Bejing zoo

Back in Bejing now we visited the famous Bejing zoo, home of the pandas. Was really looking forward to it. Once we got through the door we saw the pandas first.

They were great creatures and very cute, smaller than I imagined as well. The problem was the surrounding area for the public to view them was hectic. Crowds of people pushing you over trying to get to the front. It was like a mosh pit, i got elbowed once or twice. That i didn't enjoy, people aren't patient in this zoo...

But the pandas were nice. :-)

The zoo didn't impress me at all. There were a few funny monkeys but the zoo was so big but there was nothing in it! Was like Tianaman square, massive but nothing to really look at. We spent 10 minutes walking before we found the next set of animals. Some places like the reptile house you had to pay to get into, even though we'd paid to get into the zoo! Don't recomend it at all.

So are 10 day holiday to china came to an end. China isn't a relaxing holiday, its loud, busy and hectic but if you want to visit somewhere different, embrace a new culture and visit many famous sites then it is a brilliant holiday. I really enjoyed it and the Chinese are so friendly. I had a great experience and would deffenetly go again.

Buddah's

Datong wasn't as grand as Bejing but it did have this place called Yungang Grottoes. A fantastic place full of Chinese Monastery's, monuments and later on Giant Buddah statues. Looks like something from 'Indiana Jones'.

Elephant with 3 tusks. hmmm

Some very nice Chinese carvings here. They tell a story of somesort.

It happened to chuck it down while we were there, we got pretty wet but given where we were we didn't mind.

This looks like the good guys temple.

This is deffenetly the evil sorcerer's temple.

Eventully you reach the caves cut to shape many years ago.

What type of people make these things.

There were some huge Buddah's you can't quite understand how big they were on photos, they were spectacular and from a building point of view they wondered me more then the great wall.

The artistic carvings in the rock just add to its character and history.

"Hello everyone, I'm a buddah i live in a cave!"

Was a brilliant place to visit and if you happen to go to Datong deffenetly go see this place.

The wedding

The next day we were off to Datong and the Chinese couples wedding! The brides family treated us like royalty, we had a car come and pick us up and take us on the 8 hour journey from Bejing to Datong. 8 hours! Then we were put in this nice hotel where they served us food on a morning. The Bride and groom and the parents of the bride took us out for a private meal everynight. We truly were guests og honour. It was a great experience been accepted into a chinese family and been treated like a friend. Was a great and unique experiance.

Only a few wedding photos as i should probbly keep there special day off the internet. This was the reception hall, had nice little instrumental music going on and lots and lots of food to eat! Was a nice atmosphere and there were many people, The bride had a nice long white dress that was very english. Apparently this was there 2nd wedding? They do one for the grooms family then one for the brides. really different over there.

The food was... interesting. Hello mr. Chiken, sorry you had to see the wedding this way.

The wedding was like a big sit down meal and everyone chatted all the way through it? The bride and groom came down the isle to the Star Wars theme tune. I'm not even joking. Was really magical though. There was a presenter? Another difference to ares. They did a lot of different stuff, was good to watch. Only lasted about an hour then it was over. Was actully the first wedding i've ever been too but i'm pretty sure are a lot different.

The Forbbiden city

We arrived at the grand entrance to The Forbbidon city with Chairman mao's picture above. There were lots of tour guides trying to get us to pay to go with them, we said no to a lot of them.

Its a fantastic looking red building and we couldn't waite to get in...

Did i say building, its a huge city! Inside the main entrance is a massive courtyard surrounded by the red brick of the city walls...

Through the next door another spectacular courtyard...

And then another! The city was huge, looks small from the entance but inside it goes on farer then the eye can see. Apparently the guy who lived here had many wives and each night he always slept in a new room, never the same one! Wonder which night he slept in the toilet?

Was a beautiful place to walk round and witness. Very Chinese with its curved, triangular buildings all decorated with stunning art, sculpture and carvings.

A top that mountain over there is the Summer palace. We didn't visit that though.

Each new courtyard is different then the last and all beautiful.

Great place to get a picture of me, but theres some kid break dancing in the back ground?

After the long treck through the city i sat and enjoyed a packet of monster munch, in tribute to Karl pilkington. After this we got one of those bike taxi's with the kart on the back home, was fun until the driver charged us the equivalant of £40! and practically snatched it off us! Beware they don't tell you the real price when you get in.

Tiananmen square

Well here I am at Tiananmen square, the 3rd largest city square in the world and the famous site where the protests took place!

So much bad stuff happened here but everyone walks round happily. I suppose it's just history for them now but as a tourist the history stands out.

It was a big square i'll admit that but to be honest i imagined bigger for some reason.

Again we decided to venture down a back alley and again we found the gritty underbelly of bejing. Its nice to see this type of area in China, it gives you more insite into what its like to live here.

We visited a very busy market.

How did they let there telephone wires get so messed up, its like a spider web.

I like this photo it has a lot of character, grey streets and buildings with chinese lettering on it, with karts dotted around and a simple sign pointing to a Pharmacy.

We ended up back in busy streets eventully, lots more shops.

The square was huge but not much was actully going on, i thought there would be something, like a park in the middle or something.

Again we were getting stared at a lot and these Chinese guys wanted there photos taking with us! We said ok not really knowing why. Then we were asked by another Chinese couple for a photo with them. Did they think we were famous English celebrities on holiday? Maybe its just because we were english. If anyone wants to get a glimpse of celebrity life, go to china!

The other reason we was here was to see the Forbbidon city. A very iconic building just on the edge of the square.

Crows nest Stadium

Next stop after the great wall was the Olimpic stadium! Perfectly named the Crows nest stadium. It was huge and here it is.

The building looked fantastic with its weaving iron structure it looked like a metalic nest, saddly there was no giant robot birds.

The city is called Olimpic city, something makes me think they changed the name for the olimpics.

The achitecture was unbelievble, a great piece of art.

Who designed this thing, its a tangle of twisted steel.

We went inside and here we are overlooking the Stadium. It was gigantic but you cant tell on photos. Was great to see since the last olimpic games was held here, wish it was on right now. But atleast next ones in England.

Which ones my seat?

Me doing a sort of epic run into the stadium as if i am the long awaited athlete the crowds have been waiting for. i can dream.

The great wall of China

The first day in China the groom nicely drove us to none other than the great wall of China! One of the wonders of the world! The longest and greatest wall in the world seen from space, you may of heard of it! Yes this was the part of the trip i was excited about. We arrived on a nice hot day in the mountains.

Next we got a high cable car up the mountain.

It was nice to see a different view of China, we had seen the modern now the historical and landscapes.

Arriving at the top we saw over the mountains a winding, snake like figure over the mountains, it was the great wall. Part of it any way, it goes on for miles.

This part of the wall was the newer part that had been re-built but still exstrodanary and very busy full of chinese tourists. The wall was just sitting on the mountains and the steps were very steep. It was amazing to see and to actully walk on it having heard so much about it was very special.

Here i am up the steapest steps on this part of the wall. the stairs were almost vertical and getting up it in this heat wasnt easy.

"Look at that behind me, yep its a wall, the great wall!"

We couldn't walk it all, it goes on miles and its so steap in places, it was enough just seeing it as it grew in length and went over the horizon of the mountains.

 Great views of it from the top of the stairs. How the hell did they build it?

Having seen it all and took lots of pictures, we got the cable car back down. It's a surreal experience to know you've walked on the great wall of china, i will remember it forever.