We flew with Finnair from London to Beijing, making a stop in Helsinki. Finnair is a very affordable airline, it was the second time we flew to Asia from London with this airline. Beijing airport is incredibly clean and not very busy, and as many things in China is brand new. The train from the airport to the centre of Beijing is brand new and very fast. It didn't take more than 30 minutes to arrive. We took the underground and went directly to our hotel in the hutong area which is like the old Beijing. We were not happy with the hotel which was infested with mosquitoes so we decided to move to another hotel the following day. The first thing we did is head to the train station to get the train tickets. I had read that it was not possible to get the train tickets departing another city which is not the one you are getting the train from so that made it very difficult to get ac wagons and bunk beds. The information was right and we were only possible to get seats in a non ac wagon to Datong, our next destination. We bought it nevertheless. Beijing is beautiful, the forbidden city is amazing and I really loved, even more than the forbidden city, the Royal Palace, outside Beijing. The Royal Palace is surrounded by an artificial lake which makes the place really charming. It was quite an adventure to get to the Royal Palace. We went by the local bus, which cost 20 cents. People would always try to help us. Chinese people are really nice and helpful except when it comes to queuing, which they don't do, and to getting in and out the underground. They would not let people get out of the underground before getting in themselves... I often saw myself pushing the in coming people to be able to get out. The lama temple is a beautiful temple complex very easy to reach by underground and it is a relaxing escape from busy Beijing. 
The only organized tour we went on was to the Great Wall. We were not very lucky with the weather at first and couldn't see much because of an intense midst but after a while the midst disappeared luckily and we were able to see much more from the wall. We had a really great time that day, we met some interesting people on the group we travelled with. We told the guide not to take us to any shops. The guide became a bit frustrated but since we all agreed on that she could not do much about it. Instead she took us to Health Centre and we had some really nice feet massages. I loved them and we then realized that the price was not too bad compared to the massages we had later on during the trip. The highlight of Beijing for me was the Olimpic stadium,
the bird's nest is how they call them. I think it was best seen at night. It was indeed an amazing construction. 
The time came to do a bit of shopping. We had been told that China was great for shopping but until then we had only seen big shopping centres with western brands which were as expensive as in LOndon, until we went to the "market". Fake ralph lauren t- shirts, custo bags, gucci bags, tommy hill finger t- shirts, all fake brands, of course, at a really low place, not without spending a lot of time haggling. The first price they give you is a western price then after a lot of haggling you get to have a really good price, but you need to leave, then they call you when they see you are leaving and only then they give you the price you are offering, which is 5 % of the price they first told you. In order to get really good prices you need to be cold- blooded and only when they are upset and they don't say bye at you with a smile, you know you have had a good price. We learnt that in India, if they are upset when you leave the shop this means they haven't made a huge profit at your expense and you have reached a semi local price. If they are really happy with the purchase, that's it, yo have paid 3 times what it really costs.
The only organized tour we went on was to the Great Wall. We were not very lucky with the weather at first and couldn't see much because of an intense midst but after a while the midst disappeared luckily and we were able to see much more from the wall. We had a really great time that day, we met some interesting people on the group we travelled with. We told the guide not to take us to any shops. The guide became a bit frustrated but since we all agreed on that she could not do much about it. Instead she took us to Health Centre and we had some really nice feet massages. I loved them and we then realized that the price was not too bad compared to the massages we had later on during the trip. The highlight of Beijing for me was the Olimpic stadium,
the bird's nest is how they call them. I think it was best seen at night. It was indeed an amazing construction. 
The time came to do a bit of shopping. We had been told that China was great for shopping but until then we had only seen big shopping centres with western brands which were as expensive as in LOndon, until we went to the "market". Fake ralph lauren t- shirts, custo bags, gucci bags, tommy hill finger t- shirts, all fake brands, of course, at a really low place, not without spending a lot of time haggling. The first price they give you is a western price then after a lot of haggling you get to have a really good price, but you need to leave, then they call you when they see you are leaving and only then they give you the price you are offering, which is 5 % of the price they first told you. In order to get really good prices you need to be cold- blooded and only when they are upset and they don't say bye at you with a smile, you know you have had a good price. We learnt that in India, if they are upset when you leave the shop this means they haven't made a huge profit at your expense and you have reached a semi local price. If they are really happy with the purchase, that's it, yo have paid 3 times what it really costs.
