Borrowed a can of fly spray last night and went to war with the plague infested mozzies in my room. Then I had to sit outside in the courtyard until the air in my room could support life again. I still could not sleep, bed is rock hard and pillow is like a tree root. Took paracetamol's and watched Sherlock Holmes on my laptop. Some drunken people in the alley outside were playing a drinking game that involved chanting in rhyming and rather slurred Cantonese or whatever lingo they speak here. I'm so damned ignorant. They drifted off at about 2.00am then a pack of dogs arrived and began fighting over the contents of the bins. Judging by the amount and length of the growls, barks and bumps there was a fair few tasty treats to be found. I channel flipped the telly whilst that went on. All that seemed to be on was advertising for fake iPhone, executive gold phones and a couple of historical dramas. One seemed to be a soap opera about some people fighting the evil Japanese the other was all spinning, flying kicking, swords and archery with horses and long moustaches. Eventually the dogs gave up and I was stuffed so I fell asleep probably around 3am - which is normally when I wake up.

When I finally woke up 6 hours later it was bucketing down so I put on a jacket and walked out to explore Beijing. The official spots I visited were: the Lama Monastry which had a Tibetan buddhist exhibition of statues - I wondered if they had been plundered recently; some bland shopping centres over at Dongzhimen; then I walked for ages using my compass to go westward and found the Forbidden Palace, by the time I found the entrance I was actually forbidden entrance because it had closed for the day. Quite a relief really. So I wandered down to Tian'anmen square and Mao's Mausoleum, I was very impressed (and a little nervy) by the Orwellian security. They have tons of cameras attached to uber-floodlight/lamposts, x-ray machines as you go into the square. Once you are in the square there are police zooming around in vans occasionally shouting at people on loudspeakers. A phalanx of soldiers marched out of Mao's Mausoleum just as I was about to take a photo. To top it all there are two gigantic, and I mean - fucking huge - tv screens. Trust China to have a tv that's bigger than anyone else. They were both showing sort of abstract nationalist 'feel-good' images, it kind of feels like advertising. Whilst I stood in the glow of the giant screens I noticed all the cameras trained on us. Yes George you knew.

Then I caught the tube and fell asleep, luckily it was the circle line so I actually made it back to my hotel well rested after what I think was an extra loop round the city.

I've been finding it very hard to eat. Last night I went to a street cafe and pointed at the neighbouring tables food and rubbed my tum. Apparently that was not clear enough so they gave me a huge wok on its own metho stove filled mainly with raw onions, chillies, spring onions and a very interesting honeycomb fungus. I could not manage it all - had a damn good try though. They did not seem to want to give me rice. I got the feeling I was not very welcome, fair enough, I am a stinky ignorant foreign devil after all. Then tonight another cafe gave me some meat on a stick. All I really want is a salad.

Walking around cities is always so interesting, Beijing is no different. I have to say I love all the fabulously crappy, old and decrepit bicycles. They no longer rule the city unfortunately but the locals use them exactly as they should be used. I've not seen any lycra, bicycle helmets or t-shirts with back pockets. People here ride them like they walk. They pedal along with an umbrella in one hand and a kid sitting side saddle on the back carrier. The bikes are nearly all 'shit yet functional' - the new tagline for my home bike repair business.

I was very pleased to notice Beijing has clearly signposted loo's everywhere. However when the time came I was a little discombobulated at actually using them. There was a couple of urinals and a bunch of squat holes, no walls. Surprisingly for me, I did not find myself striking up a conversation with my fellow poopers. Given time I'm sure I would get used to it though. It is little tricky for a prim westerner like me though.