I had the opportunity to visit China for a work conference and the real bonus was that I had 1.5 days for sight seeing with friends in Beijing. What a fascinating and wonderful city!

Temps were hot, but my work style was to wear jackets etc, because the air-con in the hotel, where the conference was held was very cool.

The dress code was 'smart casual'. I have been to conferences in Asia before and been shocked that for most, that means wearing a suit and no tie. So my dress was a bit more casual than complete suits, but other than that, pretty much in line with what I would wear to work.

Photo 1 - on the plane. Wearing comfy travel outfit of long cardigan, t-shirt, jeans and trainers. No make-up or contact lenses. Was very lucky to fly Business Class - so asked the hostess to take a photo of my delicious dinner.

Photo 2 - Arrived in Beijing at 7am (after flying through the night with a 2.5 hour stopover in Singapore, so had about 3 hours sleep at best) and went to the Forbidden City. It was so crowded that the 80,000 entrance tickets had been sold, so we just walked around the outside and walked the 6kms back to our hotel, stopping for lunch on the way back.

Photos 3 & 4 - conference wear

Photo 5 - 11- out for dinner with friends in Beijing. Outside the restaurant and inside, the kitchen was on view. The food was amazing! Photos 9 &10 was a cool beer bar and Photo 11 was what I wore for my night out.

Photos 12 - 23 - a day of sight seeing. Visited the Temple of Heaven and did lots of walking around Beijing. My phone said we walked 20kms - but it was a brilliant day and we had lots of fun. Stopped off for regular refreshment breaks (photo 16 is some snacks we had with our tea) and in the afternoon stopped off at a very cool bar (photo 23).

I did sight seeing with 2 work colleagues, one of whom is a Chinese citizen. He asked if I would like to buy a cheongsam dress. It was hilarious me, being taken shopping by these two lovely younger men and they were picking out dresses for me. When I went to try on the dresses, the sales assistant grabbed me and felt me down from my rib cage to my waist and hips and declared I was a "double extra large". I was a bit shocked and said "surely not" - well it turns out I am ONLY an "extra large". My friends most chivalrously suggested it was just that I am so tall.

So I got two new dresses as a souvenir of the trip - photos 24 & 25. Because I had my wonderful colleagues, I even got 50% off the listed price.

We went out for dinner with friends of my colleague Photos 26 & 27 - before I had to disappear at 10pm and make a hasty trip to the airport.

So a whirlwind trip to China and needless to say, I had a blast and would love to return!