BEIJING - SUNDAY 3rd FEBRUARY 2007

Today I took a guided tour to the Great Wall and also Mings Tombs.

An early start at around 8am and got told off for being 2 minutes late for the bus. they like punctuality do these Chinese. First was the Mings Tombs which were quite interesting and the guides english was really very good. Lots of history and he explained how so many of the other tombs around the country had been raided of all their valuables. Its still was reallt cold at about minus 6 to start the day and it sowly warmed up to zero as the sun came out!

After the tombs it was off to the Great Wall. On the tour was just me and a canadian, Travis, from Alberta. A nice guy who had been travelling for 10 months. Then at the Great Wall we were joined by 6 Norweigens, all from the same college and they were having 6 months traveling the world before they looked for jobs with their degrees. Bearing in mind they were Norweigan and had studied econmics, they were very funny and friendly.

The Great Wall was truly amazing and we all climbed for about 5 turrets, its was really steep and the steps reminded me of Machu Pichu! Knackered when we got to the top and the view down the valey was magnificient. Various bits of my warming clothes came off on the ascent as I got warmer and warmer...

On the way back it was a little dissapointing as we all got pushed into a pearl factory followed by a jade factory. All government owned apparently. Well a 5 min presentation followed by a 25 min hard sell of the merchandise. Our guide, Yuan, explained that all the tourist guide outfits are licensed by the government and have to take tourists to these goverment owned sites. he had a little book in which he gt stamps to prove he had taken us there. A strange way to get westerners to but things!

Got back at 6pm and to be honest was really knackered. Went out and got a fantastic meal at a restaurant that Yuan had recommended. Simple noodles and some meat dishes, bit like a normal chinese at home..but boy was it fresh and tasty!!

Tommorrow, a guided tour of the city sights of Beijing

Cheers

Steve