Today we headed off on a 10-day trip to China! We left home at 7:15 am (only 15 minutes after our planned departure time), and our driver dropped us at the airport at about 8:30 am after a very slow trip in the congested morning traffic. After checking in, we relaxed in the lounge until just after 10:00 am, before heading to the gate to board our flight to Singapore.
We slept pretty well last night and made it down to breakfast by about 10:15 am. Over breakfast, we chatted about what we might do today.
We were up a little earlier this morning and downstairs to breakfast by about 9:30 am. With no set agenda for the day, we relaxed over breakfast and considered our options for the day. It wasn't until about 1:00 pm that we finally left the hotel.
We had to set an alarm to wake us up this morning, so we could get downstairs in time to enjoy breakfast before we had to leave for the train station. Overnight, the staff at The Peninsula had put up their Christmas decorations, so the hotel was feeling very festive. We left the hotel just after 9:30 am.
This morning we were up early in preparation for a day of exploring in Beijing. We got downstairs by about 7:45 am for a lovely breakfast. At 8:30 am, we met our guide, Colin, and headed off with our driver for our first stop, The Forbidden City The Forbidden City is the world’s largest palace complex, covering about 72 hectares (178 acres) in central Beijing.
It was another early start this morning. We were up at about 5:30 am, so we had time to have breakfast before departing for Mutianyu to see the Great Wall of China. We didn't really feel much like having breakfast that early, but we managed to get into the swing of it. We set off with Colin, our guide, and our driver, at 7:00 am for the drive to Mutianyu to access the Great Wall.
After a too-short sleep, we were up at 5:30 am this morning in preparation for a 6:15 am departure from the hotel to the Beijing railway station to catch the high-speed train to Xi'an, in the Shanxi Province. Our driver dropped us at the station at around 6:45 am.
With no fixed plans for today, we enjoyed a sleep-in this morning. We made it downstairs to breakfast just after 10:00 am, feeling refreshed after a good night's sleep. After breakfast, we checked out the hotel's selection of Christmas cakes. We spent the rest of the day relaxing in our room, before going out early in the evening for a walk down the Wangfujing Pedestrian Street.
We had a pretty good sleep last night and managed to get ourselves downstairs for breakfast a little after 10:00 am. After breakfast, we headed back to the room to pack our suitcases for the trip home.
We boarded our flight from Singapore to Melbourne at about 1:15 am this morning, after arriving in Singapore late on Thursday night from Beijing. We had a good flight back to Melbourne.