More Beijing

It's our last day in Beijing, so we thought we'd post some random photos from the past few days. Tonight we board an overnight train for Shanghai. Apparently it's going to be triple-decker bunk bed style, so wish us luck. Anyways, time is short so on to the pictures...

Yes, that is a starfish...and yes, Shayne actually ate it. Tastes like chicken (as all things do).

Ahhhh...the refreshing air of Beijing. Here we are at Tiananmen Square. It holds about a million people, which is good to know if you ever need a place to put a million people.

Jo, Shayne, and the Chairman at the entrance to the Forbidden City.

One of the many halls and palaces within the complex. It really is gigantic, and sadly it does contain a Starbucks (except that there are no signs indicating it, and there are screens on the doors so you can't see in). For those keeping track, no we didn't buy anything.

Detail on the corner of a roof. There are only 3 animals in the procession, meaning this was not an important building (it's now the washroom, strangely enough).

A throne...they have a few here.

Us in a rickshaw touring the hutongs (tightly-packed alleys full of old homes). Sadly thousands of these are being knocked down, so we were fortunate enough to see a few of them.

Riding down the alleys.

The best part of our hutong tour was eating lunch in one of the local's homes. The host was kind enough to wear an undershirt to give us the full athentic experience. But seriously, the food was excellent, and they were really kind. He even showed us his pet grasshopper.

Shayne bargaining at the "Pearl Market", which has a lot more than just pearls on offer. We managed to get a 2GB Kingston memory card for our camera for about 7 bucks. Not bad considering they wanted $50 to start. Here's hoping it works!

Jo in the Temple of Heaven gardens.

If we survive the night, we'll try to update again in Shanghai. Hopefully we'll be lucky again and find an internet cafe right by our hotel.

Cheers,

Shayne and Jo