Potato!

It was our last full day in China and it was going to be a busy one!

We set our alarm for 7:30 but didn't wake up until nearer 8am! We quickly got dressed and ran down for breakfast.

Now while I think on: From the very first day Justina and Muriel (Willy Wonka) have been the ladies to go to for a sweet or some chocolate. Normally everyone was happy to accept when the bags were handed our through the group UNLESS it was a protein bar. They weren't flavoured so just tasted like cardboard. Justina tried all ways to get rid of them but nobody would willingly accept them. So she played dirty! 

When half of the group were up the hill Justina placed her leftover bars in peoples bags! Once I got into my room yesterday I realised I was one of the lucky ones she had 'picked'. I was gutted, after everything I had done for her on the trip! 

I made it my mission to get it back to her via Tina. 

I took it to the restaurant last night and asked Tina to place it under her pillow!

When Justina came in to the breakfast room I thanked her for my gift and she thanked me for hers!!

After breakfast we headed to meet Mr H so he could drive us to Tiananmen Square.

Out of respect I won't tell you what we learnt that day (you'll have to ask me or one of the gang) but I will give you a brief explanation on what it is. 

Tiananmen Square is the fourth largest city square in the world.  It is located in the centre of Beijing and 'leads' into the Forbidden City. It was the site of several important events in Chinese history but outside of China it is best known for the 1989 protests and the famous student/tank photograph.

The square was very busy. We queued to go through security next to several other tourist groups. As always people were fascinated by us! Neal believed that it is because we were dressed in summer clothes and the Chinese are 'living in Winter'.

Other tourist groups had matching hats or jackets so they wouldn't get lost. 

Stony shared several stories before taking us through to The Forbidden City.

Again, I'm afraid I can just give you a brief outline.

The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty. For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households.

It was built in 1406 to 1420 and consists of 980 buildings and covers 180 acres.

This man was taking a photo of his wife, who was trying to join onto our group! This wasn't the only time this happened. Every time we went posed for a group shot people would join on and take their own photo!
Absolutely fascinated by us!

After our tour we walked back to meet Mr H, who took us to our early farewell dinner.

Rice

Dim Sum

Sweet and Sour Pork

Spicy Chicken and Peanut

Cabbage

Stuffed Aubergine

Spicy Beef

Spicy Potato

 After lunch Stony and Mr H took us to a hútòng. In Beijing, hútòngs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences. 

Unfortunately the locals don't particularly like it when tourists visit the area so we made sure we were in and out.

Our journey back to the hotel was the last time we were going to see Mr H and time to say bye to Jan, Jayne, Chris, John, and Jessica as they were heading to Xi'an on the train at 6.

The rest of the gang were heading to The Pearl Market to do some shopping before tea. 

Phil and Chris managed to squeeze in a visit to the Olympic Village.

The girls returned from the market weighed down with bags.

I forced my shopping into my bag before heading down to meet Stony at 7:30. 

He took us to the restaurant from the first night.

We were placed in our own private dining area at the back of the restaurant.

Rice

Potato (How do you pronounce that Justina? Becca?)

Sweet Potato and Popped Corn

Spicy Peanut Chicken

Pork 

Beef

Cucumber and Egg

Broccoli

After the meal we said goodbye to Stony. He headed back to the hotel as he was up at 3am for an early flight.

We headed for some beers and one last dance on the square.

Muriel was straight in with the 'right/left' dance much to the locals delight. 

I still don't know how we aren't on youtube yet. EVERYONE was fascinated by us.

So much so they had the song on loop for us and applauded us at the end.

Thank you Beijing.