Beijing, Part 1

, I arrived at 9.30, as expected, and Liz was waiting by the exit. She'd dropped her grandparents off 5 minutes before at departures. We jumped straight in a taxi (something that would have been a challenge for me, as it involved at least some Chinese dialogue). We headed back to her place and popped out for lunch. We ordered a spicy pork dish, rice and two vegetable dishes, and a big bottle of beer. The whole thing cost about £1.50. Most of the rest of the day was spent sleeping...

I woke up yesterday morning and headed out to The Forbidden City. It's an enormous palace at the centre of Beijing, and you enter into a colossal courtyard. It quickly leads into another colossal courtyard, and you can get the impression the whole thing is going to be a bit dull, but towards the back of the palace I found lots of little passageways and hidden rooms, and the palace garden, which was particularly lovely. I could have spent days wandering around it.

As I left, a very personable young woman called Lucy tried to sell me some art (successfully, I have it in my bag - it's a picture fo a girl with a parrot, and it cost roughly the same as a large Mocha in London). I also met Cindy and Jack, who were from Xian, and who took me to have tea, somewhere very expensive. More on that later, once I establish where it was.

Yesterday evening, Liz took me to a Thai restaurant by the lake, to the north of the centre of town. The food was excellent, though our drinks were pretty dreadful. We popped into a bar next door where we met Paul and Chris, some friends of Liz's. Vodka ensued, and the last thing I remember, I was watching some guy try to work a diablo, at the shop just outside the building here. My head hurts.