I made some friends...

Dear All,

Its been a couple of days since my last input, and i will explain why....

Ok...well before i start i forgot to say something about my visit to the great wall which was kinda of a big thing...well on the way there i told you all how the conditions were terrible, well as we were driving up the hill, i look at my window and I see a women just lying flat face down on the ground motionless, a couple of people around her, and a few metres ahead i see a bumber on the road and then a further 20 metres a head i see a car...it was a horrible sight but what was worse was the reaction of everybody, for a land with some many people i guess one less person isnt going to make a difference...

Aneway after my mamouth internet session i went back and checked outof my hotel, and here is a couple of tips NEVER STAY IN DONG FUYLONG..actually if u can afford it i highly recommend in only staying in western chain hotels, or famous youth hostels (like city centre youth hostel) but no random chinese ones, as they construct their buildings very badly so a building the was say built 10 years ago will look like one that was built in the 80's in England, but hopefully their new construction methods have improved and the buildings there building for the olympics will stand the length of time..

Well i moved to the Novotel hotel, as I had made a friends from Holland whom was part of my group and he was staying in the hotel so i thought might as well move there instead of the shit hole i was in..and its so much beta you cant imagine!!

Aneway I went on a major tourism offensive, i went to Tiamemen Square,the Forbidden City, The temple of Heaven and The summer Palace all on Saturday as it was my day off, all 4 places are the said places to go,however to trully appreciate you should spread if over 2 days, as the summer palace takes a long time...

On saturday night, my last night in Bejing, went to this kinda famous restaurant called Afunti, and it was certainly an intresting experience. Had decent food, but the most famous thing was the entertainment, which involved, singing, dancing, belly dancers, snakecharmers, and just random things! After such a busy day me and Steve went to the massage place in our hotel, but on our way this seady guy in the hotel who owns a club under the hotel, was trying to get 'one ofhis girls' to give us the massage and what ever else we wanted forlike 40quid, lol...in the end however tempting that was we went ligit,and just had one with the proper one which was a nice way to end my stay in beijing.

I am now in the city of Xi'an after getting a flight yesterday, and I went to the Great Mosque last night, where on my way back i was caught in a MAMOUTH STORM, and though im stormy it was still some crazystuff, and cuz ofthe shit drainage system near the mosque it made the matters worse....

Ok im going to make a controversial comment, and it could be just because of the places i have been, but i have found areas where there are muslims, and i am not saying all muslims are but they try to scam u, i mean like here in Xi'an there is a large muslim community but there are lots of non-muslims and it was probably the non-muslims because they werent wearing but the islamic clothes, however i just find that places like morroco, middle east, and now here, every1 is after money, its really upseting, and it brings shame to me as a muslim to see it...

Talking about muslim and shame, i heard about the whole airport thing,and i dont know if its legit or not, but i think its real shame as the muslim community now in the UK is going to be victimised and its going to polorise muslims futher, as u will either be on one side or another, and it will cause further divisions i feel, which is a real shame....

Aneway take care of yourselves il hopefully post another one tomrw

take care

Asif