Hangzhou, Beijing ... home!

I am finally home and my gap year is finished after all this time!

I shall start from where I left off, so we spent 2 nights in Hangzhou. The weather was a little rainy actually but we stayed in a really nice hotel with a great breakfast. We had a bit of confusion with our hotel and though that we were in a hostel nearby but we got there eventually. We spent our day there walking along the West Lake, where we saw a Pagoda. The area was generally very pretty even if the weather was a bit glum. We walked for about 2 hours and our final destination was an Ajisen where we had our vegetable ramen as awlays :)

The next day we moved on to Beijing and took the 300kmph train for 6 and half hours. The journey felt pretty long. At first we though our hotel was pretty far away from everything and we got a very expensive taxi (well £5 but expensive for China anyway!), but in the morning we found a nearby subway after all and also an Ajisen! We were so happy lol.

We went to a theme park which was a hilarious rip off from Disneyland. It had a very similar castle and characters and the slogan was 'Disneyland is too far away, please come here!' we went on quite few rides. Some of the indoor rides you walk through weren't that great but we went on a few fun rollercoasters.

We also met Marlon's dad for dinner three times in the evening. The best meal was at a great sushi place with a famous japanese chef who had come to China. I had some reeeally tasty veggie sushi. I don't think I will ever get bored of sushi!

We also saw the famous sights of the Forbidden City and Tia'na men Square. The square had pretty high security unspurprisingly. The first time we tried to go to the City we were too late for the day so we went back the day after. It was very big and we didn't see half of it in the two hours we were there. The weather was a lot cooler in Beijing and I finally used my jeans. It was almost cold!

The most surprising thing was that Marlon actually ended up coming back with me to London to try and apply for a uni course! Its great having him here. I guess that's the very end of my gap year and I start university in a couple of days now. I am very ready to start but am so glad I took a gap year. From France, Finland to China it was all a challenge but all fantastuc too.

I guess the next chapter begins now with starting university!
Bye byeee xxxxx