Day 3

Hello everyone


Using the internet here is more difficult than I thought so I am making the most of this opportunity.


We arrived safely after a 10 hour flight during which I ate two meals and watched two films but didn't get any sleep despite flying through the night!


Beijing is a different world. It is all skyscrapers and bright lights but its History is thousands of years old. There are 20 million people living in Beijing in a city that is 120km x 140km.


After arriving at our hotel we were whisked straight back out to a very old an historical part of Beijing where there are ares known as Hutong.These are in a beautiful part of the city near a lake and we travelled around it by rikshaw. The buildings are the old Emperor's Palaces nestle amongst the Government housing which now belong to the 'common people'. We visited one family who own a number of small dwellings which surround a courtyard, a very different way to live than most of the people in Beijing. The home we visited was a guesthouse and had been in the family for generations. It was very humble but would cost upwards of 4 million pounds of our money - all because there is air above you!

Later we visited The Birdcage stadium which is an impressive sight. We met some chinese children there who asked us if they could have their photo taken with us and not the other way round!

We have been fed lots of lovely Chinese food so far - it is not very different to the Chinese food we have at home.

This morning we have met some important people who have arranged this visit and I tried on some lovely Chinese clothes. I am about to go to my first language lesson so I will teach you a little bit later on.

I have lots of photos but at the moment I can't uplooad them so I will try again when I get to the school tomorrow.

Lots of love

Mrs. Bolt