Helllo! I'm back from China now!!!
Since I last updated, I took a 'hardback seat' train (VERY UNCOMFORTABLE!!!) to Beijing for 14 hours. I met nice Chinese people around me, didn't sleep and had LOTS of fun trying to keep my seat and not have the pickpockets take advantage of me.
Got to Beijing overtired and excited.

Took taxi to Jade Youth Hostel near Tiennamen Square, which turned out to be the most fanciest youth hostel I've ever heard of before for only (AU$10) a night. Met an Aussie right off the bat at the reception and headed off to the Summer Palace with a Ukraininan/Russian guy. The palace was crowded with tourists, it was stinking hot and the whole of Beijing (and all the provences around it for hundreds of kilometers) were smoggy with thick yellow/brown pollution (I thought there might be a bush fire but that's just how it normally is... just a little more smoggier than Shanghai). All in all it felt like another tourist trap.... UNTIL.... we climbed up the mountain behind the Summer Palace and all the crowds dropped away. They were all too lazy to climb the mountain (hill more like it) and they missed out on all the temples, secret pagodas and such at the top. The view over the lake was spectacular and after a day which felt like it would kill you with the heat and smog, a wonderful thunderstorm rolled in and poured down on the whole of Beijing. We were trapped under a large pagoda at the very top for two hours with a group of Chinese women singing and a Frenchman afraid for his life because of the lightning bolts (actually, around that time a hiker DID get struck and die on the Great Wall from the storm, so he had a point).

After waiting for so long, we walked back down into the main part of the Summer Palace, and it was simply SPECTACULAR!!!
All the crowds had gone as it was past closing time. The palace was dripping and shiney from the rain and it really felt like a grand palace in the late afternoon. We unbolted a door and got lost for hours catching random buses home and stopping by a night market to pick up fruit.

The next day I met this guy, Shri-raj from Bangladesh and we went shopping at a market, got lost in Beijing and didn't find an aquarium. Later on we met with some other people and went to the Shaolin Monk/acrobatics show, ate out and drank Chinese beer and went home eventually.

The third day, I had booked myself into the 4 hour hike of the Simatai section (NEVER go to Balading) of the Great Wall where there's no guided tour and you get dropped off at one part and have to walk the wall to the final part where you get picked up again and driven (3 hrs both ways) back to your hostel. I met more nice people, especially this REALLY chatty Moroccan girl, Hannan and an American woman, Christine who studied pottery in central China. We walked the wall together (with our unofficial Chinese guides who latched onto us, were very nice all the way until we refused to buy souviners off them at the end). We also met an Aussie family from Taree which was cool!
Now about the weather. It had rained the day before as well and by this day, the clouds had dissappeared and left the sky washed bright blue. I was one of the most fortunate tourist ever to climb the Gret Wall!!! The views were spectacular and were completely uninterrupted by smog!!!
I ate mangoes at one of the tallest guard towers with wonderful company and had such a leisurely time of it that we got back an hour late, which actually didn't matter because the buses don't leave till an hour and a half later than promised because of straggelers like us. And from the jealous looks we were getting from the rest of the tourists who ALL got back on time, I am glad we took our time!!!
That night we met again at Tiennamen Square, had dinner of dumplings and I managed to walk home by myself so I could see what Tiennamen Square was like at night.

On the final day I went to Tiennamen, the Forbbidden City etc. until it was time to take the sleeper train back to Shangahai. Had some grief with my ticket but got on, met a guy who manages the Grand Hyatt in Shanghai who offered me an internship there and had a relatively sound sleep.

Made my way to Willa's place, went DVD shopping (AU$1.10) and slept alot while she packed for Japan. The next day we jumped on the ferry back to Japan (Kobe actually). Two days later we docked in Kobe. We had met 2 guys who were going to Kansai Gaidai and we all got to Hirakata together and we started meeting the new students which was cool.

I counted 21 new security cameras in Seminar House 3, got REALLY upset with the managers of the place, because they were the ones who did it (as well as impliamenting all these new rules which effectively don't let you breathe without filling out a form) and have decided I'm MOVING OUT OF SEMINAR 3!!! I'll either go to Sem 1 or try (again) to find a new apartment or something. I was SO angry at those b$#%^&d okaasan and otoosan. They are lying, two-faced people!!!

Oh and I met cool people....