Wednesday 14th November
"Just get me something plain I can digest because I'm still feeling unwell," said Kelly-Ann.
So I panicked and returned with squid and lobster dumplings served up in a pot with lashings of spicy sauce.
Not good if you are feeling under the weather.
Squid dumplings are one of the milder choices such is the eclectic mix of street food available on Beijing's vibrant backstreets.
I also tried stinky tofu - a crispy cheese squares like dish which has a surprisingly spicy aftertaste. The texture is almost like that of a potato and the taste surprisingly spicy. It is much better than the foul smell suggests.
I am yet to discover what it is actually in it as the local retailers were unable to explain in their limited English - and I am too scared to Google it.
Duck pancakes, chicken chow mein and western egg-fried rice - the staple of western Chinese takeaways - are not to be found in these bustling alleys.
But once we ventured beyond the side roads where our youth hostel is located, parts of the city have a familiarly Anglo-American feel.
On our first day it was more than a little daunting to be greeted with a sea of incomprehensible Chinese characters - and not an a, e, i, o or u in sight.
Today McDonalds and KFC restaurants seem to sit on most corners and the modern Beijinger seems to consume as many hamburgers as dumplings.
Jerry, the Chinese man who collected us from the airport, wore American-style dark blue jeans, a leather jacket and sunglasses as he weaved his way through the smoggy traffic jam on the city's ring roads.
On the radio he listened to pop songs on an English language commercial station identical to those back home.
As he opened the window for ventilation, we were hit by the potent stench of petrol. Bizarrely, although the tardy old car had remote locking there were no seatbelts in the back - which made our hair-raising ride to the hostel all the more frightening.
If the hard shoulder was empty, Jerry was happy to dart down it to leap ahead of a few vehicles. There were at least three occasions when I was amazed we did not hit a pedestrian, cone or cyclist as the madcap driver pushed on.
Drivers in every other vehicle were performing the same high-risk moves on the capital's roads.
The pavements are constantly heaving with people in this vibrant city as small shops try and hawk their many wares.
Chaotic, yes, but China is certainly efficient.
It was two days before we were brave enough to venture onto the city's metro system. Yet what we discovered was undeniably one of the best underground systems in the world.
The trains and platforms are immaculately clean and you will never wait more than three minutes for a train. The services run smoothly and you never judder to a halt as you arrive at a station. And each journey costs a flat fare of just 2 CNY - or 20 pence.
So here we are in China - it's chaotic, crowded and initially daunting but a really exciting and vibrant place to be. And we haven't even seen the Great Wall yet.
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