The bus picked us up at 6am and then drove around Beijing for the next 45 minutes picking other people up. It took us about 3 hours to drive to Jinshanling where our 10 km trek along the The Great Wall of China to Simatai began. On the way there were a few heavy showers and the sky was pretty dark, we had left our coats back at the hostel because we were not expecting rain, the weather has been lovely the last few days. When we arrived in Jinshanling it was overcast and cool, but at least the rain had stopped, so in a way we had perfect walking weather and it was clear enough to see the mountains and the wall quite far in the distance.

We met up with Gio and Viviana, the Italian couple who we had met in Datong and spent the walk with them, which was good to catch up! We had to climb up a hill to get onto the wall, as soon as we were on the wall the views were amazing, the wall continued over the hills in both directions as far as the eye could see, often barely hanging onto the mountain ridge - one of those magical moments, even more spectacular than the photos.

The Jinshanling section of wall we were on was originally built by emperor Hongwu in the Ming dynasty in the 14th Century. The wall has been restored at Jinshanling, yet it is amazing to think that it was built like this so long ago, really impressive. As the walk continued we went onto many parts that had been unrestored and are now semi-collapsed and in varying states of ruin. Another good thing about visiting the wall here is that there are not too many tourists, only those on the bus with us or hawkers, although the few hawkers that are there do follow you along which is a little annoying.

The walk even though only 10km long took most of 4 hours we had as many parts of the wall are very steep and none of it is flat, we were constantly going either up or down!! Many people actually found it to be a very tough walk. As we walked we had China on our right and Mongolia on our left and we actually walked through two different regions, hence when we reached the Simitai part of the wall we had to buy another entrance ticket! We also had to pay to cross a bridge across the lake, there was no other way to go!!

At the end of the walk we took a zipline over the lake, it was great fun, not very fast but pretty long - at the start you were quite high up! We then had dinner at a local restaurant before the long drive back to Beijing, it was one of the best days we have had in China, completely awe-inspiring and beautiful.

When we got back to the hostel we got ready for a night out with a group of Americans from South Carolina as it was one of their birthdays and we are celebrating our year of travels. We went to a club called Banana, which was very posh, yet there was no dress code! It was packed with Chinese, very few Westerners and the dance floor was literally bouncing with the number of people on it! Once inside we were befriended by a group of local Chinese people, one of whom could speak a little English! They bought us loads of drinks and danced with us all night. At one point I played a drinking game using dice with them that was fun while Sarah kept getting asked for dances! It turned out that the main english speaker works for the government here in Beijing and he left us his mobile number in case we had any problems during our stay. They were really nice genuine people and we had a great night!

Unsurprisingly we were up pretty late on Wednesday, we only had chance to go and do a bit of shopping in the famous Silk Street Market where you can buy loads of fake designer goods before meeting up with Giovanni and Viviana for dinner to again celebrate the end of our travels, they have travelled for 18 months and were leaving on Thursday. We went back to the really posh Qiamen Quanjude Roast Duck restaurant we went to earlier in the week. We opted for a set menu that included a peking duck as well as quite a few other dishes, it was meant for 3 people but fed us all easily. The food was beautiful and even the Italians were impressed. It is an expensive restaurant by local standards but if you were to compare it to a top restaurant in Europe it was incredibly good value. We all went for a look at Tiannamen Square lit up at night before saying our goodbyes.

Yesterday we were up early for the final day of sightseeing. it was the first day the famed Beijing smog had really affected us - it was really bad, no wonder they are worried about air quality for the olympics, it was terrbile, we think it was because there was no wind or breeze that resulted in the smog just hanging over the city all day and that also made it much more hot and humid. We have been very lucky this week to have only one smoggy day, every other day has been much better than we were expecting and we have even been able to see blue sky for most days.

The Temple of Heaven Park was our first stop first thing in the morning, it was crazy there were so many local people inside doing all sorts of exercise including; Tai Chi, Line dancing, Badminton, Singing, Ballroom Dancing and loads more, it was a fascinating insight into local life. The Park was built in the Ming dynasty and in the main hall of the Temple of Heaven the emperor prayed and made sacrifices for good harvests and sought atonement for the sins of the people. The buildings were mainly circles and squares to represent heaven and earth. The other builings around the hall were also really impressive, we particularly the Imperial Vault of Heaven that was decorated beautifully.

We then had a mission across the city for 20km to get to the Summer Palace. Royalty used to take refuge here from the summer heat that roasted the Forbidden City. It is a huge compound that is 75% lake, Kunming Lake was deepened and expanded in the 18th century using 100,000 labourers! Again the architecture is beautiful although after the Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven it does get a little similar! Though there are a few fabulous buildings here including a beautiful Buddhist Temple and a huge Long Corridor that is a long free standing corridor made of wood.

There is also the famous marble boat that Empress Cixi had made in 1888 using money that wasd earmarked for a modern navy, this boat has never moved!! We also found it quite underwhelming - much smaller than you imagine it to be. From here we took a boat across the lake to explore the other half of the park before getting a bus home. This was an adventure in itself, nearly 2 hours to travel the 16 km through the city in the heat at least it was cheap.

Today we have been pretty lazy since it is our final day, we went to do last minute shopping and still have to pack - i hope it all fits in! We have very mixed feelings about going home, it will be fantastic to see everyone, but we will miss travelling ever so much, and not having to blog will be weird too! We will write one last time from home so we are not quite done here yet!!

See you all very soon - if you've not left the country or run away to the hills as people are promising!

Lots of love

Andrew and Sarah xxxx