Beijing

The last three days I spent in Beijing, and I was actually quite positively surprised by the city! My mum had warned me that it was very polluted and dirty, but it actually wasn't at all! I think they've cleaned it up quite a bit in relations with the Olympics, because it wasn't hazy at all, blue skies all along and you could actually se stars at night!

The first day we went to the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City. I liked the Summer Palace a lot, so many beautiful buildings set in lush forest and with a huge lake as part of it. Wondered around for a few hours before we headed to the Forbidden City. It was getting quite warm by that point and there were so many tourists there! So I got a bit cranky in the end (sorry Rachel and Mike...). But it was nice, it's quite amazing how it's built, with walls inside walls inside walls and lots of little courtyards and temples, and some huge courtyards with huge temples. We'd had enough by 4.30, so took a taxi back to the hotel where I had a liedown and a nice long shower which washed away all my crankyness.

In the evening we went to see acrobats, and man, the Beijing acrobats are amazing! It was a show that lasted about 1,5 hour, and we saw people bending their bodies in nonhuman ways, balancing umbrellas and spinning plates, jumping between poles, balancing on chairs, juggling, playing with the diabolo. And guess how many girls you can get on one bike? About 15. All in all, an amazing show. After we went for a Korean barbeque, which of course was great. Then we went out for drinks as it was the last official day of the trip.

The second day I did something completly different, (my dear parents and grandparents, please sit down if you're not already) I got a tattoo! It's the Tibetan eyes on my lower back, and it looks amazing! The Tibetan eyes are the eyes you find on stupas around Nepal and Tibet, they're basically eyes with eyebrows, a bindi and a kinda whirly thing for a nose. I fell in love with them the first time I saw them. I have been concidering getting a tattoo for quite a while, and suddenly it just dawned on me that this was the one! The tattoo-artist was really great, he uploaded my photo of the eyes on his computer and drew freehand right onto my back. When he first started it didn't really hurt, and I was like "jeez, what's all the fuss about" but then he started filling it in and then I almost fainted, haha. It took about 1,5 hours, and I survived just about... Four of the other guys got tattoos aswell, so I basically spent the day in the tattoo-studio. In the evening we went out for drinks with Leon and Nat from the last group who happend to be in Beijing. Great seeing them again!

The last day I went shopping at the Silk Market, which is a huge shoppingcentre with stalls that have everything! All fake of course, and you have to bargain like hell. I came home with a few tops, a dress, shoes, a handbag, a jumper and lots of pearls and jewelery. And nice feet after getting a footmassage and a pedicure. Went out for drinks and a last dinner with Rachel, Mike, Leon, Nat, Olivia, John, Ray and Liz. Very nice, but sad aswell. Was planning on going off to bed after, but then I found Ant, Adam, Stormy and our chinese guide and they were going to sing karaoke, so I joined them and it turned into a late night.

Slightly hungover and very tired on my way home, and after 18 hours travellingtime I'm now back in Trondheim. It's a bit sad being home, it's gone so quickly but yet again I've experienced so much! It's been a fantastic trip, and I miss all of my travelsmates already! Hope to see you again someday!