in true Chinese style, queing excitedly at Asia's largest train station with our packs on our backs while everyone around us had their life possession in sacks, boxes and anything else they could carry or push along the ground in front of them. As the train attendants came out to open the gates the waiting room turned into a moving sea of people ignoring the constant chinese announcements direcrtly translanted as: "Do not push, do not stand on people, do not crowd, do not lean". Amazingly we made it through the small gate and found our beds on the train. Settling in for the 6 hour journey to Datong it took a few moments to get over the stains on my bed before we both drifted off to a much needed sleep.

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Comments

[Tay]

Very cool, Nic, sounds like you guys are having a tonne of fun. Looking forward to the next installment! xxoo