Walls, malls and duck...

Beijing is cool.

Arriving we immediately went to Tianamien square. Surrounded by concrete, red and gold, police cars, soldiers, loud speakers and a lot of paving, I felt sad. This square is huge and I could only imagine how many people had protested. I felt more sad that it was way back in 1989 and we have not heard anything since.

Everyting in Beijing is big - the blocks, the meals, the buildings, the staircases! Our first day of exploring was to investigate the Forbidden City (not forbidden for those paying 40Yuan entry). Following our new style audio guide we covered almost every inch. Now, for those unaware, the Forbidden City is massive. Five solid hours will be time to cover it, as we and our feet discovered. There was a treasury collection with lots of old jewellery, and gold items. but the clock collection was more impressive. Lots of clocks from the 19th century onwards with lots of gold-guilding, mainly from Europe with a touch of Asia.

Included in the palace was the abstinence palace. Before a ritual, the Emperor would spend three days without onion, garlic, meat, alcohol or sex. However, someone decided that they needed meat for energy so they ate more meat.... absain means what?? as for the sex, let's just say Emperors had concubines, they probably needed a rest.

Now when a city is built, a moat seems essential, but what do you do with all the soil?? Put it in a pile behind the city and make it a park of course. A nice one at that with a view over the Forbidden City. A small climb really, more on that later...

Next must-see spot was the Temple of Heaven. Photo-man Dean can insert a couple here to give you the idea. This temple was a bit of a favourite of mine - lots of colour:) A nice bonus was that we went on a saturday so all the locals were amusing themselves in the park, dancing, playing cards, and along one long stretch of shelter, singing. I think there were good acoustics because we could certainly hear them well enough.

Kungfu Panda may be popular (especially here), but real Kung Fu is also impressive. Even amongst hundreds of tourists in an English dubbed show. We will now be regular Shaolin Monk customers. these guys are fit!

Now for our highlight - the wall. Great Wall of China none the less:o). We've climbed it! Well a tiny part of it. We made our way to the Mutianyu section - approximately 2km in length, an hour or so out of Beijing. Leading up to the wall, we took a narrow path. On one side a lush wall of green, on the other... "looka looka, hello, hello, looka looka, hello, hello, looka looka, hello, hello, looka looka, hello, hello, looka looka, hello, hello, looka looka, hello, hello, looka looka, hello, hello..." you get the idea. We successfully ignored all of them. Ahead, the path cleared of stalls and their venders and awaiting was steps.

Silly me had imagined a car park part way up the mountain... nope. There was over 500m of steps remaining at the first point at which I felt the legs burning. It was a tough climb to the wall, but it felt great once we got there. We even bumped into a friend on the way. The weather was cool with a mix of cloud and smog. Visibility was 200m at most but we were here and were going to cover all there was. I personally started to regret this after the first few thousand steps - okay, perhaps a little sooner than that. But how many times do you get to climb the wall?? For us, twice at least.

You see, our tour starts tomorrow and on day 2 we go to the wall. In our wisdom we decided that one day could not be enough. After thousands of steps, climbing, slipping, I was wondering if i would be able to walk in another 2 days let alone do this all over again in a tougher segment of the wall. Dean was also doubtful of future walking abilities and was starting to resemble a water fountain (permission granted for this statement). Reaching the north end it was time to walk to the south end. Thousands of steps after we had done it. I have to admit it felt good. Especially now we have had an awesome big dinner (/breakfast/lunch) in our stomachs. I think i will pack a breakfast before our next climb.

Now the malls.... i'll speak of just one - the Hung Hua Pearl Market. It has every pearl, electronic, piece of silk, and handbag that you could imagine, all a little dodge of course. But we did pick up a miniatire IPod Nano, Skirt, USB, all times two of course, for under $50. We cannot really carry too much (damn Ryanair flight booked en route). Despite this, wisdom again, we then went on to purchase some more bargains. My day pack is now packed full and heavy
:( Could not pass it up though.

Now I could talk about about Pekin Duck, but we all know I am not an expert (depite having seen it eaten too many times). I hear there will be a Duck Special, so stay tuned for that one.

Personally, the vegetarian food here is awesome. Tonight, Dean even preferred it to his glowing red pork dish. Again more chilli and garlic, but this time in a new fusion concoction. I will definately be experimenting when I get home.

Oh and the Olympics??? We have not made it out to the bird's nest or the pool unfortunately, but to say the city is awash with souveniers, Olympic propaganda and tiht security would be an understatement.

Now weary, although still walking, we commence our tour tomorrow so I will sign off.