Well I have to get into training for my Taishan challenge so I started with an outing to Mr Mao’s Chestnut Orchard, run by the Beijing Hikers, and a very international group they turned out to be. We had to take a coach an hour and a half north of the city. A young guy from USA sat next to me, he was in China for 6 months working on an animation film, but I also talked to French, Dutch, Australian, Malaysian, Chinese and English with a mixture of tourists, embassy staff, teachers and IT experts, so it was a very multi-cultural day. It was incredibly well organised, right down to providing sun tan lotion - and yes we did need it - walking sticks, water and chocolate biscuits. They even tied red ribbons to the
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