Managed to get out to the great wall and did a 10.5 km hike along a restored and unrestored section. I am told that this section was also damaged badly in the Chinese/Japan war in 1937 (WWII) when there was a lot of fighting and bombing there. Didnt actually notice the earthquake that hit china on the same day and seems to have killed thousands of people.

Also spent time at another city called Xian. Went and saw the clay soldiers and did a pretty serious climb up a mountain near Huan San. Great hike up to 2000m and spent the night on the mountain. Unfortunantly the clouds and rain settled in and meant for a wet descent. Great views in the afternoon on the way up though.

I will be flying to Vladivostok tomorrow morning. As usual there have been last minute shenanigans, like trying to organise to get cash in multiple foreign currencies, discovering that im actually supposed to have a letter from an embassy to bring a vehicle in country with me, and the list goes on. Still things seem to find a way of working themselves out, maybe me stresing a little helps a bit too!