The cities of China are full of interesting sites and wonderful opportunities to watch the life of the chinese people but you just have to get out of town and in to the country to see the beauty and peacefulness of China. Coming from NZ I found the cities of China really large!! Remember NZ only has 4 million people in total so the large cities were quite different to what I was used to. Being a kid from the country I adored the cities but could not wait to get out in to the country side. And it was there that we saw a completely different side to China. The laughter and smiles of the people in the country was infectious and the way in which we were welcomed in to the villages delighted us. To see this side of China really is a must when you travel there. The usual sites are great and should not be missed but take the time to visit the ordinary person in their village and you will be pleasantly surprised at what you find!!

Being out of our time zone we woke early each morning that we were in Beijing and headed out in to the streets. Fascinated by the real life of the people we wandered for miles in these early hours and saw things that we would not have otherwise seen! The hardest part for us was not getting hit by cyclists as we tried to cross the street. My natural instinct- with us driving on the left in New Zealand, was to look right before crossing. Many years of programming made this a second nature reflex! But that was my downfall as cyclists flew past me coming from the opposite direction- bells ringing loudly!! At an intersection of four large roads in central Beijing I could not beloeve the sheer number of bikes that were there. Watching enthralled for ages as they wove in and out of each other, bells ringing and motorbikes tooting as they all moved along. The lights did seem to control things to some degree but when the pedestrian light went on the flow of bikes did not seem to stop. We worked out that the best idea was to get a local person on your left shoulder and stick with them all the way across the street, they seemed to know what they were doing. The ebb and flow of the bikes over the next hour was indeed something to see- only one of two buses in the whole time and at least a million and a half bikes!