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Hello again,
Ok I need to say I can't access facebook here. The Chinese government block it and it is not allowed in China. It can be accessed through a proxy site so I can see a lot of you are messaging me on that but I can't reply to you. Annoying. Very!
Anyway Wednesday was an early start to get to the Great Wall of China. I was excited as apparently you can see it from space so even me with my "right eye" should be able to see this!
We travel in the mini bus for about an hour and a half. When we get off it is soooo cold and there is even sprinklings of snow on the floor. To get to the main bit of the wall you can either walk an hour or get the cable car. as we are walking 6KM of the wall, which is according to some a tough walk we opt for the cable cars. As my mum and dad and my ski Buddies will vouch I hate cable cars, I hate the height I hate the sensation. I hate everything about them. Even worse though when we get there it isnt in a cart is just a swinging bench that you have to hop on while moving (like the ski chair lifts and some of us know what joy I had with them)!
Anyway off we go swinging through the sky like Linford Christie without his lycra. Sally had 20 Minutes peace from me anyway on the upside, as I belive tooo much chatter creates more pressure on the rope. At the top we start our walk, Im a bit annoyed at the number of steps and all uneven and very steep. Sally asks me "are you ok Jen or are you going to struggle a bit with this", so I reply a very sure of myself "no, I'll be fine once Im off the steps". This is when she breaks it to me that 95% of the wall is steps................
I hope the photos show how steep it really is and how tough it gets. You are just constantly up and down steps, which makes no sense to me, why dont they just bloody flatten it out!
And how people can run it is beyond me. I complete the first walk with great differculty and Im unsure if to embark on the 2nd one. We meet some American guys who had all bought bright neon knock off addidas tracksuits, we nicked named them my scouse friends (photos will follow).
I decide to attempt the 2nd walk and Im a litle happier although it's further it isnt as steep. I then decide I like the wall again. By this point though Im so hot that I have had to remove my coat and all my layers (yes. just like an onion). You meet lots of people on the way, all sorts. We even met a couple who the guy had just proposed to his girlfriend at the wall with all his family present too ..... errrr no pressure then to say yes. Tacky, me thinks but anyway maybe that is the cynic in me (yes steps and cold make even me cynical on love).
After the walk, we are knackered and the way to get down is by toboggan, which is super fun. Although I think I maybe the only person who was told to speed up at the bits were we were told to go slow. To be diplomatic I took a little bit longer to get down than most and so did the people stuck behind me....
We then go for lunch, which was really tasty and we get chatting to a German guy who is studying in Shanghai like my friend Max who is also German, so I do what all foreigners do "oh, do you know my friend Maximillion", He did not!
so we head back to he hostel on the mini bus and are very welome of chinese tea. I have not mentioned but I have become addicted to it, so much so Im thinking I may be flooding my kidneys with the amount Im drinking.
I then mess about on the internet for abit (updating my blog from last time). Then it's time for the dumpling/hotpot party, so we delve in to soup and dumplings, which was tasty and free!
Then it's beer time or as the Swedish guys give us shots of rum, they call "it's a rum round". We sit in teh bar and have a few beers and then Sally and I decide to brave the local club. So off we go. Once we are in the club we find a seat and for the first time that evening ( this happens 4 more times during the evening) we get moved, we have no idea why but we notice there are pinapples all over the table and fruit shapes, a bit like something you would find on a tacky cruise or an all inclusive holiday to Tenerife. We figure that areas must be reserved but as we can't read Manadarin we have no idea of telling.
Also the guys there just keep sending drinks over to us, and don't appear to want anything in return. It's all very strange and some of the Chinese girls are dressd and dancing like hookers, seriously it makes UK clubs look like a tea dance!
We head home about 4am and in to bed.......
The next day I don't really have a lot to tell you apart from it consisted of Neurofen, water, groaning and waking up at noon, deciding to have another hour sleep and then the next thing we knew it was 18.45.......yes ashamed we had slept a whole day. I do blame the jet lag though.
We got our train tickets for Shanghai, had dinner, played pool and went to bed. Tomorrow is Shanghai!
I will try upload photos soon but the internet connection is soo slow I don't have enough hours in my life to do them.
Hope all good with you. Lots of love and hugs XXX
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