Beijing and the Great Wall

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We arrived in China a few days ago. We crossed the border without problems and the young soldier who had been sent to watch us over the border in our carriage was desperate to speak to us in english. He was very friendly and gave a good first impression.

We arrived in Beijing the following morning (we were getting a bit restless on overnight trains now) and we were eager to get to the hotel. The first thing that hit us were the number of people. It is so so busy here. The station was packed like a football stand. We fought our way through with the rest of the group and caught a bus to our hotel. Like Russia and Mongolia it is full of mad drivers. They all cut each other up but there a suprisingly no accidents. They just pip each other and let it be. No road rage, they just treat the road like one big race track (unsuprisingly I told Gem I would have liked to drive!!)

Bejing is a clean but very busy city and it is full of smog. We arrived about 4 pm but Mr Sun was shining through the smog no brighter than a 40W bulb. We all anticipated the arrival of back bogeys later that evening.

We visited the temple of heaven and Tian'anmen square, and then did the Forbidden city yesterday. They were great locations but full of people. They all liked us and wanted to speak / have their photo taken with us - It is like being a celebrity here. Apparently it is a national holiday and so people visiting the capital are keen to have photos with westerners. We popped up to the olympic stadium and did some sporting photos!

Our visit to the Great Wall was, indeed, great. We went at 6am to Simitai. It was quiet that early and we walked up to the 12th tower. Gem caught the cable car up to the 8th tower and I walked up as fast as possible to meet her. The scenery was fantastic and once again we posed for a lot of photos with the locals all eager to talk to us - a great day at a great wall.

Last night we caught an overnight train. It was chaos. We became surrounded by children and parents all wanting photos and to talk to us. Two policemen (off duty) gave me some kind of local tea to drink which was very good and some samll apple type fruit. We tried to play cards and teach them pontoon without much success! All the children and adults kept arriving and were so friendly and eager to talk - even though some knew no english. We just pointed at a picture book and muddled through! The Chinese people are fantastic here and the country is really pretty. I'd recommed it to anyone.

We are in Xian now to see the terracotta warriors. My Mum wants one posted home for the garden!

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Photos

The Sun through Beijing Smog
It got a bit clearer over the next few days