Beijing - Tuesday 01 May

After a long flight and a solid nights sleep for all, we set off in the morning on the first adventures of our trip. We stopped for some breakfast at a restaurant/gallery that had some very intersting arty peices, including some large glass sculptures that looked rather like large breasts pop art style - and there were many of them throughout the place. The bathroom hand basins were interesting - they were sculptures of womans butts and legs in highheels bent over and joined to the hand basin. A very funky look, and there were three of them in different bright colours.

With food in our bellies we set off in search of the Forbidden City which is the largest and best-preserved cluster of ancient buildings in China. It was home to two dynasties of emperors, the Ming and the Quing, who rarely strayed from this pleasure dome, although it was off limits to everyone else (thus the name). The palace is huge and includes 800 buildings and over 9000 rooms and is under constant renovation.

On our trek to the huge main entrance of the Forbidden City we were the only 4 westerners amongst a million chinese people (this week is holiday week and apparently they are all touring). We were stared at by every one of them. I suppose a freckled brunette, a very tanned brunette, a long blonde and a redhead all of above average heights are a commodity in this city. Our foreign status became very apparent when a young chinese girl stopped Katie - the tall blonde of the group, and asked to have a photo with her. She took Katie's hand and held it while her friend snapped away. She was beaming with excitement about her photo, thanked Katie and bid her farewell - smile never leaving her face. Throughout the day, we were all stopped for photographs by at least 25 groups of chinese people. Some weren't bold enough to actually come and ask us for the photograph so they snapped away from afar. We had our backs to the main sea of people at one stage, whilst buying tickets, and when we turned around two boys were standing hugging each other in front of us while their parents took photos. We felt like Rock Stars!!

We lined up for quite a while in the scorching heat to purchase our tickets to the Forbidden City and finally found our way in to this colossal place. Before long a couple of us needed the washroom badly, but had no idea of what we'd have to deal with. We were ushered into a long makeshift outdoor area that was made of sheets of tin. On entering we were faced with having to squat over a concrete hole, that was in a long line of holes with absolutely no doors. When in Rome hey!! aarrrgghh...since then it has been a gamble as to whether every place we visit has a hole in the ground or a western toilet. Unfortunately due to the heat being over 28 degrees each day and the amount of water you have to drink to keep hydrated, there is no holding on.

Speaking of holding on, no-one expects the young children, especially the boys to hold on. It's public urinating everywhere. Disgusting! The un-toilet trained youngens wear crotchless pants...you got it...crotchless! We witnessed the first set of crotchless pants in the Palace of Preserving Harmony in the Forbidden City where a young boy stood up in the middle of a public place to urinate while his family stood in a circle around him. They all clapped when he finished. Adding to our culture shock was everyone felling the need to spit and bushman blow wherever they felt the need. And no-one has any curtousy for others - pushing, shoving and bumping into others is all acceptable. I suppose it becomes a necessity in a city the size of Belgium, holding near to 14 million people.

Anyway the Forbidden City was huge and a good introduction to Beijing. After that we went in search of some food and found a street vendor selling all sorts of meats on a stick. We decided on Octopus on a stick which they quickly fry on an open hot plate then cover in some spicy goo. Delicious. We then hiked up Prospect Hill and sat on some rocks looking out to the vast city that is Beijing. It was a nice view.

Tianamen square was our next destination which took us from the north side of the Forbidden City to the south side. It was a long hike, made even longer by bad directions and tiredness setting in. We posed for more photos along the way, dodged the bushman blows, stepped over the children urinating and finally found the grandiose slab of paving stones at the heart of Beijing. It is the symbolic centre of the Chinese universe, a modern reconception by Mao to project the enormity of the Communist Party. His giant portrait still hangs over the Gate of Heavenly Peace flanked by the slogans 'Long Live the People's Replublic of China' and 'Long Live the Unity of the Peoples of the World'.

After 12 hours of walking we made our way back to the hostel, freshened up then caught a cab to the most famous Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant for Peking Duck. Katie the vegetarian was even up for eating the Peking Duck. What an experience it was. In true Chinese style, there were millions of people everywhere and lined up waiting for an available table. Waitresses were screaming numbers down a microphone to usher the next group to a newly vacated table. Our rock star (or foreigner) status came in handy and when we asked for a table for 4 we were immediately pushed straight to the front of the line and straight in to the restaurant. We ordered duck liver salad, pork elbow, mushrooms and pinenuts, Chinese beer and a whole duck. Within 2 minutes our food was on the table and within 5 we had our own chef carving the duck in front of us. We had two waitresses who stood at the table and showed us how to compile the duck, sauce etc in either small pancakes or lettuce. The meal was absolutely delicious and the best duck i've ever eaten. The best bit was that it only cost us $60 which included the meal, drinks and the return cab ride.

The girls have been shocked by Beijing so far and pushed completely out of their comfort zones, even being seasoned travellers. I haven't been as shocked, although was expecting it to be a little cleaner.

Flight to Beijing - Monday 30 April

We left home for the airport around 7am, but on reaching
the airport unfortunately Dom realised she'd forgotten
her day pack which was holding her passport, air
tickets etc. 1 1/2 hours round trip later and she was
back at the airport. The rest of us had so much
trouble checking in due to an employee with apparently
no brains, but after 20 minutes of simple explanations
she finally issued our tickets and we were on our way.

The 11.5 hour trip to Beijing was mundane and included
movie after movie and not enough food. It didn't
matter how much I ate, I remained hungry the entire
trip and even got yelled at by a mean flight attendant
when I tried to take a second apple. Dom and Kt were unfortunately seated about 7 aisles away from Rani and I but we met up for lots of chats. Dom and Kt unfortunately had to witness the couple seated in front of them - a blonde 50 year old get progressively drunk and throw herself at the old guy seated next to her so coming and talking to us was there escape from the situation.

At one stage an old guy decided to join our conversation and was asking us all what we did for a living. I thought I'd return the question, only I asked him what he 'used' to do, thinking he was at least 100 years old! Oops...he laughed and said he was 'still' a doctor...you can imagine my embarrassment. Note to one's self: never assume age.

Our flight circled Beijing for about half an hour before we landed due to a storm which we were lucky enough to watch above the clouds. The lightning was amazing.
We finally landed in Beijing around 8.30pm and got through customs, then managed to throw ourselves into a cab with a non-english speaking driver. I tried my chinese 'hello' out on him and he laughed and corrected me. I wasn't far off though. For the half an hour trip in the pouring rain, on the wrong side of the road and amongst the most manick traffic i've ever been in, he taught us a few chinese words and we taught him a couple of english ones. It was a laugh. We found our hostel and went straight to bed, all completely buggered after a huge day.

Sydney

Sydney was a whirlwind of a weekend, starting when Dom
collected me from the airport after a bit of a nap in
the car, due to my flight being delayed. We went back
to her gorgeous house in Mosman, overlooking Mosman
Bay for catch up goss, relaxation and food.

Later Dom took me to meet the two other girls Katie and
Rani for dinner to celebrate their 27th birthdays, one
on Friday and one on Saturday. Dom surprised the
three of us with very thoughtful birthday presents,
which included some great necessities for our travels
- small torch (lucky I didn't bring the head torch
Pete, although the girls thought that would have been
a benefit to bring along), travel towel, travel
cutlery, tinned tuna, vegemite, travel mugs, cup o soup...and the
list goes on.

We went to a great Italian restaurant in Cockle Bay on
Darling Harbour, where we ate the most delicious
Octopus dish - so good we had to order more. After a
few bottles of wine we moved on to the bar, Pier 26,
for more wine and more friends. We met plenty of
people that night, have many laughs, many bottles of
wine and found ourselves in a cab home many hours after midnight.

On Sunday, after peeling myself out of bed with a very
sore head, I headed back to Darling Harbour for a
jetboat cruise around the harbour and beyond. It was
a great ride and about half way through the driver
took off and ripped up the water. We all got soaked
but had an awesome, thrilling ride. Later I met Kt for
food, then the other girls and a few others for a
cocktail catamaran cruise, which was another birthday
present for the girls. It was a relaxing cruise with
fantastic views of the opera house and bridge, but
no-one was in the mood for too many cocktails after
our previous nights effort. Home for some tv, and I
was asleep very early.