Got to Beijing, had a rough idea of a few Hostels to try. Couldn’t find the one at the top of our list so went to The Beijing International Hotel/Hostel, only to find their hostel was closed. So they sent us to another one, the JADE hostel. We got a twin room there, it was so old and musty! The shower cutain had mouldy stains on it, but at least the shower worked! We left that hostel next morning to look for our original one ….. turns out it was right across from the train station where we had got off the night before, just round the corner, hadn’t noticed it from all the people waving boards with Chinese writing in our faces, or shouting Hullo! Hotel! DVD! Taxi! and various other unrecognisable phrases as we left the station.

We got a room at Beijing City Central International Youth Hostel. It was new, clean, comfy beds (we had a four bedroom dorm to ourslelves) and right next to the main train station and subway station. Only 60 yuan a night (about 4 pounds). Had Beijing duck that night. The restaurant that we wanted to eat in had just stopped serving duck as we arrived. However, just as we were leaving, one of the managers of the restaurant who had just finished work offered to take us to another branch of their restaurant which was quite close by. So that was lucky. Slightly disappointing as it was really greasy, but nice all the same.