CHINA DAY 1

Our Guide Wendy and Driver Mr Bien who we called Uncle Benny the man who gets you places fast.
Uncle Benny getting the car ready for us to go out in. Luxury in Beijing.

DAY 1 Beijing

We arrived in China to find very hot dry pleasant weather after leaving a hot humid rainy day in Korea. We met our guide Wendy and Driver Uncle Benny and were surprised and happy to find the tour in Beijing was only us and them. We got to drive to all the tourist spots in a sleek well air conditioned car and watched the hundreds of tourists pile on and off their packed buses. We ate incredible Chinese Cuisine throughout the tour. Day 1 we left the camera at the hotel so we got a throw away one which is why there are no pictures of what we saw. We went on a rickshaw with the driver pedalling a bike not running. He was extremely fit biking us through the Hutongs which are the narrow alleyways in the centre of Beijing. That was fun sitting back and watching the locals going about their daily routines. Next we went to visit The Temple of Heaven. This was where the Emperor used to visit and pray for a good harvest. The temple is a circular shape and is a famous landmark for Beijing like Paris with the Eiffel Tower. Outside the temple courtyard was a park where locals buy tickets to go and relax in. After that we went and tried some different teas in a Chinese Tea Ceremony. In the evening we went to an incredible Acrobatic Show with acrobats ranging from 8 and 18 years. They performed balancing acts and were amazing to watch. We brought the dvd to take home. We found Beijing a beautiful clean city with lots of colourful flowers and green trees. The architecture of the buildings were well designed and breath taking. The city is well mapped out with the centre being Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City. There are 6 Circular Ring Roads. The first Ring Road is in the centre and is Called 1st Ring and then they go out further until the 6th Ring. Its great because if you live in Beijing and tell people where you live you can say something like 5th Ring East and people will have an idea where you live. Our Hotel was between the 1st and 2nd Ring. We visited a lot of Factorys on our tour. The level of english spoken by the guides in the factories was really good. Our guide Wendy also spoke good english.