It takes about 2-3 hours to drive from central Beijing to Gubeikou (the station that supplies this family of villages). It takes the train 4-5 hours. It is, however, a very scenic journey that winds through the hills using a series of viaducts and tunnels. This morning we climbed up the hill to the station to see the Beijing train arrive late morning. We also saw a number of freight trains go through, carrying timber, coal and livestock. I was quite exciting being at the same level and in such close proximity to these huge engines as they trundled through this quiet rural station.

Lesley finally got round to editing some video footage from Beijing in October 2009 - when both of us attended the 60th anniversary (of the found of the PRC) celebrations. As a National Frienship Award winner Lesley secured us front row seats. Here's a snippet of the film, to a soundtrack of The Cranberries - Zombie.

Lesley decided to make fresh noodles for dinner last night. A few modifications were required to the recipe due to a shortage of ingredients, but the outcome was great nevertheless. The process was all the more exciting as it meant re-living our noodle experience in Dali prefecture's Weishan [VIDEO coming soon].

After making the dough it is fed through rollers to compress it into long, thin sheets. These sheets are then fed through the noodle cutters, according to your favourite noodle shape and size.