Last night we met the group. Marcia is our tour leader who is a bit bonkers. There's an older couple Frank & Ellie, a family of 4 (the dad is a director for Gap Adventures), Georgina from Brighton, a couple from Switzerland, Joanna from Canada, Nick and Philip from USA. We went for Peking Duck dinner to get to know each other. The group seem nice, good mix. We ate masses of food, best duck pancakes I've ever had - it was lovely. We also tried Nanjing beer which was nice.

So, up again early today for the Great Wall. 2 hour coach journey but totally worth it as the wall was amazing. Took the cable car up to mid section and walked to the other side. The walk was about an hour and has really steep inclines in parts and very hilly. My face was like a beetroot by the time we got to the other side. Took the toboggan down to the bottom and filmed it on my camera on the way down. The men kept shouting 'no camera' but they were hardly going to chase me down the chute so I got the whole thing. Gail was in front of me and we had a right laugh going down it.

We got back to the hotel late afternoon so Gail and I went out to the Silk market for fake shopping. 4 floors selling everything from handbags to ipods and the key is to haggle. The bags were more succi than gucci but we bought some oolong tea and spotted a massage area. I had french manicure and s back, neck n shoulder massage - I now know the meaning of the term 'chinese burn' cos she battered me (so painful!), Gail got her trotters done and had a foot massage.

Marcia had given us directions to night market so we went there next. This place was unreal - scorpions on a stick ready for frying except they were still moving! Further up was a stall selling tarantula, bats, seahorses, millipedes and unidentified creatures all ready for roasting. I have pics but I can't upload them. We ate some normal street food; pork dumplings, noodles and strawberry skewers before heading back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we head to Tianamen Square and The Forbidden City before boarding the overnight sleeper train to Xian.