Beijing, China

...the start of my rail journey half way across the world...well that is what it seemed like. It was going to be an experience of different cultures, big cities, huge open spaces, lakes and mountains and I was looking forward to it all!!!
Many of you have visited Beijing and seen the sites, experienced the culture, so here is a short list of what I got up to...

• Tiananmen Square - a huge square, enough for 10 million people.......not sure they tested that?
• Forbidden city - impressive palaces and gardens
• Summer Palace - beautiful gardens and llama temple
• BaiHai Park - old Chinese people exercising, blossoms on the trees
• HouHai Lake - drinking at sunset, paddling on the lake
• Oriental Plaza - biggest shopping centre (in the world?)
• Nan Lou Gi Xiang - shopping, eating, drinking (my local hangout due to the fact that my hotel was off this street)
• Hutongs - my famous Peking Duck experience
• Night Market - eat anything on a stick (scorpions, starfish, sea horse)
• Sanlitan - shopping, eating, drinking
• Embassy vicinity - quiet and refined (western view here)

Skyscrapers, modern hotels, shopping centres, old temples, traditional houses and courtyards...I felt like I experienced a fair amount in 6 days, not just good experiences but the not so pleasant ones too - public toilets, public buses on a Chinese holiday, subway at rush hour, art student scams, dodgy taxi drivers and stodgy dumplings.

The highlights were
1) The Great Wall - I went to a quieter section and walked from Jinshanling to Simatai 8.5kms - less than 0.1% of the full length of the wall yet in each direction you looked, you could see the wall! There were times when you saw no-one and appreciated the vastness of the country and the enormity of the task of building the wall.



2) Peking Duck meal in a courtyard restaurant in one of the many hutongs; Juicy dumplings in local restaurants; chinese sweet delights in the Night Market
3) Exercising with locals elderly Chinese in Baihei park in early morning
4) Friendliness of younger Chinese in visa queue, on bus in shops and markets.

So there was a lot I didn't experience - museums, opera/acrobatics, Art District, Karaoke, fine Dining, Fake clothes/bags shopping in the markets, tea ceremonies ..... So I will return and visit the Nicolaus family in a few years.