During our visit to Beijing we had the opportunity to visit some spectacular places.
As we ended our first tour (the Trans Mongolian Railway) we came to Beijing. Through the mountains in the north the elaborate train line snakes through 80 tunnels and finally arrives in the centre of the city. The deep gorges and random paddy fields were a welcome sight after the desolate and baron Gobi desert.
We spent our first night at the local night markets trying scorpions, spiders, starfish and sheep testicles! Random was an understatement where this food was concerned! Here we said our final goodbyes to our fellow Trans Mongolian Railway travellers as everyone was going in their own directions.
Our last night before our flight to Hong Kong was spent enjoyably with Mei and Ros. We sampled our first authentic Chinese meal which gave us an insight into what was to come on our "Dragon Tour" around China.
Back at home we all talk about where our favourite chinese restaurant is and boast about its authenticity. We are all so wrong!!
As we sat down we are bizarrely given 4 different menus. Each one gaining in price and weirdness. By the time we got to the final menu it was just pictures of different fish, shellfish and some livestock - all of which were in tanks in the lobby waiting to be hand picked and chowed down on!
On this note we played safe and ordered "sweet and sour chicken". When it came, we realised we had been a bit naive! We actually had a plate of chicken heads, feet and claws and that wobbly bit on the top of its head. Not the chicken breast that we were hoping for!
This type of food we later came to realise, is what authentic Chinese food is.
Dishes like fish head soup, fried assorted pork organs, deep fried chicken feet, fried dog noodles and pig trotters. And these we're just a few of the random and mainly disgusting dishes that we came across!
Fast forward three weeks and we were back to this bustling city with a whole new bunch of people in tow.
Our first stop was the Great Wall of China. This place is as, if not more beautiful and tranquil than we ever could have imagined.
Our tour guide "Noodle" (yes that really was his name!!) took us up to a deserted section of the wall at a place called Badaling.
The climb up was by far the hardest walk we have done so far (and possibly ever!) but when we reached the 4th tower and experienced the sunset it was all worth it. The sunset was lovely and very surreal to watch it on top of a 2000 year old monument. After a bit of "prison posing" and "ninja stances" we headed back in the dusk.
The sign on the Great Wall of China - clearly Chinese people don't know where to poop or not!! Haha!
We also visited Tianamen Square. Which is so heavily guarded with cameras and microphones that it actually felt claustrophobic.
We counted 6 cameras, 1 microphone and a laser pointer on every lamp post, each 6 metres away from one another.
It is so severely monitored that our guide wasn't allowed to mention anything about the 1989 student riots because he would get into trouble with the undercover agents that are watching and listening to everyone, everywhere!
We had gotten to experience the true meaning of living in a communist state (the next day a car blew up at Tianamen Square - killing 2 tourists and the occupants of the car!)
As the dragon tour was drawing to a close we had a farewell meal of peking duck - a feast banquet of food and drink that only cost us £3 each.
We gave our final hugs and kisses the next morning and then the few of us that were departing jumped on the bullet train back to Hong Kong.
We travelled the entire length of China in 8 hours (without cigarette breaks) travelling at average speeds of 300km an hour!
The next day we left China for good and said hello to the city of Bangkok, Thailand!
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