Madcap!

Right folks, this one will probably be VERY long, as we are going to be writing about yesterday and today!

THURSDAY 5th April

We didn't have a hugely early start today, which was pretty lazy considering we had ended up going to sleep at 7.00pm last night! But anyway, we finally managed to drag ourselves out of bed at 7.30 this morning and decided to head back towards Tian Anmen square so that we could go to the Forbidden City. We started off at Tian Anmen Gate, which was really nice to look around, but we couldn't understand any of the displays as they were all in Chinese! But it was cool to see a different view of the Square etc. Once finished with the Gate we headed towards the City itself. Whilst I bought our entrance tickets, Steve was changing his film in his camera, but to our horror, it stopped working properly! We were gutted, but decided to continue anyway. So in we went and unfortunately our disappointment continued, as 3 of the main gates were covered in scaffolding and netting, as they were being refurbished for the Olympic games in 2008, and they just happened to be 3 of biggest and best ones we most wanted to see! But there were loads of other things to look at, like all of the exhibits of artifacts etc from the Ming and Qing dynasties. We kept getting lost, as it was so easy to lose your bearings in the smaller courtyards etc, but we wound our way through and eventually came out into the beautiful gardens, although we got the impression these were also being worked on - having new lawns and beds etc planted in for the games! Some good news though, a short while after entering the City Steve had another fiddle with his camera and got it working again - yay!

Once we left the Forbidden City we went to Jinhshan Park, just across the street. We stopped to buy a baked sweet potato on the way in for lunch and had a little sit down. We wandered around, before heading up the hill in the centre of the park to see the 5 pavillions (4 of which had their huge bronze statues stolen by the 8-Allies Forces during the 1900 invasion). The views form each of the pavillions were stunning, but the best were from the central one at the very top. It was from there that Steve noticed the White Pagoda and so we decided to head over to Beihai Park when we were finished. So we sauntered back down the hill and out of the park.

Beihai was really nice, first of all we went onto the Jade Islet so that we could go up the hill to see the White Pagoda. When wandering around after coming down the hill, we noticed a boat and so hopped on and it took us across the lake. We wandered around some more, but were disappointed as some more stunning buildings were covered in scaffolding etc as they too were being refurbished! But there were plenty of other things to see, including the 9 Dragon Screen and the House of Eternal Gratitude. We walked around the lake and then exited the park, with the intention of going to see some Beijing Opera and to have some dinner. After a long walk, we got to Wangfujing Street. We had some dinner in a really nice little restaraunt, although we felt like muppets, as when we said hello in Chinese all the staff giggled at us for pronouncing it wrongly and then we were the only diners in there for some time and so they kept watching us eat - which was quite off-putting when you know your eating etiquette and chop stick handling needs dire improvement! We survived anyway and then started the journey of trying to find the Changan Grand Theatre, which was a task and a half! I was desperate for the loo when we finally stumbled across it. As we assumed the show had already started, I dashed off to find a loo, while Steve enquired about tickets. We managed to get some for that night and managed to walk straight in for the performance, as it started 10 minutes later! It was quite interesting, but we didn't have a clue what it was about - Steve thinks it was something to do with an Emporer, his wife and concubine(s). Unfortunately I have to admit that we both kept temporarily dozing off, as we were still suffering from jetlag! But after about 2 hours the performance finished and we were able to head back to bed at the hostel after a very long day!

FRIDAY 6th April

Well, today we were (well, I was) up at 6.00am, so that we could get going to the Great Wall at Mutianyu. We started out on the subway and then had to walk to the bus station, we thought we were going the wrong way, as the scale of the map in our book is very deceptive, but we managed to find it in the end and walk straight onto the bus we needed. After some pointing at our book and crossed fingers we were going in the right direction we managed to pay for our tickets and were on our way. We were both really tired and soon after starting off I was falling asleep (I know you won't be at all surprised mum). The attendant on the bus let us know when we needed to get off the bus and she even called over a taxi driver to help us get the rest of the way to the Wall! After some more pointing and gesturing, we managed to agree with the driver that he would take us to Mutianyu and back to the bus stop for 100Yuan. So we were speeding along the roads again. When we arrived we had a lot more hand gesturing and pointing to agree that the driver would meet us again at 3.30 to take us back and we were then able to get to see the Wall at last after 2 hours or so of travelling. However, I'm afraid to say, we were lazy and got the cable car up to the wall, as it was such a steep section of mountain to climb up otherwise! But once on the wall (after having been harrassed by what felt like hundreds of street vendors) we were scrambling around getting very hot and puffed out, as it was so steep! But it was well worth the effort, as the views of the mountain scapes were beautiful and the wall looked stunning perched on top. Everything just went on for miles and miles around us - it was brilliant! Steve also became a tourist attraction at one point - being asked to pose for photos with a Chinese boy! I managed to stay out of the way! After 3 or 4 hours of trekking we hadto head back down the cable car so we could meet our driver again. Before meeting our driver we stopped off for the loos and I had my first experience of a squat toilet! Once we were back at the bus stop a bus turned up straight away, but it wasn't a proper one, it was more of a make-shift bus that seemed to just exploit the same route as the bigger bus companies, while stealing as many of their customers on their way as they could! We got on before we realised what we let ourselves in for! The bus driver was interesting, I mean we know that there are absolutely no rules when it comes to driving in China, but this guy took the biscuit! He was cutting across lanes here there and everywher, jumping red lights, driving in the pedestrian/cycle lane and goodness knows what else! But you'll never guess what?! I managed to fall asleep for most of the way again! We finally got back to Beijing and were dropped off just up the street from the main bus station. We grabbed a bite to eat on our way back to the subway and were soon heading back to the hostel, although we did manage to miss our stop on the subway and come back on ourselves (not a good thing to do when you're desperate for the loo)! Once finally back and refreshed we grabbed some 'Chinese pot noodles' for dinner from the hostel lobby and also had a very helpful member of staff book a hostel for us in Xi'an! So it's been a pretty good day all told. Not quite as tiring as yesterday though and we think we're going to treat ourselves to an easy-ish day tomorrow so that we're not completely tired all of the time, also our poor throbbing feet need a rest!

Well, we think that's about it for now, we hope you're all well. Missing you all.