Beijing - pandas and parks

 Two days ago we were set off from London to Shanghai, changed planes ending up in Beijing, and then a short drive to our hotel. 

That took about 16 hours and then we spent the rest of the time relaxing and getting to grips with the apps that were needed to pay for everything, and the map app that would show us how to get around the enormous city.

Today we put it all into practice and caught the metro to the zoo. The metro is enormous with extremely long walkways and beautiful murals.

It cost about 30 pence to get to the zoo and then it was free entry for me and Daz was disappointed to find that he would have to pay £2. Roll on next year when he will get in for free too.

The grounds inside the zoo were great with lots of greenery and statues, although a notice specifically said not to climb on the elephants.

The zoo itself had very old fashioned buildings and small enclosures, so we weren't so keen to visit all of it. A lot of animals were not in view at all but we saw a couple of tigers up close.

The only reason that we went to the zoo at all was to see the pandas and they did have a new enclosure.

They also did a very good line in panda souvenirs and photo opportunities.

After that we took a short walk to Zizhuyuan Park. It was originally the site of a temple built by the royal family over 400 years ago, but now it is a relaxing place where people come to meet and dance.

A Chinese lady was taking a video by the lake and I realised that I was in her picture so tried to get out of the way, but she took my arm and with music playing on her phone, took a video of us both swaying in a 360 degree circle. 

A lotus lake was the star of the show and we wandered around listening to local people playing instruments and singing into microphones.

There was also some brilliant flower beds and a chrysanthemum display.

A great start to our holiday and we meet our tour group tomorrow.