Goodbye BNU

 Ni hao!

 After our trip to the florist, I decided to pay a visit to the Beijing Normal University gift shop.

 I had been looking for a BNU hoody after seeing one of the lads wearing one, but I couldn't find the one I wanted in the shop. However, I bought a beautiful BNU keyring and a BNU mug to drink Horlicks out of (I love Horlicks).

 Afterwards I took some last photos of the gorgeous BNU campus where I had spent three happy and action-packed weeks.

No bugles please

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

Friends and cake

 Hello!

 Between my last post (Boxing Day) and New Year's Eve, I don't have many photos because I was ill for a few days with a flu-like virus.

 There are a couple of things that happened before I got ill that I don't have many pictures of but which were nice - I had a massage, and I went out for lunch at the Friendship Restaurant with friends. Both were lovely.

 This is Beijing Normal University campus at night; I took these photos on the way back from the massage.

 And this is the Friendship Restaurant.

 On New Year's Eve, I was feeling better and I went out for lunch at a coffee shop/café called Sculpting in Time with Kasia, Dinesh, Rick and Steven. We ordered four slices of different cheesecakes between us which we all shared. They were delicious.

Cool mug

 It was so nice... being with friends and eating cake; what better way to spend time?

 We then had an economics lecture, after which we went to Laker's for a bit, then a group of us - Marvi, Keisha, Ziggy, Jenny, Abi and I - watched Miss Congeniality in Ziggy's room, which had been transformed into Beijing's best cinema. 

 It was a brilliant day and night with great friends; I couldn't think of a better way to welcome in the new year.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

Beijing Zoo

 Ni hao!

 I'm going to share with you some of the photos I took during our visit to Beijing Zoo. This wasn't part of the itinerary; it was an excursion that some of us decided to go on as a group.

 We met and divided into threes to get taxis. We started off as a group of maybe twelve but various accidental splittings-up meant my group became just me, James, Dinesh and Rick. All three were people I hadn't known that well before so it was nice to have the chance to get to know them a bit better.

 Here is the map of the Zoo:

And here are some of the animals you can see there:

Here is a flamingo:

 The surroundings

 The entrance to the zoo

Back to the map

Giant panda!

Am I the only one who thinks the otter looks like a beaver?

A monkey who looks like he's telling someone off!

Nice golden tree

The middle of the Zoo gate

Into the Zoo!

Visiting the pandas!

Panda family tree

Master Shifu!

Lemurs

Spider monkey

A fluffy thing

Polar bear!

Brown bears!

Bird eating popcorn

The frozen river

Giant cat sculpture

Wooden kangaroos

Stone kangaroo

Real kangaroos

The birds of prey

Golden Eagle

Vulture

Eagle again

Scenic crow

Fish!

Penguins!

Llamas!

 As you can see, there are some incredible animals. My personal favourite was the Golden Eagle, although of course, the pandas are very beautiful as well.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x