Leaving Beijing

Beijing has been hot and today was the hottest. Matt and I hired bicycles again to cruise the streets and taste the food in some of the hutongs. Beijing has been great so far and really surprising. Plenty of smells, people are great, good food, some bike lanes as wide as a freeway, good parks to rest in during the hot afternoons. So far we have seen Mao's Mausoleum, the Forbidden Palace, Tiananmen Square, many parks...much peddling, walking. Matt spotted a Sichuan restuarant today and I had a solid dose of spice. Matt said it was hot food and up to the standards of the best sichuan restuarant in Melbourne...I survived and even enjoyed it. We are on the train to Mongolia at 7:30am tomorrow morning and I am looking forward to seeing some of China from the train window. It will be a 32 hour ride, so a good chance to sleep and learn a little bit of Mongolian. Next post from Ulaanbaatar!