With my trip to Vietnam and Thailand approaching rapidly, it was time to get our visas for Vietnam. Another trip to Beijing was needed, so Brock, Hilary and I met up with Wallace and Renae for a short stay this weekend.
We stayed in a different hostel for the first time, situated to the North of Houhai lake, my favourite part of Beijing without a doubt. The hostel was fine (The Sleepy Inn) , plus it gave us the chance to have a bar-crawl around the lake at night - the highlight for me being the Newcastle Brown Ale, bottled and ice cold that I got to enjoy.
We stayed in a different hostel for the first time, situated to the North of Houhai lake, my favourite part of Beijing without a doubt. The hostel was fine (The Sleepy Inn) , plus it gave us the chance to have a bar-crawl around the lake at night - the highlight for me being the Newcastle Brown Ale, bottled and ice cold that I got to enjoy.
As for the visa, who would have guessed that the Embassy would be closed for weekends, well I didn't. So Hilary and I had to stay another night, pay for another train that we so very nearly missed due to buying muffins for lunch, queue for quite some time to get the visa and the best part is I now have to return this Friday to pick the stupid thing back up (I complain as it means a 6hr round train journey, two subway journeys and two taxis!). Role on Sunday when I hopeully will be sat on the train to Nanning.
With going to Beijing so often, I no longer take much notice of the main attractions (The Forbidden City etc), its much more interesting to just to watch the everyday things going on (Im trying to sound as little as a 'pretentious, Lonely Planet reading traveller' as I can). Its great to just take pictures of random things for a change, rather than the millionth Chinese Temple or another picture of Mao!
(The first picture is of the Forbidden City, but from the taxi for a change, with more colour than I have seen before.)
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