Guo Yi Hotel Beijing

... If the inner wall fell, it was a straight shot to Beijing for the barbarians.

We had two choices when we go to the wall. Take the "easy" way to the East, or the “difficult” way to the West. We went West, of course. And it was difficult. Not only was it almost straight up, but the snow was packed on the stairs and it made it very slippery. Ginseng (our tour guide) told us that it was 1700 steps to the top of the hill.

Juyongguan, Beijing, China dabrander

... City and the Great Wall and a few other parks along the way. Yes, they were impressive, particularly the Great Wall. The section at Simatai is built on top of an extremely high, narrow ridge. You would have thought the mountains alone might have been considered enough to keep out the marauding Mongolians without the need for what must have been an extremely hazardous building project.

It’s certainly good to see these marvels of the ...

... no clue...luckily the day before oti had gotten a calling card from one of the students who picked us up at the airport and I used it to get us back. Thank god the taxi driver figured it out =)

The next day, Sunday, we had our opening cerimonies followed by the pledge!!!! Everyone was freaking out about the pledge, it felt like we were signing away our lives. But, now its ok =)
We broke off into groups of 3 plus a teacher and went to our ...

... smidt ud. Resultatet var, at jeg ikke kom op i helt god tid til at møde på arbejde klokken ni. Men det virkede ok med Eric, da jeg dukkede op hen på formiddagen, det var vel trods alt kulturinstituttets gæster, jeg havde taget mig af, og Eric er heldigvis ret fleksibel. Efter arbejde tog jeg til Sanlitun, hvor jeg besøgte Yashow-marked og fandt nogle lange hvide strømper samt hentede den lyserøde prinsessekjole, som jeg havde købt tidligere på ugen, men som skulle lægges lidt ...

... in, without incurring any excess baggage costs (bonus!) and were on our way. This time we actually flew KLM which was very nice with good leg room for Shayne and made the connection in Amsterdam to London without any problems. In typical fashion half the trains in London weren't running due to engineering works but we eventually made it home by about 7.30pm and back at work the next morning. Ironically I developed a cough in the last few days of our trip which escalated and the doctor ...

... hip-holstered cell phone. "It is the responsibility of all Chinese to contribute to a successful Olympics," said the 51-year-old convenience store owner, standing near the main Olympic soccer venue in a blue and white "Beijing 2008" shirt and hat. The wide-ranging security saw the implementation of a so-called "Defence Line" security plan launched last week that included hundreds of checkpoints manned by armed police on routes into the capital. State media said the ...

... disciplines of acrobatics with an occasional magic show. We had performers riding bikes, jumping through rings, spinning plates and swinging on ropes. All the performers were in their late teens or early twenties and must have come out of the government sanctioned gymnastics program. If this is the caliber of athletes who did not make the Olympic cut, China should do well in the medal count for gymnastic sports.

These last two days we were pretty much on our own. The tour company turned us loose to shop, dropping vast amounts of foreign currency into the Chinese economy. We chose to go on a rickshaw ride in the morning, and that ride covered a lot of ground. I enjoyed the scenery, the market, and even the home we visited, but I did wonder about a kindergarten that invites tour groups to watch the little children. As our time in China wound down, we ...

... well needed lie-in we organised a trip to the Great Wall (260yuan each) and our train tickets 870yuan for two in a 4 berth sleeper cabin to Xi'an, our next destination. We had decided to tag along with our new friends as they were on holiday and had a much more planned itinerary than ourselves and it sounded good. The Great Wall WOW....WOW....and WOW again. What a day! Words can not describe the sheer magnitude of the work and effort, blood sweat and tears that must ...

... followed the soldiers and found the main part of Tianamen Square (the largest square in the world, if you're interested) and we were constantly asked if we would like to purchase postcards, kites, watches or to be pointed or laughed at (we were the only white faces there, and obviously funny looking ones at that). In Tianamen Square is Monument to the People's Heroes (a centotaph) which is handily a virtual geocache as well. To one side is the National Museum of China (with lots ...