Ni Hao from China

The two most exciting things to tell you from the outset are:
1. I'm wearing shorts and my poor pale legs are finally liberated from a chilly winter of being stockinged.
2. While sitting here typing this my sister is sitting next to me - I now have her back to amuse me.

The flight over was fine, I had a seat next to me free so just slept a lot, and watched Kung Fu Panda to get me in the Cino frame of mind. The flight from Melb to Syd was only delayed by 30 minutes, and it didn't blow up, so it was a pretty good service from Qantas all up.

Sight seeing today involved the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, both being on a scale really beyond comprehension - the pain in my feet after a day of walking being the most reliable measure of their scale. We tried to go to a restaurant from the Lonely Planet for lunch - but the whole street had been leveled and rebuild, and all the shops were empty. It was unsettling thinking about all the people who use to live there, and wondering where they now were. We also attempted to see the Underground city, but they were 'closed for repairs for the Olympics' and would 'maybe open next year.' Walking back to the station, the same unsettling feeling returned.

The women's marathon was on today - we were lucky enough to see one of the runners go past as we were crossing Tiananmen square. I didn't see what country she was from, and she appeared to be last, but we cheered for her anyway because anyone silly enough to run in this weather deserves a clap.

Still, it is an amazing city, a low-rise sprawl with no real centre. Claire's cultural insights and nifty Mandarin have been invaluable, and I'll be making the most of both over the next 9 days or so. She knows how to buy me water, and she bargains like a devil. She also keeps finding me interesting food to eat - including my favourite so far which is a pancake that is somewhere between a roti and an ommette.