Beijing

After collapsing in bed for about 8 hours we headed out to get a taste of Beijing. We walked down to Tianamen Square (excuse the spelling ...) which took about an hour and had a wander around. Strange to see it in person with the iconic painting of Mao. Spent a bit of time walking around the first few courtyards of the forbidden city (the ones before you have to pay - another day) and then headed to the square itself. Quite cool.

Got some cool photos. Unfortunately some of the good lighting was courtesy of an approaching thunderstorm which we left it a little too late to escape from. Resulted in a last minute bolt for shelter, huddling under the eaves of a temple with a few of the locals for half an hour or so. Even hailed for a bit!

Next stop was dinner. Using the lonely planet map again we managed to get ourselves completely lost in the back streets (some rather narrow little alleys!), with darkness quickly falling, as we searched out a recommended duck restaurant. We gave up and managed to find a different duck restaurant on a main street rather than buried in a maze of alleys. Very cool.

That was pretty much the end of our first day in Beijing. Bit of a shock to the system after Singapore which was quite straightforward (and people spoke English). The language barrier is huge ... very few signs are in english and hardly anyone speaks more than a few words. Makes for some entertaining gesturing when things get confusing. Really should've learnt the basics of the language before I came !! Maybe if I come back ....