Běijīng zǐjìnchéng (The Forbidden City)

The forbidden city lies in the centre of Beijing and it is a surprisingly large expanse that takes a long time to walk through.

At the front hangs Mao's portrait.

We are led through gate after gate and each doubles as a museum housing ancient relics. They have sacred-sounding names like 'The Palace of Earthly Tranquility' and 'The Palace of Heavenly Tranquility'.

This stone carving was transported from the south by forming an ice path infront of it and sliding it along the ice all the way to Beijing.

Walking the huge expanse of courtyards and corridors, it is clear to see that this was actually a city, it is so large.

The back leads into a beautiful garden with the classic twisted trees, and strange rock formations.

After that we went to a lake to go 'ice-sleding' where you sit on rudimentary metal seats and propel yourself forward with two metal ice picks. It is great fun, and you can attach your sled to the back of another person's to form a long train. At one point we had a train of 8 as tried to surprise other people by hooking up discreetly, but then looking back to find others had done the same to us!

This little adventure was finished off by warming up in a distinctly Chinese Starbucks.