Beijing: Part Two
Trip Start
Dec 28, 2005
1
32
55
Trip End
Sep 01, 2006
Beijing,
China
Sunday, May 7, 2006
Wednesday was the most exciting day - The Great Wall! We walked 10km from Jinshanling to Simatai - took 4 hours to do the 30 watchtowers. It was so hard - the wall snakes up and down over the hill tops - it's just breathtaking (literally at times), truly beautiful and it feels so surreal to be there! At times I thought I'd die - but still loved every second. Coach was late picking us up and then it broke down so we had to wait for another, which was half the size - luckily I was in good company thanks to Swar, Sam and Matt. The four of us made the most out of the coach ride eg. sat at the back and prob kept quite a few people awake with rooster noises and kindergarten song possibilities (long story... Haslam - do you remember what noise the Swedish and Italians make instead of "cock-a-doodle-doo"?), complained loads about how uncomfortable it was, waved at people in the cars around us (school days all over), laughed at the signs ('No Drugs or Nuclear Weapons allowed' - plastered on the front of a hotel!), witnessed some projectile vomiting courtesy of a little girl out the window of the car behind (the guys took videos - sickos!) and general banter
01 Beautiful quartet
. The entrance is a small walk from the actual Wall - but up hill - so I was nearly out of breath before we reached the first step - oh dear! The part of the Wall we did was less touristy which was great - actually managed to get some photos with no one in them! At times we had to scramble up rubble instead of steps and down slippy slopes, which was hard work but guess it made it more interesting. Lagged behind at times and bonded over my struggles with another girl called Louisa - think it gave the guys an excuse to slow down to wander with us every now and then! At the end was a zip line that took us down towards the coach - was ok, bit slow for my speed demon needs, but a good view - and then back we went on our uncomfortable, tiny bus. We all went out for dinner that night - had great food thanks to Matt cos he studied Chinese so he could help out with the ordering - and had a little visit from Swar and Sam's roomie, Rasoul - another crazy guy, but so funny - loved him (scrunched up face, wild crazy hair and a strange little Iranian pixie voice - "guess", "me no like dogs"..). After dinner we went for much needed foot massages (the parlour was open at midnight - slightly dodgy?), then back for beer at the hostel. Stayed up late chatting - knew it was time for bed when my ex-roomie crazy Peter came to chat to Sam and I about his billions which he can't get hold of yet(?) and his controversial political views... interesting...Next day, Sam joined me for lunch at the hostel (Mushroom soup - yes!!) and a trip to The Temple of Heaven - was a bit rainy, but still pretty, although very similar to some of my other trips
02 Night market
. Experimented with noodles from the Night Market again and had a giggle over Mr Lamb Balls. That evening Sam, Swar and I went to an Acrobatic Show, which was so impressive - people contorting themselves into crazy positions whilst doing various other crazy things like spinning plates or balancing chandeliers of water(!?), cycling tall bikes, tightrope antics, flipping through hoops - was so amazing - loved it. Went back to hostel where we reunited with Sheff for some drinking games (girls - we played Ring of Fire but it was a pile and a few different rules - ours are better - still messy results though, so all good. Suzi - you're still the best games master ever!) - the boys enjoyed ganging up on me so got through quite a lot of beer (got the last King, damnit) - Caz, you would have been proud of my beer guzzling! Matt joined us and took us into town to a bar where Swar treated us to a pole dance - he didn't embarrass himself at all... hee hee! Good night all round.Had a lazy morning on Friday - felt I deserved it after all my going! In the afternoon we did some hard bargaining at the Silk Market. Had lots of fun winding the staff up with elaborate stories about our lives - had a row of stalls believing I had five children (can't remember the names I gave) and that I was 30 - first kid at 20, one every two years from then - they couldn't believe it! The Silk Market was good fun - as you walk down a row there is a chorus of "hello lady, do you want ...? Come look!" and you literally get grabbed by the staff; actually had to use my full force once to escape from one woman's grasp - all in good humour though
03 Swar scoffing
! So many pretty things - but I held back - getting quite restrained in my old (broke) age - only splashed out on a stamp with my name in Chinese engraved. Had another Pizza Hut (had to stock up on Western Food - prob wont be getting any for another couple of months!) and went to a Kung Fu Show - so impressive - loved it! Again had drinks at hostel and went into town to try out a couple of bars - all good.Left Saturday - just spent the day chilling in the hostel and saying goodbyes - was sad to go... Good times
p.s. Photos of Wall etc should be up in a week or so - make sure you check 'em out! xxxxxx
