The Great Wall - July 3rd

The Great Wall - I'm in China!

Hello all, sorry again this has taken so long to upload, but the blogspot is censored over here. Wouldn't you know!!

I arrived in Beijing, and stayed the first night at the Youth hostel. They had a tour arranged to go to a remote spot on the Great Wall of China, away from the usual touristy spots. I hooked up with a Swiss couple who I met on the train over, we went together on the tour. And boy was it remote, took 3 hours to drive there, and three hours back. Then we hiked the wall, 9 Km !! in the 90 degree, humid heat. You can see from my pictures, my shirt is a bit dark, I was soaked. I don't do humidy well, I'm finding that out!

What a fantastic historical structure. To think of thousands of peasants building this great wall, many to their deaths, and many actually were buried inside the wall. The wall spreads over some 4100 miles in various sections that remain. Its over 2000 years old. Its an incredible site, I'm thrilled to have "Climbed the wall" The damn T-shirt they were selling was real cheesy, so I resisted.

The rest of my time In Beijing I stayed with Kenny Melton. I met Kenny on the Baja surfing trip I took last summer. Kenny was touring Vietnam, and decided to come up to Beijing and work teaching English. It was great to see him again, and he was my tour guide for Beijing. Had some great dinners out with his friends, who also teach here. Big demand for English here in China.


Kenny and I visited the Forbidden City, Tianamen Square, and the temple of heaven. The forbidden city was the home since the 1400's for 24 emperors, and was closed to Chinese citizens for over 500 years!!! I think it open up in 1924. But an incredible example of 15th century Chinese architecture.. I can see why it is a world heritage site.
Beijing is an incredibly big and busy city. Sky scrapers, traffic. I'm getting the impression that China is really booming.

Kenny took me to the Beijing West Train station to send me off to Xian. I will take a night train there, this time 1st class!! (Only $12 more). The train station was HUGE, unbelievable,. and the people watching was remarkable. Some Chinese very dressed up with Gucci bags, and some people from the country, with all their belongings in a blanket tied with a knot at the top sitting waiting to travel. There are real diverse economic backgrounds here.

Off to Xian, and the Terracotta warriors, until next time

Yours in travel,
Bill