After a nice nap at the Beijing airport, Stephen arrived. The first night was a beer and trying to stay awake as long as we could - we made it until 11pm. A free bike rental at our hostel let us explore the area the next day and really blend in with the locals (see picture). Our days in Beijing have consisted of a mixture of exploring the major sites and finding character restaurants that have and have not gone out of business (ask Stephen). I think for both of us the highlights were hiking 10km along the Great Wall, and spending a morning in the local park juggling and twirling ribbon amongst hundreds of people (see photo... of Stephen looking not a day older than 19). Stephen leaves today so I will make my way to another hostel on the other side of Tiananmen Square. I head back to Dalian on the 15th (found a flight cheaper than the bus!) so for the next 5 days I will visit some of the other sites and do some shopping. I am looking forward to spending some serious time in the Forbidden City - although there are restaurants and a Starbucks inside... a shame. However, Stephen has just walked in the door from a visit there and said it was amazing (I didn't go because he only had an hour to visit) so I am further excited.
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