Beijing 2

Palpable excitement in the air today as we all went to collect the cars from the dock. But, first, I had an early rendezvous with Rupert, who was on the Indian rally with us, and we set off in a taxi to see Chairman Mao. Adrian decided, quite sensibly, to have a lie in. We were soon stuck in an immense, unmoving, traffic jam. We abandoned the taxi in the middle of a six lane highway and walked to a nearby metro station. We then squeezed onto an impossibly full train; worse than any tube train in London, and off we set for Tienanmen Square for our date with The Chairman. He is raised from the freezer every morning for a few hours before descending back down for the rest of the day. This vast square was heaving with thousands and thousands of students all clutching tickets to visit the Great Hall of the People. After struggling through throngs and being admonished by a policeman at one point we could see that the queue for the mausoleum was about a mile long. We had to be back at the Hotel for a lecture from the Beijing Traffic police on how to drive at 11.00 and so, reluctantly, we gave up our quest and went to look for a taxi back. All was not lost, however as whilst waiting for a cab a street seller sold us two magnificent watches depicting the Chairman with a waving hand. Priceless! Unfortunately, whilst Rupert's seems to keep good time by the time we had dinner mine was already 4.5 hours slow. So, rather than a timepiece it is more of a bracelet but still rather wonderful.

Our 'interesting' lecture from the Traffic Officer was delayed as he was stuck in traffic! We were then allowed to collect our Chinese driving licences and off we all set on a fleet of buses for the dock. What a fabulous sight greeted us. Over one hundred cars dating from 1907 to 1968 all in a vast hanger and gleaming, as they had all been cleaned for us. We then set off to negotiate the heavy Beijing traffic. I regret to say that the navigator failed the first test slightly. This was mainly due to not yet having the correct navigational equipment fitted (driver and engineer error) which will be rectified tomorrow by the driver: Adrian. All was well until the last couple of kilometres. We were very near to the hotel but couldn't quite work out the final bit. So, we managed to get a cab driver, who spoke no English, to understand that we wanted him to drive to the hotel and we would follow. Thus, we arrived. The car behaved beautifully after it's long journey and started first time. Now we just need to sort the navigation out. It's a long way home!