Sunday we had an early rise. At six o'clock two of our roommates started to pack, half an hour before we planned to get up. We ate breakfast in the hostel, consisting of nice dry crackers. At the station we didn't have to wait and immediately got in line for the train with a lot of other people. The train was really full and at first half hour of the journey we had to sit with one backpack and two rucksacks on our laps. Luckily, when we eventually took off, it got less crowded and we could shovel the backpack under another seat (still in sight). Still we had to sit six hours with our rucksacks on our laps. And of course, the closer we got to Beijing, the fuller the train got. It was the most uncomfortable train ride of our journey. We could hardly move, got sore bottom and sometimes horrifying smells reached our noses.

Arriving in Beijing we got a little overwhelmed by how big and crowded the station was. After saying no to every person that offered us expensive hotel rooms and illegal taxi rides we found the line for the legal cabs. After only a few minutes of waiting we got in a cab that brought us close to the hostel. When the cab dropped us of Marit recognized everything and we arrived at the hostel with no further problems.

It was already half past three and we were craving for some coffee and food. So we ended up at Starbucks where we enjoyed a real American coffee and muffin. We walked to Tian An Men square and strolled around for a bit to let it sink in that we were really in Beijing. Again, like in Datong but now even worse, we got photographed a lot, which starts to get annoying. We walked back to one of the main shopping street that is nearby our hostel, where we sat down to watch the (Chinese) people who passed by. We noticed that poor boys (under the age of three) wear a undershirt and no underpants, but poor girls do wear underpants... We think it's so strange, these kind of differences.
For dinner we ate corn and fried dumpling which we bought on a night market (still low on cash).

Monday, the first activity was easy to be decided. After breakfast we went straight to the bank were they should have a Western Union-point. Our roommate, a Taiwanese girl called Angel, went with us to help us out. Finding it was really easy, also because the hostel had giving us directions that actually were right. We had to wait for a bit, but after five minutes a woman said a lot of things in Chinese and gave us forms to fill in. Luckily we had Angel as our translator. We were called to the ticket window and then the exiting part started. In the next fifteen minutes there happened a lot. Marit's visas got checked and they almost believed that her visa was expired, because they confused the issue date with the date of entering... But after those nerve-racking minutes we walked out the bank feeling rich. It felt good. We went to Starbucks to treat Angel on a good cup of coffee to thank her for all her help.

Because we had money again, we could finally start exploring Beijing. So we went to the Forbidden City. It was really beautiful. After that, we lunched in the park behind the Forbidden City, called Jingshan park. It is a really nice park, where you can walk up a high hill. On top there is a really cute 'pavilion' where you can enjoy an all around view over the city.

Around five o'clock we were back at the hostel. We rested for a bit and waited for our old cabin-mates Brett and Kathy to show up. We were going out to dinner together and we also asked Angel to join us. Of course Brett and Kathy were late, which is not weird in this city, and especially if you get ripped off by a rickshaw driver. We walked to the restaurant, although it turned out to be a tiny bit further than we originally thought. After one and a half hour we finally found it (we were all starving). It turned out to be a hotpot restaurant where only real Chinese people came. Which made it only better. We had a great time with all the delicious foods and drinks and with the nice company.

Today, Tuesday, we had a slow start. We ate breakfast in the Hostel with Annelies (a classmate of Marits who was in Beijing only for today) and Angel. The plan was to rent bikes and go to the Summer Palace. So together with Annelies (Angel was already leaving) we cycled across Tian An Men square, which felt really cool. The Summer Palace turned out to be a bit further than we expected, so after one and a half hour of cycling we finally were there. Cycling through Beijing is fun, scary, dusty and so much fun. Sometime you do need to ignore your will to live, but once you get over that, you'll be fine. We are still alive.

The Summer Palace was so pretty. We had lunch while looking at the lake and walked to the Tower of the Buddhist Incense. We climbed all the way up to the top and the view was pretty amazing, even while it was raining a bit. It was already five o'clock when we left. Unfortunately the way back took us two hours. We drove a little to far east, but we did see a glimpse of the Olympic station. When we were finally in the right street and we recognized were we where we looked for a nice place to ate Beijing Duck. Luckily, we found it really fast and, again, had an amazing dinner. The duck was very good and also the deep fried pumpkin (which was sweet) and the eggplant were delicious.