Beijing: Saturday, September 3, 2011:

There was an early call for breakfast, which was okay, but at least I managed to get some sleep. We then boarded a coach to Tiananmen Square which was crowded with locals and tourists.

We then went on to the Forbidden City which was impressive but you do get a sense of cultural overload once you have gone so far through a few of the various zones where there is definitely a sense of deja vu.

I did get targeted by a street artist who cut out a silhouette of me which only took fives minutes but it was a good likeness.

After a tasty lunch at a local restaurant we were then taken to a local freshwater pearl market and I got a sense that there was a very intense sales pitch to buy stuff while we were there.

I watched a couple of films before we had dinner at another local restaurant – which was very agreeable apart from the fish bones.