Beijing - the Great Wall - train to Xian

A group of 8 of us set off for the 80km drive to the Great Wall. Once underway we learn we were going to the Ming tombs as well as 'the biggest Jade factory' in China!!
The Ming tombs were interesting if a little rushed..... But we have plenty of time to spend in the jade factory. The works are beautiful & worthy of a good look but if you dare to look to long at a piece or ask to try on you are under pressure. Slim pickings from us lot. How it works is - the guide gets commission from anything you buy plus of course the shop assistants swarm over you to get their piece of the pie as well.

After a delicious lunch at 11am we head off to the Great Wall which is truly amazing. We were able to roam around at will & were lucky to have a clear warm bright & breezy day.
One had to feel admiration & sympathy for those builders & soldiers thousands of years ago.
Next the obligatory stop at a Silk factory where we were encouraged to purchase blankets, duvets &pillows plus clothing that could be shrunk wrapped or shipped home at a very cheap price.

Beijing is much cleaner in both air quality & street litter than 10 years ago. The spread & sprawl has increased, along with numerous blocks of high ride apartments. Compared to Shanghai Beijing is a little shabbier, more serious ... More severe maybe?

After the tour we were popped into a taxi & delivered to the Beijing West Station clutching a piece of paper with the Chinese words written ... This is my booking number & I want a ticket. Just as well we had 4 hours up our sleeves because we were deposited into a seething, heaving mass of humanity & baggage. Plastic baths filled with goods, huge bulging flour sacks filled with ??? , and so on .... People were laying everywhere , sitting everywhere , leaning against anything ... We dodged our way around this morass up and down the station until we found an obliging security guard and hey presto done!!!

Right, now to find the platform & waiting room which was seething & heaving as well. I leave the state of the bathrooms to your imagination. !!!!!!!
Finally, collapsed in a Korean Resturant with a cold beer & delicious meal.
After dodging fisticuffs in our line we boarded our train around 9pm - found our cabin mates unobtrusive and settled down for sleep.
We arrived in Xian around 8 am in time for collection to start our trip to the Terracotta warriors.