Days of wine and roses.

/Well  not quite but Ham and I did share a bottle of Chinese red last night. Probably not

Something we plan to repeat.

Today we went walkabout in Beijing. Wow what a walkabout – we seemed to be walking for ever and getting

Nowhere. Lucky we are both so fit !

We started in a tourist trap to buy a camera for me and then a charming Chairman Mao watch. Then some culture.

The forbidden palace and a crazy guide called Richard was our highlight. I think the trick is to pick a guide who speaks good English ours didn’t. In fact he was a menace and I am happy to admit I left him to get on with it with Ham.

We learnt a lot about numbers – odd numbers are the male side of life and 25 is also very important. Can you guess why ? 1,3,5,7,9.The palace was fascinating and yet strangely free of anything remotely tangible other than a mass of buildings.

Tiannamen Square was big and surrounded by thieving taxi drivers so we enjoyed both and finally got back to the hotel in the late afternoon .Next up was meeting some of our fellow competitors, which waqs great for both of us ,l except we just cannot remember anyones name. Is it Ahmed from Turkey or Terry from Ahmabad ? Tonight we have agreed to roam the city with Chris and his co-driver . What his name is remains a mystery.

Physically we are both well although I have some slight chafing in a nasty place.

Nervous ahead of tomorrow as we are off to pick up the car – Can’t wait .

 

James