Beijing, China, 6th to 9th of September 2011

We arrived in Beijing at a reasonable hour and felt fully rested after our nice soft sleeper train with private televisions.
After leaving the station we then had to get a bus, the metro and then walk for 20 minutes to get to our hostel. Once there we went for a walk along the local 'hutong' to sample the only bit of 'real' or 'original' Beijing city life left. There where tonnes of local tea stores and restaurants serving amazing Peking Duck (the local specialty).

We decided to chill out for the day and have a look around as well as try and book our bullet train tickets to Shanghai and we where successful in all of these. Quite pleased with our selves we left to have some local food and we found a little place on a busy street that sold fresh made breads so we tried some with almonds and it was pretty great!

Once back at the hostel we looked for another hostel who we had heard did better trips to the Great Wall that where away from the crowds - we booked onto their 'lost wall' trip and went for a few beers and an early night to be ready for the next day.
When we awoke the next day the weather was amazing so we set off on our tour to the great wall - it took us over 3 hours to get to our part of the wall on a cramped mini bus!
Once we arrived at our part of the wall it was worth the drive - we where rewarded with absolutely no other people at our section of the wall and the weather and views where spectacular.

We spent the next few hours walking along the wall to parts that had not been restored - there where 6 towers to make it to on our part of the wall but we stopped after 4 of them and just enjoyed the view and the little packed lunch we had brought with us. The highlight of the trip where the signs along the wall that reminded the Chinese people not to use any part of the wall as a toilet and also that every incline on the wall felt as though it would kill us as it was so hot that day!
After our trip we had to walk back to the entrance where the mini bus was waiting for us but once up the wall we realised it was about a 10km walk back! and by the time we got back our calf muscles where involuntarily spasming from all the steps we had climbed up and down.
That night I had a call from an old school friend who was a good mate of my brother called Paul Ryding who had been living in Beijing for a few years - we met up with him and went to a quiz night at an Irish bar in the city with a lot of other ex-pats and we ended up winning and having free shots and a bottle of rhum which wasn't that nice but we had a great night and it was good to catch up with Paul.

The next day we where up bright and early and headed out to the Forbidden City, which was great and immense but slightly spoilt by the amount of noisy Chinese tourists! Next we headed to the Olympic stadium to see the birds nest before heading to a restaurant near our hostel to have Peking Duck - but not before I was ripped off by a local lady for an umbrella! - we resulted in me having a slanging match in the rain with a 60odd year old Chinese lady!
We then had some final night drinks with some people that where in our dorm in the hostel who had raced on the mongol rally.
The next morning we headed to the South Beijing Railway Station to catch the bullet train to our next destination - Shanghai!

To see our photos of Beijing please click on the link below;
https://picasaweb.google.com/112941139607408893724/BeijingChina6thTo9thSeptember2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCOuE_Mya3rb_fg#