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!

Arrive Beijing

All is well. We got here, but not after Alan demolishing just about all the food they had on the airplane. I think he ate non-stop the whole way. Everything is brand new in this city and very clean (including the air..today) and few cars on the road. Had a bit of trouble finding our accommodation and spent a bit of time wandering the backstreets at midnight with all our motorcycle crap trying to find the joint..i couldn't sleep the night before we left and cant sleep on planes so hadn't slept for two days. Our double room we booked at the hostel only had one giant double bed (all cool being brothers) but i made Alan promise he woudn't hug me in the night thinking i was Genevieve. My skin isn't as soft, he would wake up rather disappointed. Today we hired pushbikes and hit the city....the best way to get around. There are giant bike lanes everywhere so its a sinch. Alan followed his nose to a bakery quickly and we had a great dumpling lunch..top notch. Temp is about 30 and humid...i needed to borrow Alans sunnies because the reflection off our white skin was giving me a migraine. Longneck beers are less than a dollar...happiness!