The Great Wall - Simatai

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Simatai - 11th December 07

Whilst in Beijing we put off the trip to the wall several times, as it involved an early start and most mornings we had a hangover. On our final full day in Beijing we did manage to get up early enough. Luckily it was a perfect, clear day, although it had been snowing the day before so it wasn't exactly ideal walking conditions.

We went to a stretch of the wall in Simatai, which is quite a long distance from Beijing compared to other parts but we wanted to go there as it has not been as heavily restored. It's also very impressive as it has really steep plunges in parts and is very steep to walk up !

We arrived there after a taxi, a bus and then another taxi journey and we walked for about four hours along the wall. As there was so much snow, there were hardly any other tourists on the wall that day. For the first part of the walk we had the company of three ladies selling postcards, posters and the likes. They were quite entertaining and after an hour of them following us up a steep part of the wall, we finally gave in and bought some tourist tat off them. They happily desended back down.

Visiting the wall is one of my favourite things we have done so far on the trip. The views were amazing, the pictures don't do it justice!

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