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Hi everyone from me here again in Beijing. I have had a brilliant past few days and have discovered a new side to the Capital - parks, trees, birdsong, historical hutongs, colourful temples, lively street markets, and best of all, I have had two 'blue-sky days' in a row - yes, the smog has cleared and I have actually seen Beijing!
And the big news is that I have climbed the Great Wall! It was amazing and by far one of the highlights of my travels. I decided to go on a day trip with a hostel and we hiked from Jinshanling to Simatai - an exhilarating 10km through stunning mountaineous terrain with steep plunges and long, steep climbs up walls and steps over 70 degrees. The Wall is amazingly steep and runs along the ridge of the mountains with quirky, crumbling watchtowers every few hundread metres, most of which you can scramble up onto the roof for breath-taking views. They were fascinating to explore, with terrifying drops on either side, and some you had to bypass as they were in ruins - a little hairy! It was wild and rugged with no Chinese tour groups - yes none at all, and such a contrast to the city. The weather was perfect too - one of the blue-sky days, super hot but great visibility - I loved it, it was an unforgettable experience and I did it all in my Saints shirt!
Back on Thursday, I checked out more sights around the inner city which I am beginning to get familiar with. I decided to head out early and join the queues to Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall in the centre of Tinanmen Square - Mao is a revered figure here, so I thought I'd better see what all the fuss was about. Well it was totally weird, a constant procession of people being funnelled through two rooms, the first where you lay a flower in front of Mao's statue, and the second believe it or not, where you knelt down before Mao's mummified remains which lie in a crystal cabinet draped in a red flag. He looked more like a wrinkly umpa lumpa to me, I'm not sure it was real. Anyway, I explored the Worker's Cultural Palace after, set beside the moat of the Forbidden City, and then spent the afternoon at the Temple of Heaven Park. It was glorious, a real oasis in the centre of a chocked urban landscape. The altars, temples and shrines set along an axis from north to south were beautiful with an intriguing history behind each, and once I left behind my fellow million companions, the groves of cypresses and gardens, all pristinely landscaped, were delightful. There were several bands about too and individuals practicing their opera. It really was hard to believe I was in the centre of Beijing. I followed a route in my Lonely Planet en route back, down a maze of hutongs (narrow side streets) where I discovered quirky shops, food stalls, faint slogans from the Cultural Revolution, and then back up Quinmen Dajie, one of the central shopping streets where I got distracted outside a shop that was bizarrely playing the Westlife album - I fumbled outside with my book for half an hour - it was so great to hear some Western music! I battled my way back over to Tiananmen Square at sunset and joined the crowds for the flag-lowering ceremony. It is performed daily by soldiers carrying guns with huge spears on the ends who march out of the Gate of Heavenly Peace - it was so exciting and a ripple ran through the crowd when they emerged!
I have got to grips with street food too and discovered the brilliant Donghuamen Night Market just east of the Square. It is fascinating, absolutely heaving with Chinese munching all sorts of exotic stuff, most on skewers, like starfish, jellyfish, grasshoppers, loads of gross meaty stuff, snake, eggplant, fruit and other things like pancakes, eggs, shrimps, cheese...I make my daily pilgrimage to pick up corn on the cob and skewers of brocolli and cauliflower - it is SO good to eat vegetables and has to be my best find in Beijing! I have set out on some souvenir shopping too although am useless as haggling so haven't got far with that but I love getting lost amongst the hutongs and watching locals go about their everyday lives. I moved to a different hostel yesterday morning to get a feel for a different part of the city. It is in a great location, on a quite hutong off a larger, bustling one and right next to the Lama Temple which I'm yet to check out. After a slog on the rammed Metro with my pack, I stood on the street with my compass and map trying to figure a direction, and people were throwing packets of incense at me. Do I look like I'm off to worship?! No!!
Anyway, I can't believe it but I have only 3 days of travel left! :( I have a few plans so I'll be in touch just before I leave. Here's to my final assault on Beijing!
Grace xx
PS. Thank you to everyone for your recent messages, they are great to read and very inspirational! Claire - yep, I'm meeting up with Cherry for some shopping help today and can't wait, hopefully she can do the haggling for me! Liz - I know, I'm crazy, but glad you are enjoying my blogs and have been away in the sun too. I will have to train myself not to spit at you when I get back! Libby & Mike - great to hear from you and wow you sure are travelling about too - keep me posted on Zurich! David A - sure I'll tell you the ins and outs of the train, it was an experience! I've just seen the Saints result, I say no more... Ali - thanks for your nice message, can't wait to catch up and check out the new swimming pool too:). Lucy - glad you got my postcard and are enjoying the blog too - I have taken about a million photos so may bore you stiff but I bring them along when we catch up! Laura - your messages are very funny, nope no Disneyland for me :( just lots of temples! And Sarah - thanks for your message from a while back, glad you got the postcard and looking forward to seeing you and everyone soon!
PS. I may have said a few not so nice things about Chinese people lately, well they're not that bad...they are really - come to China and see what I mean!
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