BEIJING

Our first stop in China is Beijing.

Arriving in China late at night, alone, is not ideal, but unavoidable.  Everything seems less straightforward in the dark.  The journey to the accommodation involves taking the Airport Express and the subway,  then a walk down what appears to be a bit of a 'dodgy alley' to the wonderfully named Double Happinness Hotel.

We are, however, delighted with the Traditional Wedding Room,

and the bottle of red that we bought at the airport is more than welcome!

Next morning we discover that we are staying in a wonderful place.  The hotel is an urban villa, built in typical old Beijing architectural style with compound of quandrangle courtyards.  

Our room

Our balcony

The little lane in front of the hotel has the Chinese name, Hutong.

After breakfast we head out for the Temple of Heaven

This is what a lot people seemed to be doing.

There are also lots of group activities taking place around the Temple, like yoga

and communal singing.

Next, we visit Tiannamen Square

It's very breezy here, but that's good because it keeps the smog away.

This image gives an idea of the size of the square, it's massive.

It's a good job we like walking as everything here is on such a hugh scale.  Just to change lines on the subway can feel like a major hike.  We are also having to adapt to a new way of queing, i.e. if there is a gap, grab it!  Realising we are not going to be able to implement the "it's polite to wait your turn" system in our few days here, we decide to go with the flow.

Next we visit the Forbidden City,

the Chinese imperial palace for the Ming Dynasty

to the end of the Qing dynasty, 1420 to 1912

In the evening we do the touristy thing and take in an Acrobatic Show and Peking Duck Meal.

The show is brilliant and the acrobats amazingly talented.   Appalauding seems inadequate, but what else can we do, we're British!

We pack in a lot on our first day.