Day 2 - Beijing - 14th July

Day 2 – Monday 14th July

Beijing

Today we are all excited about seeing one of the Wonders of the World, the Great Wall of China!!

This was one of the reasons we chose to finish our trip in Beijing as what a way to end our 13 week adventure seeing this amazing sight!!

 

 

Showered this morning and look at those pearly whites starting to shine through!!

 

Our view out of our window, we think that is looking over onto Summer Palace seeing the tower rising out of the trees, we would’ve normally used google maps to help us see what was around us but it is one of the blocked websites and we can’t get to grips with bing maps!!

 

There are two towers in the hotel we are in Tower B and the view looks over Tower A and the main entrance

 

Looking the other way there are tennis courts

 

We were planning going to the swimming pool this morning before our trip but with the lack of cleanliness in the city of Beijing and people spitting everywhere we were concerned that the pool may be unclean and just full of germs so we decided against it.  We have done so well on our travels we have had a couple of sore throats but only little niggles and that has been the extent of our illnesses.  We prepared ourselves to be unwell with me arranging antibiotics before we left and they remain unused!!  I brought every type of medication to cover every type of eventuality that we could possibly encounter and thankfully we didn’t need anything at all!!  We only got bitten in Tokyo at the National Gardens and that has been our only bites too!!

 

 

Here we are it is 10am and Lewis our guide is taking us onto our bus that will take us to the Great Wall!!!

 

We sat at the back of the bus so we could all sit together

 

We started driving by some government buildings

 

and then got stuck in traffic so Amy and I decided to ….

 

 

write my journal and Amy played her ipad

 

 

Beijing Hotel, well thought out name for a hotel in Beijing!!

 

It is in this area that stalls appear in the afternoon and sell the insects that China is famous for selling but our guide told us that they only sell the insects etc for tourists and it isn’t part of their diet at all!!

 

One of the hospitals, I am surprised that it looks okay actually but we don’t want to visit it that is for sure!!

 

The other side of the hospital linked across the busy road with the glass corridor, oh the glass corridor reminds me of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where I trained!!  Just can’t wait to get back to nursing I have been missing it!!

 

The 5 star Waldorf Astoria hotel

 

For all the tea in China!!

 

Pretty buildings around the city

 

Wow it is 10.30am and the temperature is 37degrees C, it’s hot today baby!!

 

A church along the way too

 

The Museum of Art with the gold roof

 

A gate into something??

 

Amy has started using her ipad to take some photo’s!!

 

 

A shopping mall

 

Here we are loads of bicycles, Colin was just asking where all the bicycles were for the song by Katie Melua to say ‘there are 9 million bicycles in Beijing’

 

Cool building

 

We are now driving through the business district

 

Oil companies skyscrapers

 

Certainly are some funky buildings

 

And now we are into the residential areas

 

Three complexes linked by the glass corridor

 

Oh no don’t fancy the sloping corridor!!



 

Now this building just looks weird!!

 

Wow they are all starting to look the same but how would you remember which one you lived in!!

 

 

So as we are driving through the city and Lewis starts telling us things about Beijing.  There are 21 million people in Beijing and it would take 5-6 hours just to cross Beijing, wow!!  95% of tourists in Beijing are Chinese no wonder we are the odd ones out nearly everywhere we go!!  But then he carries on to say don’t take offence to people taking photographs of you it is normally as they are from small towns outside of Beijing and they have never seen anyone else other than Chinese people before.  He said they are fascinated by foreigners and they won’t be able to speak English to you they will just either push you in a direction or take the photo, oh dear we were rude to the people yesterday!!  He said just pretend you are in Hollywood and enjoy the attention!!  Oh dear those people that we thought the worst of yesterday were actually innocent people!!  But I’m still not sure about putting Amy into other people’s photographs but that is the modern world that we live in and society these days that has made us suspicious of people and especially people taking pictures of children!!

 

 

The price of petrol here!!

 

There was an eight year old French boy called Tom on the bus with us, he was so cool and he was always getting up to mischief so he put the extra seat out in the aisle and sat next to another couple on the bus!!  He started messing about with his camera and took photographs of everyone on the bus including us and then came back with the photo and was trying to tell me that I only had one dimple and he points to his one dimple too, he was a good kid

 

 

We are further out of the city now, the great wall is 85km away from the city

We pass through some small towns

 

An entrance to one town

 

 

the other side of the entrance

 

Sculpture at the side of the road

 

 

 

Picking Park – I presume this is a pick your own fruit area

 

 

And loads of fields of Maize

 

Colin wonders if they have ever thought of having a Maize Maze like in the Isle of Man

 

 

Wow look how tiny Amy was when we went to the first Maize Maze in 2011 and we made it to the middle!!!! 

 

 

And an orchard for the pick your own fruit!

 

And here is our first glimpse of the GREAT WALL!!!

 

Wowee!!

 

Ok so we have been dropped off and now got a free rein to go up onto the wall but there are two options for going up one is cable car and the other is a ski lift type thing so if you go up on the cable car you have to come down on the cable car, if you go up on the ski lift you have an option to come down on the ski lift or toboggan!!  With the other things in the city being so cheap we thought we had loads of cash but surprisingly they have caught on to raising the prices and the ski lift was going to be £10 each rather than just a few pounds for all of us.  Now we have a bit of a problem as we don’t have enough cash to go up so we spoke to Lewis and he lent us £10 to buy the tickets, phew could you imagine coming this close and then actually we can’t go up as we don’t have the funds to get up there and we wouldn’t have had enough time to hike up either!!!  Anyway problem solved so all good!!

 

This is the map of the section of wall where we are heading to, so close now!!

 

And look this is the option we have opted for I’m sure you are not surprised the ski lift up and the toboggan down!!

 

With our extra cash Colin is now in the queue to get the tickets for the ski lift and toboggan!!

 

So close we are getting sooooo excited, come on let’s get in!!  But before that the girls need the toilet so Amy and I had to experience the squat down toilets as we had no other choice today!!   Amy and I are in fits of giggles as I say where is my flushing sound on the toilet as there isn’t even a flush to these squat toilets, ewh!!  The stories about the squatting toilet will remain between Amy and I though!!!

 

We spied an ATM machine just opposite where we got the tickets from when Lewis our guide was away getting the main entrance tickets so Colin nipped over and got cash out, great no debts as we paid off Lewis!!

 

Here we go, here is the ski lift type thing!!

 

Amy is getting nervous about getting on the ski lift but there is no choice Amy just get on it!!!  Tom’s grandma (the little French boy from the bus) is too nervous about going on the ski lift by herself so we volunteered Colin to go up with her.  She has good English so they are quite happy chatting when they are climbing up the hill towards the Great Wall!!

 

And here is Colin with his companion who doesn’t look like she is enjoying it hanging on for dear life, poor lady!!!  But she did tell Colin she lost her son at the age of 24 and since then she has been scared to do anything and especially by herself, so she is very appreciative of Colin, your a good lad Col xxx

 

 

 

Good one Col he had the camera out to take a pic of Amy and I in front of them

 

 

And that is how we are getting down on the toboggan, Amy is so excited about the toboggan I am sure she would just miss out the Great Wall and just go straight back down again!!

And that is where we are going up, up and up!!

 

Glimpse of the wall from the ski lift

 

The town we came through earlier on

 

The toboggan looks so cool!!  As we were climbing up on the ski lift I was telling Amy that I was the gold champion at Toboggan racing when I went on a school trip to Germany for being the fastest!!  Amy thinks it will be even cooler on the toboggan now knowing I was the champion racer many years ago!!  The difference then was that I didn’t have an eight year old sharing the same toboggan so we will see the speed we go down at!!

 

Nearly there and Amy is now telling me to get the camera away as she is worried about getting off the ski lift!!  But it was a case of jump off and run to the side!!

 

Here is Colin and Tom’s grandma

 

Now to get onto the Great Wall!!!

 

Mutianyu is the name for the section of wall that we are at named by the locals

 

WOW Lewis has told us not to go that direction as it is very hilly, we agree!!

 

So this is the direction we are heading to behind us!!

 

That is where we have just come from and the toboggan for going DOWN!!!

 

Our goal is to get to one of the gates on the wall

 

But it is a distance away and the heat is tremendous out here, people are melting as soon as they step outside the shaded areas!!

 

Ok, let’s do it!!

 

Here we are, we have made it onto the Great Wall and made it to the first gate, boy it is stiflingly hot!!

Little peep holes in the wall built just for me to take some lovely photographs!!

 

 



 

I love this photo and this was the view that we had when we stopped for a drink of water.  It has been tough you know on this adventure with views like this for snack or water time!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay our next goal is to get to the next gate and then turn around and come back!!

 

 

 

Peek-a-boo Col ha ha!!

 

 

 

As you can see on the photograph we are all sweating!!

 

So close to the next gate!!

 

And time for another drink and snack!

 

There are steps up to the top of the gate house so Amy doesn’t fancy it as the steps are extremely steep, so Colin and I go up!! 

 

Colin coming down the extremely steep steps and little Amy waiting for us at the bottom.  So we have come from Beijing where there were majority of Chinese tourists but on the Great Wall the majority of tourists are British or American!!  This is such a weird place!!

 

So we took a photograph at the top of the steep hill but the smiles went from the pair of them as an American girl was climbing the steep hill absolutely ringing in sweat shouting to her family that she was either going to collapse with the heat or vomit!!  Hence the faces of Amy and Colin fell as they heard the word vomit and thought yuck so it put them off smiling!!!  Funny as you can see I didn’t mind what she was saying, carry on regardless hee hee!

 

So we had enough time to go to the next gate as this piece of the wall looked like a challenge, cool let’s go!!

 

The worst part of this bit of the wall was that you knew you were going down to go back up again!!

 

 

 

I set up the camera on the steps, pretty good shot even if I do say so myself!!

 

We made it to the top of the steep hill to the next gate woohoo!!!  Well done Amy!!

 

A couple from our bus tour were sitting on the steps to the gate house so they took our offer of getting a photography session with the master himself Colin

 

So we jokingly said to Amy we should aim to go to the next gate it was funny as her face fell as it was absolutely boiling, if it was 37 degrees in Beijing at 10.30am then heaven knows what temperature it would be here now!!  Not funny when you are climbing steep hills on the wall but remarkably inside the gate houses was cool so nice to stop off in their for a breather from the belting sun in between the walks outside on the wall

 

Amy has a burst of energy now as we are heading back to the toboggan to get down off the wall

 

Short cool off and then….

 

down and then ……

 

UP!!!

 

 I sprinted ahead to get a photo of Amy and Colin climbing the steepest part of the wall we had been on!!

 

 

 

Here I am up ahead of them!

 

Trying to show you how steep the hill was as the camera was straight!!

 

This selfie was to show how sweaty we were and how puffed we were at the top of the hill!!  I couldn’t wear my sunglasses as the sweat was dripping down my face, yucky!!

 

Next set of steps, phew this is a complete workout on its own!

 

 The Anderson trainers that have walked many, many miles with us on our big holiday adventure!!

 

 

Amy is getting done now so PULL, PULL, HEAVE, HEAVE up the hill, come on Amy nearly there!!

 

Here is Amy and I having a race up to the top of the hill for the final push towards the toboggans

 

And this is Amy at the top, ha ha!!  Is that parasol turned into a walking stick ha ha!!

 

 

 

 

That is us on the descent to the steps that will take us to the toboggan, Amy has her thumb up now!!

 

Looking out at the view and looking down to see how far down we need to take the toboggan for, it looks really far down standing from here, eeeeek!!  Nice shot Col xx

 

Final steps down, now let’s get down to the bottom of the hill super quick!!

 

Chute entrance!!!!

 

Oh well if it is good enough for Barack Obama’s wife and kids to go down the toboggan then it is good enough for us too!!

 

Okay there we go Amy and I will be on one toboggan and Colin will be on by himself, we are getting excited about going down now!!!

 

Excited faces!!!!

 

Here is Amy and I going down weeeeeeeeeee!!!  It was a bit hard taking a photo when I was controlling the speed too but I got the two of us that is the main thing!!

 

 

There is Col behind us!!

 

Oh yeah!!!

 

 

 

Ha ha managed to get all three of us in the shot!!!

 

Going round the corners, weeeeeeee!!!  This is cool fun, Amy is loving it and by the excited noises from behind us we presume Colly is enjoying it too!!

 

And here we are we have made it down the mile long track!!!  That was sooooo cooool!!!

 

The big smiles says it all really, that we all had good fun coming down on the toboggans!!!

 

Next thing is that Amy and Colin get samurai swords thrust into their hands and positioned next to the two dudes.  Oh wait a minute there was no other exit and that was a bit forceful I bet now they will be looking for money!!

 

Oh yeah they will be expecting a lot of money for this Col!!

 

And the final photo before they asked for the equivalent to £8, eh no so Colin gave them £1 instead and we walked quickly, very quickly away as they did have large samurai swords in their hands!!!!

 

We had a spare half an hour before the bus was going to take us back to Beijing so we headed into the souvenir shop.  There has been a few shops with these plastic flap doorways on, reminds me of when I used to work in a butcher when I was at school.  Amy didn’t know how to get through them but she has got used to them now!

 

We got a magnet and a cold beverage to cool us down before heading back on the bus

 

 

And then we spied a funny looking beetle type thing on the pavement as we were walking back down the hill towards the bus, ewh!!

 

 

Here we are back on the bus and heading back to Beijing but Lewis has announced that we are to stop for a foot massage as everyone who climbs the wall is classed as ‘heroes’ and heroes need their feet massaged!!  Never heard that before but hey if it is included in the price we are up for it!!

 

This lady looks cool with her dog on the back of her motorbike type thing!!

 

 

 

So here we are at the government buildings where we are going to get our feet massaged!

 

So we go down a corridor and then….

 

 

into a room with all these chairs for us to sit on

 

Quick selfie before we get pampered!!  Amy wasn't allowed a massage so she sat in the middle of us taking it all in!!

 

Firstly we get a bowl of extremely hot water with a tea bag in it??  So then a lady who with her translations into English is quite abrupt and sharp with her manner so we are told that the bag has ginger and some other herbal bits and pieces in it to help with weight loss and tiredness, perfect after our 3 months travelling!!!

 

Then we get told about the powers of natural doctors who can predict your health from your hands and fix problems before the symptoms arise, oh yeah now you have got me interested!!!  They tell a story of a famous leader or politician who was diagnosed with Lymphatic cancer, he went to America and was told no hope you will die and then he came to China and a Chinese doctor healed and cured him!!!  Well made a good story but not sure I believe you?!?!?!

 

All this stuff does fascinate me though!!

 

So the guys come in to massage our feet and then they offer us to have our palms read to show our future health problems, wow now you are talking this should be good!!

 

 

Some Doctors whom they called Professors of something or another come in next and we get our hands read.  The Professors can’t speak English or so they make out as we get an interpreter sitting next to us too so we now have a guy working on our feet, a professor and interpreter surrounding us!  Colin is first with his palms so he is told that his arteries are narrowed and blocking, artery round his heart is narrow and needs some attention which funnily enough they can prescribe something for and of course for a fee.  So Colin says we’ll see if we would take treatment after reading my wife’s hands so I am told that I have a blockage in my bowel and will have problems with my uterus and I will suffer from ovary cysts and tumour but they can fix me too!  So Colin says but ‘my wife has had a hysterectomy’ no they don’t get that and carry on saying tumour, bloated stomach and not good for ovaries.  So now all the good work that you tried convincing us that Colin’s heart needs some attention has just been all undone with me being told I have problems with my ovaries and uterus so I am not making the right noises for them so they ignore me and focus now on Colin to try and take him away to have a consultation, eh no thanks!!  So they realise that we don’t want the treatment for Colin’s so called heart problems so next thing they try and sell us is the herbal tea bag things that are in our basin of water that will cleanse you but you will need to use it every night for 1 month so here is a big box for goodness knows how much, no thanks so the Professor and the interpreter disappear and the guys are still working on our feet.  So they slap the bottom of my feet to tell me he is done so I am putting my shoes back on and Colin and I’s feet guys are hanging around as if they are waiting for a tip but they don’t tip in china we thought so no money to them.  So they are speaking in Chinese between them and after an uncomfortable 5 minutes they head off basins in hands chuntering away to themselves, probably saying they are a grippy pair but sorry guys that wasn’t the best foot massage I have ever had!!  Now when we booked the tour it only said great wall tour nothing about foot massage so not sure when this became part of the deal but it is obviously a regular thing!!  An English couple on the tour got quite upset by the fact that we were not told about the foot massage and the doctor had told them a whole load of gobblygook too about their health but we said if you enjoyed the massage then that is what you take away from this and nothing else!

 

 

So they say that loads of famous politicians have been in these chairs and made lots of important decisions here, gosh this is a dive of a place doesn’t hold much hope for China really!!

 

 

 

Here we are getting the heck out of there!!  We were busy chatting to a couple of American guys that were working on the oil rigs just off of China before flying back to the states.  One thing good about the bus trip was we met some lovely people

 

The entrance of dragons, so true we walked into the dragon's mouth it felt like!!

 

What a cute little old man on his bicycle and they don’t need to wear helmets on motorbikes either, it does look strange to us!!

 

We drove past this building and it was pointed out to us but I can’t think what it was??  Colin thinks that even Lewis didn’t even know what it was so who knows??

Convention Centre with it’s

 



 

hotel next door

 

Here is part of the Olympic stadium, The Water Cube it is called for the Swimming Centre with the stadium behind it!

 

 

The Olympic rings!

 

The Water Cube and the other buildings behind it

And the Pangu Plaza that is a dragon shape spanning over the length of seven football fields which homes a 7 star hotel, shopping mall, high-rise tower block and the world’s first Chinese ‘courtyard in the sky’, wow would have loved to take a peek inside this dragon!! 

 



 

Driving back through the city again

 

Another view of the cylinder building thing and the side of the National Olympic Stadium which is supposed to represent a bird’s nest

 

Just to show that the road crossings are just a free for all!!

 

 

Another hospital, not so keen on the look of this one from the outside

 

We have just dropped off Tom so Amy has jumped into the aisle seat for a shot!!

 

What a good day at the Great Wall now we are going to be dropped off at Silk Street for Colin to have his fitting for his suit!!

 

The place around here is swarming with police and loads of them in mean looking vehicles too!!

 

Don’t drop us off here whatever you do driver!!

 

So here is Colin’s receipt with swatches of material of the shirts and suits that he has ordered, bit nervous now to see what they look like and hope that they fit okay!

 

More police at this junction too!

 

 

Ah just realised we are driving around Tiananmen Square, now that makes sense with the heavy presence of police!

 

This is where we are planning heading tomorrow so at least we had a sneak preview and we now know what direction and how far it is away from our hotel, not far at all!!

 

Fruit stalls are around nearly every street corner with people chopping up melon or watermelon on the back of their wheelbarrow thing, sticking slices on a skewer and selling them

 

Just like that girl is doing there

 

Doesn’t look the nicest area to be driving through let alone eat something off the back of a wheelbarrow

 

Driving along the river

 

Back through the skyscrapers again

 

They look fancy buildings

 

A real mixture of bikes there to make up the 9 million bicycles in Beijing song!!

 

We stopped to speak to an older couple from England for about 10 minutes as they were telling us about their adventures they had been on and we were telling them ours!  So we wished each other well for our future travels and headed along to Silk Street

 

We headed into silk Street to buy a bag, as with the extra suits and shirts we will need an extra bag for the flight.  I had looked up Malaysian Airlines and they allow 30kg x 2 bags each, wow!!!  So we went searching for a holdall type bag but we got accosted about jackets so we delved into the realms of haggle central!!  I just don’t like it at all just tell me your price and I will tell you if I want the item or not but oh no it is all done on calculators with the prices being passed between Colin and the shopkeeper, us walking away, being called back and then further negotiations being done so all in all we bought a jacket each, I got a handbag and we got a holdall, perfect!!!

 

 

So here we are Colin is getting his fitting done and the suits look lovely and the shirts fit perfect!!!  We get the shirts away with us and need to come back tomorrow morning for the suits!!

 

So we decided to come back to the level 6 food court and this was the view that we were sitting looking out onto last night except it was dark

 

Look at this dude changing the light bulb with the lights on and just standing on the table, wow that certainly wouldn’t happen in the UK with the health and safety gone mad situation!!

 

And look at the beautiful free show we are going to watch whilst eating tea too!

 

Grub's up!!!

 

The last glimpse of the sun setting before we head back on the subway to get home

 

Amy with my new handbag

 

More dosh tosh!!!  It is very much a cash society here!!

 

It is dark now but we have one more shop to go to before we jump on the subway!!

So we were walking out of Silk Street when a lady wanted to sell us 4 purses for 100 yuan £10, but I only want one so we get her down to 20 yuan £2 for one wallet but I don’t like the size of the one’s she is offering me so I say I want a smaller one so then she stops us at the traffic lights and she opens a case on the back of her bike and gets a smaller purse out, deal done but the she follows us with socks!!  We say no thanks but then she takes it that she is not giving us enough pairs of socks for the piece so I think she went up to 12 pairs of socks for £4 or something ridiculous like that.  It was still a no thanks as the socks were cheap looking and really thin!!  She eventually stopped following us, it did make us giggle!!  As we were walking along we started reflecting and telling Amy why and how to haggle, when Colin mentioned about walking out and then they call you back she said ‘oh yeah I saw that, good tactic Daddy’.  So we carry on talking about haggling and then Amy said the best bit was when the deal was done at the very end ‘it was just like in the movies Daddy.’  It was hilarious when would Amy have seen haggling in a movie!!!  Made us laugh!!

 

This is our next destination China World Shopping Mall

 

And here we are at the Pandora shop waiting to get served!!!

 

Amy is thrilled with her presents of a Panda and a suitcase as she has been so good on all the travels so we treated her big time!!  We are so looking forward to receiving our shipment to put Amy’s bracelet together, we certainly need to get her bracelet insured!!  What a very special present to get from Uncle Brian and Auntie Nicola and now it is even more special with all the charms we have collected along the way!!

 

And here is are Amy’s two charms that we bought her, very lucky special girl xxx

Now we headed back to the subway to head back to the hotel, what a busy day we have had again!!  Tomorrow we are heading to Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City but that will be after a long lie that is for sure as it is yet again another late night!!