At the hotel

The hotel we have been put up in is modern and very luxurious with a grad extrance and guard who salutes every time we drive or walk past. The hotel has its own fishing ponds for carp and you can hire rods etc. I hav swum a couple of time but it is so expensive about NZ$18 a swim but ohhhh so good after being out and about in the heat. the pool is a lijke a commercial cmplex but no one hardly uses it so each time I have swum a life guard comes out and sits there waiting for me to drown and give him something to do. In the ladies they run around turing on showers, bringing towels, opening lockers and just making sure everything is as one could possibly want. rather disconcerting when you are used to doing everything yuirself. the hotel has so many staff. Today we are all exploring Tiananmen square , shopping and the Forbidden city. Time is quite limited as we also have meeting in the early afternoon so having an early start into town and hopefully it will be a little cooler.