After more than twenty-eight hours, we’ve finally made it to Beijing!

Ali and I flew off from Gatwick at 11.10pm GMT yesterday, more than twelve hours after having arrived at the airport, although we were very lucky to have taken off at all as Emirates were the only airline brave enough (or stupid enough, depending on how you look at it) to send planes off the runway that day due to the snow.

When we arrived in a very sunny Dubai seven hours later we had only fifty minutes to check in and board the connecting flight to Beijing.

However we were faced with a dilemma; get on the flight with no guarantee that our luggage would be loaded in time, or wait until the next connecting flight at 3am the following morning (at this point it was around 9am) and have our luggage guaranteed to be with us.

In the end we took a gamble which unfortunately didn't pay off and so we then spent an hour or so at Beijing airport filling in lost luggage forms as we tried to explain in pidgin English what had happened to the stern looking Chinese officials at the airport.

Not the best way to start our China adventure!

We eventually arrived at the backpackers hostel at around midnight Beijing time and went out for dinner with Alicia our country representative, an ex-pat who's currently working for an NGO. She's lovely and has been very patient in answering all of our (many) questions, no matter how daft they are.

After a good night's sleep and a rather dodgy Chinese breakfast containing grey sausages and semi cooked egg, we headed out to the bank to change our money and then took the underground to Tiananmen Square where we were left to our own devices and given a map to help us find our own way back.

The square is vast with guards everywhere, and contains some really interesting-looking monuments, although as no one spoke English we weren’t too sure what many of them were.

They appeared fascinating nonetheless.

Unfortunately, as Beijing is currently engulfed in a misty haze due to the cold weather, the photos haven’t turned out as clear as I’d hoped, but I’ll try again when I return for the flight home in the summer.

After spending about half an hour in the square, we headed across the road to the Forbidden City which was very picturesque with its intricate pagodas and great stone fountains and ancient trees covered in snow.

The walk back to the hostel was brisk as the weather was bitter - the warmest it reached all day was -16- and so we went shopping in search of some badly needed ear muffs.

As we now have our cases, though, we should be able to wrap up in thermals and extra layers tomorrow so the wind won't be quite so biting.

Dinner tonight was delicious, and surprisingly spicy- something we've been told to get used to as Beijing food is mild by Gansu standards!

The restaurant kept parrots in the entrance which was quite bizarre, but by no means the strangest sight we expect to see in our eight months here.

Will write more soon, but for now the jet lag is beginning to creep up on me so I’m off to bed.