After more than a month travelling in China, I got to Beijing on Saturday, a week later than planned. An astonishingly quick 13-hour sleeper train took me from the t-shirt weather of Shanghai to the biting cold of the north-east. There’s barely a cloud in the sky up here, but the wind is really something else.
This is my last stop before I start heading off on the trans-Siberian, so a lot of my time has been taken up with buying tickets and supplies, as well as dealing with the Mongolian embassy. There were a few days to go sightseeing, but most of the tourist attractions are closed for renovation in preparation for the olympics next year, so I just spent a day in the Forbidden City and another one on the Great Wall.
The Forbidden City was stunning, despite much of it being covered in scaffolding and the whole place closing unexpectedly at 3.30 when I’d only seen half of it. The sheer scale of it is the main thing – genuinely city-sized. I really have to come back when they’ve finished the repairs and see the place again.

Tiananmen = The Gate Of Heavenly Peace.

Forbidden city.

Tiananmen square; is very big.

Pictures on money, part 2.