Day 100! A day to remember? Or one to forget?! Beijing

Our 100th day! A landmark we mark with our second bid to visit one of  the places on the initial list of "wants" at the start of our trip idea. The Forbidden City. Nicole has had a National Geographic pull out guide and map since 2008 and for the second time we make our way here via ridiculously over full metro and are swept along in the waves of visiting citizens with a shared goal.

After half an hour in a queue, more close quarter megaphone action, more unwanted photographs being taken of the girls and just watching the hoardes and tour groups (also following guides with microphones and megaphones) we again decide to rethink and leave.

We have an equally depressing afternoon at the hyper Beijing West Station trying to buy our onward train tickets to Pingyao - an ancient walled city, halfway between Beijing and Xian. There are only standing tickets available, and only after the 6th October at the end of Golden Week, seats available from the 8th and hard sleepers in different carriages after the 10th. We quickly rethink our plans and sadly decide that we must not only stay in Beijing for an extra 2 day, but also have to abandon Pingyao altogether and head straight for Xian. Even then we are have 2 soft sleeper beds in 2 separate carriages, but given the shortage buy these tickets in the hope we can swap them on the day.
We vow to have a better day tomorrow and make arrangements for a guide and transport to take us to another "must do" trip.