Beijing......as planned.

We boarded the tran-seiberian train at Ulan Baatar heading for Beijing. A 36hr train journey through the Gobi Desert and the mountain range of Northern China. We figured the best approach would be to watch the Gobi and Mongolia slip away in the dinning car with a few beers.

It was a great plan until we were asked to leave, quite some time later as we were at the Chinese boarder.

We found ourselves a wee bit tipsy and absolutely busting for the toilet. As you may imagine - well do go there!! - the toilets are pretty basic. All waste is simply dropped on to the tracks, so the toilets are closed at stations. As the Chinese and Immigration did their thing I paced the corridors whilst jammy Nick, after much gesticulating, was given a large empty Coke bottle, true class!

After reliving himself the train guard very nicely disposed of the bottle for him. Thankfully the boarder formalities didn't take too long and we were moving again. It was at that moment we realized that our Chinese room/cabin mate was missing. We were sharing a cabin with two others and after our passports had been taken away to be processed he simply packed up his bag and did a runner, we never saw him again.

Not only did we loss our Chinese cabin mate, but we also lost the trains wheels (or as nick likes to call them, bogeys). Interestingly, the train track size is different between Mongoliaand China. Instead of simply changing trains, we were asked to stay onboard while a massive 8 post hydraulic lift raised each carriage individually in order to replace the Mongolian wheels for Chinese bogeys.

 I was too busy to witness these events...

We awoke the next morning a bit fluffy around the edges as the train snaked it's way through the mountain ranges and along some river.

Our first task in Beijing was to check out the Forbidden City. Built in 1406 it was theImperial Palace during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Home to 24 Emperors until 1911. A truly amazing place with 8707 rooms and countless temples and gateways. We have no doubt that new emperors were left very frustrated trying to find his concubines.

The Emperors also had a summer palace, strangely enough called the Summer Palace. We found it to be more impressive and beautiful as the large grounds contained a massive lake and gardens.

South of the Forbidden City is the Temple of Heaven. Again it was built during the Ming and Qing dynasties for Emperors to perform their seasonally religious duties. Nowadays, apart from being a major tourist hotspot, The Temple of Heaven is also used by retired Chinese folk as a area to participate in all form of activities, weird and wonderful. We saw rows of ballroom dancing, line of line dancers, young want-to-be pop singer singing to their adoring grandma fans and old boys spinning around and around a parallel bar! 

Next on the agenda was Mitianyu, the less touristy part of the Great Wall of China. Though the path to the entrance was jammed packed with stalls selling all forms of tack. It did however, lack the bus loads of tourists. How to describe the Great Wall? It is a mind blowing structure built under great intentions (to prevent Chaggis Khan from ransackingbeijing) but completely useless.

The wall isn't one complete structure that stretches from east to west but made up of several sections with large gaps in-between. Which is of course how Chaggis Khan invaded Beijing. The Mitianyu section of the wall winds it way across very ruggered terrain, which made the walk along the wall quite challenging. We got some amazing photo's through the haze of Beijing's pollution.

Not being a massive fan of Chinese food to begin with, Nick and I were over it. No matter how pretty the pictures of sea cucumbers and shark fin soup looked, they still did not look eatable.

The exception was Pure Lotus Vegetarian. A flashy modern restaurant run by funky monks. Everything about the place was so damn cool. From the metre long menu's, to the e-collected serving dishes to your fruit being served in a bowl of dry ice. The only downside was no alcohol was served.

It's now back on the train for the 3 days trip to Lhasa, Tibet. Beijing most certainly opened our eyes to Chinese culture and way of life, however we are very much looking forward to less crowds, cleaner air and hopefully less spitting.