IN BEIJING

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The last two days in Beijing have been fun but I'm beggining to think being here during national holidays was a mistake. There are just so many people, even for China. We attempted the Subway and it was so busy. So we caught a bus, traffic jam. Then we walked na that was a human traffic jam. You just have to use side streets as much as you can and trust to luck. Despite this it's been fun. Beijing has a great climate this time of year, warm with a nice cool breeze. W checked out some of the huge shpping malls and districts here - amazing. Even saw a few Aussie stores here, and a Boost in Shanghai.

Had a great family meal with Jacks's Father Stepmoom and her daughter (who speaks english). It was a great dinner and we organsied a trip to the great wall the next day.

We decided to go to an out of the way part of the wall at the popular spots it would be as crowded as the subways here and spoil the whole experience. After driving for a few hours we came to a little village amongst tall mountains with watchtowers on some. It was really cool and a bit amon sul feeling. Getting on the wall was a pain as some people said it was closed and others took your money to let you go up to it through their fields. So we finally walked on the wall and it is massive, endless and incredibly steep in places. I don't know if you really needed a greater defence that the mountains themselves. How many people and how long did it take to build this immense work ?, has anyone walked the length ? It really is the most amazing man made thing I have ever seen. I would really love to charter a helicopter or plane and follow it for a while just to get a grasp of it's scope (next time maybe) - STAGGERING !

Had a Beijing specialty, a lamb hot pot with a coal fired pot that looks and cooks like a jet engine. The lamb is super thin sliced and cooks in ten seconds - so delicious like 90% of all I have tried. People keep thrying convince me to stay here and teach english, which would be cool but I am now looking forward to going home.








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Photos

CHINA'S BIGGEST STAR
Yao Ming is everywhere obver here

GAP IN THE WALL
Jack is climbing a missing portion of the wall while I kept a lookout for Mongol hordes

THE GREAT LADDER
in some spots this thing is sooooo steep, at least 60 degrees - insane !

BEIJING HOT POT
This is my last hotpot in China (sad)