There's 9 million bicycles in Beijing

At least that's how the song goes, though my experience tells me it might be even more:) We have considered writing to the government to ban this song for misinformation。 There are also 1000 new cars in China every day, what causes great problems with traffic and polution. But these are just random facts.

Honestly I didn't ever think of going to China. Don't know why, but it hasn't been on my "need to visit" list, but now I'm quite happy that I did:) Some of the great things that I've seen:
Tian'men - the gate of purity - is one of those places that you'd associate with China right away. And it's quite an impresive place, with the square near it spreading for more than a couple of hectars. It managed to fit 1 million people during one demonstration. This place has a very sad history. Though it started as a grand place of declaring independence and other important announcements, it has seen also some horrible fights where thousands of people were killed during various demonstrations. The most recent being in 1989 when the students and workers protested against the regime and were surpresed by tanks...

Comming back to the gate. After this gate an amazing palace starts - it's called the forbiden city, because for centuries it has been the palace of the emperor and the common people were not allowed even to come close to it. It's a HUGE area of more than 100 hectars and they say it takes 3 days to see everything. It took us 3 hours just to go from one side to the other and back.
As you can see the palace has plenty squares and gates and rooms and museums etc. Each place has a name and served some different purpose.
And of course everything is extreemly beautiful and detailed:

That's the nicest carved ceiling
One of the side streets. The girl with me is Kamila, she'll be in norvegian MC next year - a very nice and fun girl;)

One of the bedrooms. As you may imagine the emperor had plenty of wives and even more incubines. Which would lead to even more children, as you may presume. Also to assure that the children born inside the walls of the forbiden city are royal, all workers here were eunuchs (or how are they called in English?). And the fun part was that they wanted to be buried with all their parts, so they would carry their testicles near their belt.
For the general feeling I tried something new - filming:

After this quite exhausting (though of course extreemly beautiful) walk, we found a restaurant that serves the real Peking DUCK (I'm not sure you can see, but the thing between the legs of the duck it's actually it's head:)) And you're not eating this kind of duck just as meat, but on the right you can see the small pancakes made from flour and water, so you put some meat on them, then put cucumber and onion (in front) and some soya souce. Then you wrap it and eat:)

And of course. I CLIMBED THＥ　ＧＲＥＡＴ WALL!!!!!!!!!!! though it's the stupid picture, it's the only one I have:( Because right after this moment my camera's battery died. And then I realized that I left the charger in Ghana. Oh well... But we baught the disposable camera, so now Daniel - eMCP of Bangladesh is in charge of making the pictures, scanning them and sending them to me. Then I can show you more beautiful sites;)

My one week long stay in China is comming to an end. And I have to say that I really enjoyed it much more than Ｉ　ｔｈｏｕｇｈｔ. But it's not really my place. Ｉ　ｄｏｎ＇ｔｋｎｏｗ　ｗｈａｔ　Ｉ　ｅｘｐｅｃｔｅｄ，　ｂｕｔ　Ｂｅｉｊｉｎｇ　ａｐｅａｒｓ　ｔｏ　ｂｅ　ｔｏｏ　ｎｏｒｍａｌ．　Ｏｒ　ｍａｙｂｅ　ｅｖｅｒｙｗｈｅｒｅ　ｉｔ　ｗｏｕｌｄ　ｂｅ　ｎｏｒｍａｌ　ｎｏｗ　ｆｏｒ　ｍｅ？：ｐ　Ｙｅｓｔｅｒｄａｙ　Ｉ　ｔｏｏｋ　ｔｈｅ　ｓｕｂｗａｙ　ｂｙ　ｍｙｓｅｌｆ　ｔｏ　ｔｈｅ　ｃｅｎｔｅｒ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅ　ｃｉｔｙ，　ｄｉｄ　ｓｏｍｅ　ｓｈｏｐｐｉｎｇ　ａｎｄ　ｒｅｔｕｒｎｅｄ　ｔｏ　ｔｈｅ　ＭＣ　ｈｏｕｓｅ．　Ｆｅｌｔ　ｑｕｉｔｅ　ｐｒｏｕｄ．Ｉｆ　Ｉ　ｍａｎａｇｅ　ｔｏ　ｆｉｎｄ　ｍｙ　ｗａｙ　ｉｎ　ｔｈｅ　ｃｉｔｙ　ｔｈａｔ＇ｓ　ｈｏｍｅ　to 15 　million people, from which only 500 000 speak English (really, have you seen McDonnalds, where the girl or a boy at the counter doesn't understand you when you ask for a milkshake?), I can do many things more! Yeah, go Dalia!:D

Ｉ　ｇｕｅｓｓ　Ｉ　ｍｉｓｓ　Ｇｈａｎａ：）Ｏｒ　ａｓ　ｏｎｅ　ｐｅｒｓｏｎ　ｔｏｌｄ　ｍｅ，　ｍａｙｂｅ　ｏｎｌｙ　ｍｙ　ｔｒａｉｎｅｅｓ:)

Back to Hong Kong tomorrow. Another adventure back to the future.