Day 2 - Wednesday 4 April - Exploring Beijing

First impressions - Tiananmen Square - this is the world’s largest public square and although large, the square was not as big as we’d expected.

Entering the Forbidden City and the imperial splendour of the Emperors' palaces, where the sheer size of the complex is astonishing. We retraced the footsteps of the Emperors into a former imperial garden and strolled in the lovely Empress' gardens.

We sampled Peking Duck in the quaint Yiyuan Courtyard restaurant and then took a trip to a Tea House where we became professional tea tasters for an hour.

We decided to be a bit more adventurous in the evening - a student restaurant where they spoke not a word of English was were we found ourselves later. We managed two beers, soup, some chicken and pork and rice and lots of noise, all for £2.50.