In Beijing there are plenty of...

...bicycles...coming at you from all angles they do. It's surprisingly hard to cross the road here so we've no idea how we'll cope with Vietnam! Either way the green man definitely doesn't mean walk. Beijing is synonymous with the bicycle which makes sense as its such a flat city. So much so that men sell toy bicycles on the street, made from tangled wires, and whether it's to carry chickens or just get from a to b, it's the way to get around. The deadly assassin of the bikes here are the electric mopeds which sneak up silently behind you on the pavement then toot you to shift out their way! Causing you to jump and wonder what you were doing wrong.

...men with their tshirts rolled up, and pot bellies hanging out. No idea why, we guess they are just hot.

...public loos...these are conveniently everywhere, besides when you really need one (which I found out this evening, seems I have my first bout of traveller belly) In all of them you can choose to use a sitting loo or a squatting loo, but none have loo roll.

...Chinese tourists...today we went to the summer palace. A giant playground for the Emperor. It was stunning, full of temples, palace buildings set around a huge lake. But it felt like half of China was also there with us. See Dan trying to beat the crowds in the photo. Tomorrow we are going to Tiammimen Square so we can only imagine how crowed that will be.

...vegetarian options...I was convinced there would be little choice for a veggie like me. But actually there is plenty. Yes we've seen spiders on sticks, deep fried worms and tonight we witnessed a trolly of tortoises being carted off to fulfil their destiny. But parallel to all that their is plenty of veggie alternatives on offer, egg puffs, nuts a plenty and tonight we dined out at a veggie all you can eat place!