Bissing Down in Beijing

In complete contrast to our first day out in Beijing, it bissed it down for the whole of our second day. Perfect weather for sightseeing.

We took a trip to the Forbidden City, home of the old Emperors. To be honest, it's the biggest home I've ever seen - one person would certainly rattle around quite a bit in it. The sheer size of the place is breathtaking. It's a series of courtyards joined with various temples and rooms, made with vast amounts of stone, brass and gold. Our guide directed us through each courtyard, explaining the various rooms we came across - the throne room, the wash room, the prayer room to name a few. We had to dart across a couple of the stone courtyards just to escape the heavy rain.

Rather fittingly, the swimmers were out. The boys (typically) spotted the Australian synchronised swimming team walking around the Forbidden City and of course nabbed a quick photo and interview.

When we finally reached the far side of the Forbidden City, we'd lost our teacher. But that's by-the-by. We soon found her and reassembled at the coach to journey a little further round Beijing to the Temple of Heaven.

The guide seemed to be walking the wild side of life in leading us to the highest point in Beijing during a thunder and lightning storm. The locals took more money than they'd probably seen all month as there was a sudden rush on umbrellas from our group. I had my rain mac, but it did sod all. Not only was I still wet through but I was also still hot and sticky - I seemed to have created my own greenhouse effect.

Despite the weather, the temple and its grounds were beautiful and within it was a small art school selling various paintings. I got one for myself - the picture represents spring with copious amounts of pink cherry blossom and white birds flocking around a lake. Unfortunately, our visit was swiftly over as the rain got too much to bear.

We were off again, sitting soggy on the coach. This time we pulled up outside a very posh looking hotel - it was dinnertime and we'd been brought to a special Peking duck restaurant. The food was unbelievably good, the best so far, but everything was duck - duck pate, duck pancakes, duck rolls, duck soup. The only thing that didn't have duck in it was the tea. We did all feel a bit trampy in our wet clothes surrounded by golden tapestries and traditional Chinese beauty, but it was worth it for a good meal!

After dinner we headed back to the university for a spot of badminton. Without even realising it, our day was already and all the fun and rain had certainly drained our English bodies, which were still plodding along to British summer time. So it was off to our rooms to settle down on our beds of wood and bean bags. Luxury.

Day 1 - Sweaty

Day 1

Well, the first day has been good, though nothing Olympian just yet. I'd first like to thank everyone for their comments, and of course I will be trying to make some serious reports, whilst avoiding the eyes of the Communist government. I haven't actually been outside of the university yet so haven't seen the country in action. Nevertheless, I've indulged in a few Chinese activities.

First up was kung fu - lots of squatting, stretching and hi-yahing. It is not exactly like the movies, and it is most definitely more tiring! You have to master bent knees, with outstretched arms and a straight back (more difficult than it sounds) before you can even think of starting to learn positions and routines. But, we managed it, and the teacher taught us the routine of some monks. It's very slow and skilled and it really works your muscles - it certainly worked the boys who had never come anything near to the splits in their life! They were about as flexible as a broom handle, but they will be joining the class with some others and myself later on in the week.

The interview with Matthew Pinsent wasn't quite what I expected - as in I expected him to be there and he was not. But we enjoyed a performance of music and dance by some Chinese students, which was both beautiful and inspirational. There were traditional Chinese instruments as well as nunchucks, singing and dancing in traditional dress. The performances were filmed by the BBC and will be shown on the programme, 'Olympic Breakfast', which begins at 6.30 am on Sunday morning on BBC2. Watch out for The Homewood School crowd, who proved to be the best at cheering.

Lastly, we played some sport in the blazing afternoon heat, to bond with our new Chinese friends. We did many things, including skipping and a game of touch rugby. The rules were slightly difficult to explain (especially the offside rule) as the language barrier has proved to be quite tough to break down, but the game was good fun and certainly set us up for a good dinner and a good sleep. Preferring the policy of 'play now - sleep later', at least we got one of the two.

Happy blogging.

Journeying to Beijing 2008

The Beijing Olympics 2008 - a sporting event that has caused much controversy and excitement. Now, over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to bring a daily report of my own to My Telegraph, giving everyone a taste of the Beijing experience.

I'm very fortunate to be able to go to the Beijing Olympics as a spectator and as a school reporter for the BBC - my last school trip. Not only do I get to talk to athletes, spectate, see the sights and mingle with people from across the world, I also turn 18 and pick up my A Level results - it's a pretty jam packed couple of weeks! But I can't keep it all to myself, so I thought I'd log the progress of myself and my friends online.

Well, we've finally arrived! 25 and a half hours of travelling and approximately 2 minutes and 38 seconds of sleep. We took off from Heathrow at 6.20 pm on 5th August and landed in Hong Kong on 6th August at 1.20 pm. A 12 hour flight, that believe it or not was entirely bearable thanks to The Chroncicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Eva Longoria, The Emperor's New Groove and Flight of the Conchords. It was a bit of a rough landing though as the pilot attempted to land us in a typhoon - he actually got us down on the 2nd attempt, so hats off to him.

We then flew again from Hong Kong to Beijing. A much shorter flight that saw us safely landed in the evening and we were at our accommodation by 9.30 pm.

We are staying at the Beijing Foreign Language School, complete with holes for pooping in, communal showers and a jolly comfy wooden bed (hmm.) But, I have absolutely no complaints, because I'm in Beijing - plus, yesterday I was so tired I would have slept comfortably on a porcupine.

Now it is 7th August - not sure where the 6th went - and in a few moments time I'll be off to indulge in an hour or so of martial arts. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but the Beijing heat is starting to make me re-think my decision. At 12 pm today, we will be introduced to our BBC team and Olympic gold medallist, Matthew Pinsent and I'll be back soon to give you a full and more exciting report on the day's events.

Happy blogging.