The Great Wall of China

Another breakfast of Bauzers to accompany our very early start saw us on a bus out to a remote part of the Great Wall of China! It no longer actually stands on the border - which is a bit of a benefit as you can happily stand on both sides of it without being shot with a thousand arrows. The wall must have been a massive engineering challenge, always sticking to the highest point along the mountains to maintain maximum visibility of both sides...and maximum exposure to the elements. Having said this going up in a T-shirt, hoody, lightweight jacket and a ski-jacket was definitely overkill and was rewarded only by sweatiness, even at near-zero temperatures!

A long climb to a high peak was rewarded with awesome views over China and what used to be Mongolia. Longhorn sheep were found to be two-a-penny around the wall. We were lucky enough to happen across a particularly beautiful specimen.

That evening I embarked upon the challenge to find a teach-yourself Kung Fu DVD for the double hooks form for the third time since entering China. This time though it was a case of total success and in the process I picked up a few extra ones! Walking around on my own that evening a total of eleven separate groups of students came up to me asking anything from "would you like to see a caligraphy show" to "can we just talk to you to practice our English"...this one was often followed by "can we go somewhere to sit down and talk"? I'd imagine that'd be the local tea-house! Jokers. A good beef-pattie thing at the night-market saw off any small hunger-pains after our immense tofu-filled lunch.

That evening we hit Beijing Uranus Fashion Casino, Disco, LAX (??!), KTV (Karaoke TV) club in Beijing with a few American guys who were working in Shanghai for a spot of dancing, though I'm proud to say we didn't take part in any of the stand-infront-of-a-mirror-and-swing-your-hips dancing techniques which the local lads seemed to employ in order to, well I don't know really, look really camp?! Well it kind-of went along with the bar-staff wearing skirts, well kilts but its the same thing right??! Another particularly notable presence here were the armed police with helmets strutting around the place! Very commie and we definitely weren't allowed to take photos, well not so that they noticed anyway. An awesome night once again in one of those strange Chinese Supermarket, Karaoke and Dancing complexes!