BEIJING

Beijing was lovely even though the smog accompanied us wherever we went. It is an amazing city with so much to see. Janet and Warren and their son Simon were our hosts - we spent 3 nights with them, eating a meal of roast with vegies which we craved and lots of different chinese quisine during the day. That was if we could fit it in between our shopping frenzy! Beijing is a shoppers paradise and we bargained until we dropped - Janet couldn't believe it and we found Janet even buying stuff - she introduced us to her friends at the Pearl Markets and that was a dangerous thing - we got lost amongst the pearls. We also visited the DVD shops, pashmina market stalls,and I now own a silk filled kingsize Doona that I need to lump around with me until I get home. I even bought some ridiculous watches from a man on the street - you can't go to China without coming home with some junk! We laughed a lot, ate a lot, drank a little bit as we needed to get ready for our train journey to Lhasa and be mindful of altitude sickness.