Girls on film

The boys do boaters

Harrow's Speech Day

Verity & Katie would like to point out that they don't usually dress like this at weekends.

Theo at the zoo with Tegas

Theo went to the zoo with his friend Tegas and his two sisters.

Verity, mistress of the snake board

Verity can now both ride the snake board while hoola hooping and can fly a kite at the same time.

Our 14th Wedding Anniversary

We went to our favourite restaurant in Beijing (Da Dong at Dongsishitiao) and had cocktails, good food and beautifully designed dishes.

Verity realises that what goes up must come down

Tris in a champagne bubble

Tris impersonating the Incredible Hulk in a plastic bubble on a fake lake in Beijing - he could easily have been mistaken for the real thing.

Speed teacup

Louise realises that the Chinese have simply copied the children's teacup ride without copying the safety feature that stops you spinning them fast. Later on, Tim took Tris, George and Sam on a teacup and spun it so fast that they didn't notice when the ride stopped.

Theo liked Happy Valley ...

Verity & Katie get the giggles

Happy Valley

Beijing is well-equipped with amusement parks. We went with the Bilbows to one of the newest at Happy Valley.

Chinese government blocks access to blogger

Sorry that there has been such a long gap since our last posting. This was because the Chinese government blocked access to blogger software in the run-up to the anniversary of Tian an'men and has not stopped blocking it since. This means that we can no longer upload photos directly from the iMac. This posting has been done from the UK and is being set to follow the last posting in May though it is actually being made at the end of July.

Cycling on the walls

Xi'an's city walls are 14km long and you can cycle all the way round - we didn't tell Katie & Verity quite how far 14km was before they started ...

Xi'an, a great city

Xi'an was capital of China under the Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties. What is left is a place full of history and the relaxed feeling that comes from having been around a bit. We loved it!

Just inside the southern gate

Just inside the southern gate of Xi'an's old city we found a street full of small stalls - quiet, relaxed and beautiful.

Theo counts his fingers after his last deal

Muslim snack street

The guidebook said that you would go through a tunnel and emerge in a different world; we didn't believe it, we were wrong. This shot in no way does justice to the colour, noise, bustle and life of the Arabic Quarter in Xi'an.

The Drum Tower at night

It can be difficult finding your drum in a medieval city at night so they decided to light the tower up - just a bit.

Transport for the safety conscious traveller

Tufty the squirrel would not have liked this

Buried for centuries but strangely alive

Almost all of the thousands of statues in the Terracotta Army were crushed under earth for centuries yet the individual faces and even these horses seem fresh and almost alive.

Terracotta Warriors in search of a cuppa

The Terracotta warriors were impressive but we felt they would have been a lot happier if the tea-lady had arrived 2,200 years earlier.

Nine go to Xi'an

We went with Grahame & Angie & their family to Xi'an for a great weekend.