Hey hey I am back and as knackered as ever. Ok its 23.20 here and I have an early start so... Ti'anamen square at night on my own was fantastic and I took pictures of it and the gate all lit up. All of these places shut at 6.so I was a little late. However we are doing them all tomorrow, so need an early start. Ooh and I found a market that night that sold all kinds of food, lobster on a stick, crab, snake, dog...etc. you get the drill. Feeling very unadventurous I chose to stick with the noodles...All the weird food starts after Beijing...I need to acclimatise myself. I used the Beijing subway, which was funky...not hard at all either. That was Day One done and dusted. Day two was meeting Paul. Had a nice sleep in, believe me I needed it. And Paul got in around 12ish. Knackered obviously, he had to stop in Munich enroute. But we explored the City some more and found a Buddhist church which was pretty cool, dates back years and years, and the highlight was that Ti'anamen Square shut off at 4.30 for the removal of the flag. Cannons sounded, men in Army suits patrolled the square to a military banner and the flag was removed. So cool! Also learnt a couple of home truths...Beijing was never called Peking! And Chairman Mao is pickled and available for view in the Square... I love that word Pickled...reminds me of Grandad's Onions. We met up with our group all 18 of them at 6 and headed into the Hutongs for a Duck Meal...now this was so cool. The Hutongs are the suburbs of old Beijing, mostly destroyed now by future developments. The people who lived there were evicted, they didn't go, so they turned off their electricity, they still didn't go, so they stopped their water, still they didn't move, so they just bulldozed the houses...Harsh hey...but Fact. The Hutongs are old China, very windy streets and for a beginner they seem scary but really they were fine...Chinese people are so nice. The Duck Restaurant was amazing, between 15 of us we had 5 ducks and other courses, all for less than a tenner each...including beer. Now this food is beautiful, like no takeaway I have ever eaten...pure traditional Chinese food. Yum. As if that wasn't good enough - Day Two - The Great Wall of China. Up at 5.30am for a 6am start. Harsh! (That's my new favourite word). A 4-Hour journey to the Wall was followed by a very steep climb. This is where I led the pack...heehee I actually did for most of it; my Gym work has really paid off. To the First Guard tower and oh my god it was a view and a half. This thing stretches 6000 KM and you can see it for Miles. Sorry to destroy your myths but it can not be seen from Space either! Thanks Jules... This section of the wall was not busy, with only people trying to sell drinks and postcards. So we had it all to ourselves and hiked it for 15km. The views were spectacular, and I mean the scene dreams are made of. It reminded me a bit of the Lord of the Rings fire posts that get set to warn of the War. It's indescribable. And luckily we had a clear day...You can see for miles and miles. Sorry for repeating myself but it was.... Some of it was pretty hard work with vertical faces and stairways crumbling between our feet, it has been there since 600BC. We had a quick History lesson which was cool, and learnt how Ghengis Khan just bribed the guards to get through and invade all of China.... Typical. And how the Ming Dynasty had commissioned thousands to death rebuilding it. All very interesting stuff. The walk itself was breathtaking up and down all the time. Now I would recommend this to everyone I know, its more amazing than the Pyramids, New York and Emphasis combined, how such a thing was built. Anyhow sorry about the long entry I am nearly done. Paul and myself found the hike challenging, but had no problems and the group all bonded quite well. THESE CHINESE COMPUTERS ARE HARD TO UNDERSTAND SO NOW THE REST IS IN CAPITAL LETTERS! DONT ASK.... ! ANYHOW WE HEADED BACK FROM THE WALL, AND STRAIGHT TO THE CHINESE ACROBATS, WHICH WERE COOL, ONE OF THESE GRILS COULD BEND IN ALL DIRECTIONS, WAS A SIGHT LETS PUT IT LIKE THAT. OFF TO DINNER - MMMM MORE CHINESE FOOD. COST A QUID THIS TIME.... FANTASTIC. I DID USE SUNCREAM BUT THE WIND SEEMS TO HAVE BURNT ME SLIGHTLY. TOMORROW WE ARE OFF TO THE FORBIDDEN CITY, BUDDHIST TEMPLE AND CHAIRMANS MAO MONESTRY AND HIS PICKLED CORPSE...HEEHEE. THEN A 14 HR TRAIN JOURNEY...SO WONT BE ONLINE FOR A WHILE. HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY THIS. AND WILL BE BACK ON ASAP. P.S. THE PICTURES ARE ALL ON MY CAMERA, BUT THESE COMPUTERS DO NOT HAVE USB'S, WILL TRY IN NEXT STOP, OR YOU'LL GET LOADS IN HONG KONG AND I PROMISE YOU SOME OF THEM ARE REALLY GOOD SO FAR. AND IF ANYONE TRYS TO TAKE THE MICK OUT OF MY SPELLING, YOU TRY WORKING THESE STUPID CHINESE SYMBOLS ON 1000 YR OLD KEYBOARDS. OVER AND OUT