On the advice of some travellers we met in Luxembourg (Pam + Oliver), we hired a guide to meet us at Beijing airport. Rebekah from china-travelguide took us to the Capital Hotel on the day we arrived and then out aroun Beijing the day after - to the Forbidden city where the Qing and Ming Emperors used to live, and the Summer Palace where they used to spend the warmer months. All very different for us and huge in scale. Beaulea wasn't so well 1st day due to jetlag, but being sick in a bin in a subway sure gets rid of the street beggars fast ! We also went to Tian'anmen Square where Mao's mausoleum is (didn't go in) and the museum of the revolution (closed!) and of Chinese history (good artifacts). It's a big place and is very busy in the mornings when people come to see Mao.

On our 2nd day, we were taken to the Great Wall. No tourist will ever see the Great Wall like this photo, as there are millions of other tourists there. We would've liked to have spent longer than the couple of hours we had here, but the heat and the volume of people made it a chore, as did the gradient of some of the wall itself ! Still it was an unforgettable experience.

Beijing is a BIG city - 12 million people apparently. And it's friendly and surprisingly cosmopolitan in attitude if not in the variety of people there. Westerners are around, but are few and western children are a real rarity - we only saw a handful of others. Hence Beaulea became a model everywhere we went. More photos were taken of the kids in the zoo than we took ourselves !

The Chinese people are very nice and most speak a few basic words of English. Beijing is hosting the 2008 Olympics. Hopefully this will bring some money into the wider area, but one thing they have to do something about is the smog. I don't think even Kathmandu was this bad. I can't imagine athletes being happy with training here. Mind you, Brett's asthma didn't give him any trouble. The old alleys or "hutongs" are mostly being pulled down now and the people relocated to outside the city. This is probably part of the preparation for 2008, but may not be good for the poor who get displaced. It means that there is less of the Old Beijing to see than in recent years, so if it's on your list, make it sooner rather than later.

Beijing people are much richer than their country counterparts. They are very well dressed and price are not cheap (except food). We saw ordinary Clarks shoes for 140 quid!

All in all, definitely recommended as part of a trip to Asia. There are plenty of hotels of "western" type and it's not a place to be afraid of. The sites are so unique too.

We stayed at the Capital Hotel. Fairly central but not too close to the mad busy shopping areas. About half a mile from Tian'anmen square. It's 4 star and $180 a night, but we got it via hoteltravel.com for $99.

Avoid weekends if you can for visiting the main attractions - the Great Wall was heaving with Chinese tourists.

Use the subway. Don't be afraid of it - there are English signs and even announcements on the train before each stop. It's clean and not too crowded.

Street sellers are persistent and pick up your English - so ignore them completely or, better still, start speaking French or German to throw them off !

Taxis are cheap and safe. The are government controlled, so have fixed rates per kilometre displayed in their window (plus initial fee). About 50p plus 10p per km. If there's a group of you, it may well be worth hiring one for a day to see the sights.