nomadnorrie From Sydney to the formula 1 grand prix in Shanghai, Beijing, South Korea, Mongolia, Russia, Ukraine and Europe. Final destination by train is London. Hopping on a flight to Finland, then on to Japan and finally back to Sydney.

I arrived in Beijing last night feeling very tired. My plans for today were to have a brief stroll around Tiananmen square, to work out how to use the underground and to find the language centre where I shall be studying Mandarin. I wanted to set the pace for the next few days.

I strolled straight passed the Forbidden city to Tiananmen square where there were a few dozen army recruits on parade practising drill. Most of the men in the army seemed to have figures many western women dream of. Their drill was a touch uncoordinated so I guess they were fresh recuits, it reminded me of my time at air cadets.

On the way out of Tiananmen square I was exiting a tube station. A couple of young cool looking guys sitting on a wall caught my eye, then they started rubbing their hands in circles over their heads in unison at me. I think they approved of my hair-do.

The other odd thing that I noticed today was that in the CaoYang district western men pull their trousers up as high as they will go. There were the odd exceptions, me included of course.