China: The Palace, The Nest and the Night Train

Hello.

Just a quick note about or last day in Beijing.

Having already booked our train ticket to Qingdao for that night, we really tried our best to cram as much as possible into our last day in the capital. So we got up earlier than we should have done considering the night before's drinking extravaganza. Feeling like someone had tried to fit the entire Great Wall into my head through my left ear, it was safe to say that we were all hanging out our respective arses. But we truly 'got aboot town' in a bish bash bosh kinda fashion.

First stop- the Lama Temple. This was an actual working temple. Incense was being burnt everywhere, locals were praying and the resident buddhist chaps engaged in hypnotic chanting. We got to see the world's largest buddha statue which is made from one single piece of wood, and is huge enough to feature in the Guiness Book of World Records.

Stop number two - the Summer Palace. Massive park with a beast of a lake. It was all rather tranquil, so we got on a pedalo and dashed around the lake, managing to take a ridiculous amount of photos and saying Ni Hao to other pedalo-ing charmers. At one point we changed who was pedalling, and as Vinny moved towards the front of our vessel, we started to take on water. For a minute, I certainly thought we would be the first people to actually sink a pedalo at the summer retreat of Chinese emperors. But it just turned out that the weight balance was altered, and the boat was tipping forward slightly.

Stop three - The Olympic Park. We arrived at night and the place was lit up like a christmas tree. The Bird's Nest and the water cube were as futuristic and impressive as they were on television. We were literally there for about 45 minutes though as we had to get back to the hostel and pick up our bags and rush to the train. When we got to the train station we only had ten minutes before our train, and literally all the information was in chinese script so we couldn't understand a thing. It was all getting a bit hectic until a young lady pointed us in the right direction, and we finally managed to get on right train.

The Night Train is an awesome experience. We got hard sleeper tickets, which were actually rather comfortable bunk beds. Probably about 50 beds in each carriage, seperated into groups of 6 bunks, 3 high and 2 abreast (hehe). We all got middle bunks, which is clearly the best option, as people will hang out and sit on the lower bunks and the top bunks have less headroom. We left Beijing at 10.48 and would arrive in Qingdao at 8 am the next morning. There is something ace about going to sleep in one city and waking up the next morning in another, with the infectious sounds of Chinese dance music ringing in your ears from the train's speakers.

Next stop Qingdao. Ace.

Big love

Jack