Time with Steph and My Dad {photos to be added later}

When I arrived in Xian both my Dad and Steph had eaten dinner so we went in search of a place to eat. I tried to take them to the "food hall" place that Adam, Amy and I had eaten at last time I was in Xian. But do to a lack of sense of direction, I was unable to find the place. Instead we just ate at this little place near the main street.


The next day my Dad and Steph went on a tour to see the Terracotta warriors. I attempted to spend the day updating my blog but the Chinese government had blocked all blogspot sites. So I couldn't even see my blog let alone update it. Boo.. so instead I spent the day chatting to Pete in Qatar explaining how frustrated I was at the situation. Later my Dad and Steph returned from the warrior and we had a meal and caught a night train to Beijing. It was only a short 12 hour train so felt really easy for me.


When we arrived in Beijing we did not have an accommodation organised so we stayed at the hostel where my tour for the trans-Siberian was starting from. It was a clear hostel but the staff was not very helpful.


The first day was spent reliving my last trip to Beijing. I came to Beijing 3 years ago, in the middle of winter with my Dad and cousin Jess. It was really different to be back in Beijing in warm weather. When we were in Beijing in winter there were not many tourist and it was so cold that Jess and I brought hot water bottles with us sightseeing. This time the city was full of tourist and the weather was hot.

Dad and I showed Steph around the Hutongs and searched for a cafe that Dad, Jess and I had visited last time we were there. The Hutongs had been improve heaps from the last time. there was now public toilets every where and most hutongs had been restored or rebuilt. The streets had been resurface and the place no longer smelt like a sewer. It was a great change and the place looked ready for the Olympics.

We then walked from the hutongs down to the forbidden City. My Dad was tried of walking so I took a rickshaw with him to Tiananmen square while Steph walked. None of the rickshaw drivers wanted to take us or wanted way too much money to take us. Finally after asking people for around 30mins, one guy agreed. We jumped in the very small rickshaw and he rode us down towards Tiananmen square. He kept taking the back streets and giving us a bit of a tour of the hutongs. Dad and I thought he was just doing this to make more money and asked to be take straight there. All of a sudden we turned a small hutong alley to be confronted by a police van. about ť police jumped out of the van and grabbed the man and his rickshaw. Dad and I asked the police what was going on and they said he was driving without a licence. We paid him for the trip and walked the rest of the way to tiananmen square. Steph in the mean time had been waiting at the square for the past hour. We then headed off to find a shopping centre that Dad went to last time in China but with no success.

We then headed back to the hostel for a meal. We looked up in the Lonely Planet where to eat and went to a Sichuan Restaurant that the author recommended. Sichaun food is very spicy Chinese food and one of my favourites. Dad ordered spicy chicken, which consists of chicken, chili and pepper corns. It is amazing and soo spicy. Even Steph, who can take heaps more spicy than me, admitted that it was tough. That night we walked though a small hutong street behind our hostel. It was full of western cafes and looked like the latest expat hang out.