A Blast of Wind in your Ear

I’ve been lax in updates and the last email I sent probably was too much for people to digest..so I am going to try and write more frequent and shorter updates..so apologies for the 3-4 emails that are going to arrive at some stage today..

We landed in Beijing …man..its a huge city…15 odd million people..but it doesn’t feel like that..our hostel was in the middle of a Hutong, an old style Chinese street with old style 1-2 storey buildings and was only about 700 yards away from Tiananmen square. Its another place with tons to see..We went to see the great wall..well the section we saw was billed as the secret wall with a 2 hour hike in to see it..It was seriously impressive…see the photos..its part of the wall that hasn’t been renovated and is there in all its original glory..Added to that the scenery was magic..

We also went through all the other sites, Mao’s Mausoleum, the forbidden city (unimpressive to say the least, I was expecting that if a place didn’t allow outsiders in for over 500 years that it would be something special..sadly not), the summer palace (very impressive), the Olympic sites (the Water Cube and the Birds Nest are approx 100 metres apart on different sides of the road.

So what was good about Beijing. The street food was phenomenal, skewers of all kinds of meat (pork,lamb, beef, donkey, squid), spring rolls, pancakes, dumplings and many many more..and yes the duck was magic too..

The BEST thing however was the Silk Market, imagine a 6 storey building full of everything you can think off…all knock off goods with some if you are lucky, originals! For women it’s a paradise with 1 entire floor dedicated to designer handbags and shoes (Ugg boots for 15 quid). Three floors with every type of outdoor gear , shirts, t-shirts, hoodies..you name it..I’ve now decided that I am flying home through Beijing as a new wardrobe can be purchased for buttons..The fun there was in the bartering with the stall keepers…they start off with crazy prices..and you start off with maybe 1/10th of what they say..the trick is to stick to your price and they will slowly slowly come down to it..at one stall I was offered their little sisters hand in marriage if I bought two t-shirts..the top floor was a pearl market where you can buy top quality pearls for approx 1/10th of what they cost at home…christmas pressies are now all sorted after a couple of visits..

Photos as always on facebook

Onward from Beijing to Ping Yao..an old city that hasn’t been overly affected by industrialisation..