Sunday 15th - Alone in Beijing

Sunday 15th April

Oh the bliss of not waking up at some ungodly hour by the telephone - or it would have been if I had not woken up at 7am out of habit!! It seemed strange to think that the rest of our group were being counted by Ian on the first leg of the flight back to Abu Dhabi and stranger to think that in 24hours that would be our fate! We consumed a vast breakfast - after all we'd have to arrange our own food today and we weren't sure our five Chinese phrases would be up to that!!

Bravely and to the incredulity of the hotel staff we decided to travel around on the metro... first challenge find the metro! The walk down seemed fairly straightforward - but after having been co-opted into a young couple's wedding photos (Do they really want me on their mantelpiece for the next 20 years?) and giggling at some of the shops (a sweet shop called Drooling really should be on every British street!) meant it took ages... The metro was a blast - 20p for a ticket to travel as far as you like - maps in English and Chinese and best of all - no-one taller than me on the trains so no face in armpit situation!!

We started off at the Silk Market proper (via a quick geocache down the road!) The traders at the silk market are far more aggressive than the Yashow market we visited yesterday - Laydee Laydee Pretty Laydee buy my gucci handbag/rolex watch/hermes scarf accompained by so much grabbing of arms that a generous spreading of hand gel was required at the end. They were also very underhand there often slipping inferior goods into bags as you paid - Luckily Lisa was eagle eyed and didn't end up with even more rubbish than we were actually buying!

We then decided to go and find some more geocaches in the parks around the Forbidden City - remembering to count ourselves regularly of course! The parks were amazing - full of people performing karaoke at the tops of their voices - what they were singing was completely indescribable out of tune, off key and with microphone feedback - but cheered me up no end - finally I have seen music performed worse than me! This was all tempered with a Welsh Male Voice Choir - or so we thought - it actually transpired to be some chinese male voice choir accompanied by an accordian outside the toilets !!?? (usual state of course!!) The Bei Hei Park was particularly spectacular as we climbed the Lama temple (without walking poles :-() and were treated to a view of the whole city. The Forbidden City looked huuge (and certainly worthy of the boast of having 9,999 rooms) and all the new high rise buildings behind made for quite a spectacle.

The plan was to return to Tianamen Square in a rickshaw - but the word had obviously gone out among rickshaw drivers that Lisa and I were to be avoided - so sadly it was another long walk - only the thought of a final beer kept me going. We had decided to watch the lowering of the flag on Tianemen Sq - and judging by the size of the crowds it was going to be really impressive... several soldiers goose stepping around the flag and a flag being lowered may be impressive to the Chinese - but we're used to Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace after all, so it seemed a little flat - still not something I am ever likely to see again. So that's it - Chinese adventure over - all that remains is a taxi ride to the airport and 24 hours of flying home. I'm not sure life will ever be the same again - I would love to do another challenge - hopefully with Lisa if she's still speaking to me after a week of my snoring!

Thanks for reading - Until the next time!!

Sat 14 April: Beijing - day 2

Saturday 14 April

The last official day of the Action Challenge tour started in pretty much exactly the same way as every other morning had - with a wake up call. . . sadly the leap from Chinese beer (3.1%) to Chinese wine (not sure of proof!)was a little noticeable!! Technically today was a free day in Beijing - but we had all signed up for a tour around Beijing and so at 9am sharp we all gaily boarded the bus for our last day together. The traffic in Beijing is something else - eight lanes of traffic - all honking and all desperately running through pelican crossings - still it meant I had a small snooze before we arrived at the Temple of Heaven - built for the emperors to worship in the Chin dynasty. We had to run through the usual gauntlet of the 'Hello hello laydee laydee' sellers and how to put it - slightly more 'mature' Chinese people having early morning yoga/exercise/hacky sack games in the park... we tried the Chinese version of hacky sack - which has feathers on some disks and were embarrassingly awful at it - so back to the sightseeing which we were much better at!!

The temple of heaven was wonderful - very similar to the Forbidden City - but we had a lot do do so it was 'chop chop' let's move along. . . and into a tea shop - another selling opportunity - but really interesting - we learnt how to hold our tea cups - so has not to appear wanton - and how to drink tea to look 'sexy'... I think I might need several gallons a day to even begin to have this effect - but a girl can dream! We were then taken through the Hutong - an old area of narrow streets - only possible by Rickshaw. Pity the poor man that had to pull Lisa and myself - on a bike with no gears and no motor - I hope he had his ginseng for breakfast - he certainly didn't seem as smiley as everyone else's rickshaw driver!! The Hutong are fab - really crazy interesting place - the only downside being that the houses don't have bathrooms so all the locals use the public toilets - meaning that you need nostrils of steel as you sail past in your rickshaw!

We spent the first art of the afternoon at the Summer Palace - not my favourite part of Beijing as it was full of people - or was it just that I knew our next stop off point was the Yashow Market (aka Knock Off market). Two hours of the most intense shopping ever. If you want to buy something in Beijing - they sell it here - all total knock off - between us we left with Ugg boots, mulberry handbags, rolex watches, Paul Smith t-shirts, Abercrombie t-shirts, angry birds t-shirts, Chairman Mao t-shirts, lego, silk scarves, quicksilver t-shirts, marc jacobs bags, converse bags, CK boxers and Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts and we certainly didn't even get close to spending £100 between us!! Lisa was a legend at bartering - she made on woman cry - and there were areas of the market we were scared to re-visit as we had bartered a little too hard!

All too soon the day was over - and the rest of our group headed off to the airport leaving Lisa and myself feeling very forlorn.. who would count us ? decide what we would eat and drink? arrange our wake up call for goodness sake? How would we get around Beijing without our bus taking us from door to door - scary moments!!!

Fri 13 April: First day in Beijing city

Friday 13 April

Our day began with the promised lie in sadly cancelled... Another 7.30 start. We started at Tianeman Square - so many people compared to what we have been used to the past few days! There were so many people queuing to see Mao's mausoleum that the trail went right round the building and beyond, just about as far as you could see. Our guide was unsurprisingly reticent about discussing the events of 1989 and we were quickly moved on to the Forbidden City. Although it was still busy, it was worth every minute - beatific buildings and courtyards, some excellent information from our guide and (just as importantly!) a chance to grab our first cache in China - though we did have to make a run for it when our group leader was looking the other way and then run back before he realised we were missing!

It didn't seem long for us both to resume our usual positions at the back ifs the group - numbers 28 and a 29 in Ian's counting - and he was frequently exasperated at me running off to take a photo - my favourite being a classy shot under an umbrella advertising 'Bimbo'. . Another lunch in a fab restaurant - we are getting used to the Lazy Susans on each table - it will seem weird to have to pass around plates and glasses when we get home - but then again the thought of my children running amok with one ????

After lunch we stopped briefly at a silk museum - mainly for a hard sell - but actually it was really interesting to see the silk worms and to see some lovely quality goods - look out for those presents on our return - the visit was only marred by our guide who insisted on referring to herself in the third person much to our giggles - 'listen to Mary' 'Follow Mary' she barked in increasing desperation. . . Then onto the site of the Beijing Olympics - possibly not as impressive as it should be having a) spent lots of time at the London site and b) being pestered by the most ruthless street sellers we had come across. . . Scary people!! The only way to dodge them was to join the children playing in the fou twins - so of course I duly obliged!! Did you really expect me not to?

And back to the hotel for an extended pampering session ready for our gala dinner - or it would be if Lisa hadn't dragged me out to find a cache - got me lost - nearly killed me on the Beijing roads ( seriously the green man means nothing - it means you might die not you will definitely die in Beijing) and had me scrabbling in wee smelling rocks - luckily I found it or we might still be there!!!

The gala dinner was fab - our first taste og Beijing duck and some Great Wall of China wine !!!! Early start tomorrow postponed again So the late night wa probably not the best idea!!!

Matt's stats from the wall

Friday 13 April

Matt gave us all his stats from his pedometer and we thought you might be impressed with what we did on the wall - and also realise that we weren't just whingeing for no reason about the pain!!

Day 1 - we walked 20,129 paces (or at least Matt did he has longer legs than us) which equated to 9.49 miles - he used 5,479 calories and climbed 145 flights of stairs

Day 2 - we walked 16,274 paces which was 7.74 miles and burned 4,476 calories - not so impressive til you see that we climbed 190 flights of steps - that was the day of steps at Mutianyu. . .

Day 3 in Black Dragon Park we walked 16,274 paces or 8.55 miles burned 4,976 calories and climbed 130 flights of steps

Day 4 was a whopping 25,256 paces or 11.91 miles burning 6,173 calories and climbing 242 flights of steps

And finally the short day 5 was 15,379 paces or 7.67 miles burning 4,508 calories and climbing 119 flights of steps

a picture of Statto Matt (left) and his walking mate Dave

We're not sure how many steps are in a flight - guess that's a google job when we get home - now anyone got a calculator!!!

Thu 12 April: Last day on the wall

Thursday 12 April

Another early start and another dreadful breakfast - dried up fried eggs, bimbo bread and orange squash, all washed down with a brown liquid that we could not confidently identify. Packed lunch was identical to yesterday's... Yum. We walked past the 'soluble coffee' shop once more and made our way back up the steep slope and steps onto the wall. For our warm up we were met by a number of rather bemused looking locals who quickly joined in. For the next part of the walk something amazing happened - WE WEREN'T LAST! Although the route was shorter than yesterday to allow time for our transfer back to Beijing city, it had some spectacular moments.

 There were some very steep climbs with spectacular views and one particular section where the steps were at an angle of 70 degrees. By this point, Anya's knee had decided to swell up and she was forced to take the lower path - the 'easy' route (complete with rock climbing and sheer drops) while I (Lisa) tackled the steeper section. Rather impressively, I managed to tackle the whole section without once looking up, down, or over the (very low) sides - I looked only at the step in front of me.

After a lunch stop, it transpired that we were almost at the end of our trek. Our guide had originally thought that we might be up to a longer walk, but we could not manage the required pace - some were convinced that it was due to the night before's alcohol intake, but we suspect that it was more to do with exhaustion than the two bottles of 3% Chinese beer we had consumed!

The walk down from the wall was along a newly constructed path, through trees and gardens. Emotions ran high as people remembered the reason(s) they were there. Anya and I stepped down from the wall together, just as we had stepped in together 5 days before...

A glass of bubbly in hand, we toasted our success, our friends and families and remembered those who couldn't be with us. Stepping back onto the bus brought not only feelings of relief and happiness, but also a feeling of sadness that the trek was over...

Next, a 2 hour transfer to Beijing...

Wed 11 April: How far is it to Gubiekou?

Wednesday 11th April

The lodge did not look any more luxurious when we woke up this morning - and breakfast lived up to (low) expectations. . . We didn't have to make our own lunches today but the heavy reliance of spam at the breakfast table had not left us with high hopes . . . Closer inspection revealed we had been given spam and tomato sandwiches (6 slices of bread), cake (like the bread only slightly sweeter and with a distinctly fishy smell) and a peperami style sausage which revealed more spam with the aroma of dog food - so our packing included many snacks!

We didn't know it when we left but today's walk was a 7 hour brute covering more than11 miles - before we left Lisa and I both confidently felt that although the walk would be steep to get onto the wall it would be reasonably easy once We were up there. how wrong we were - the guide described the walk as undulating - I describe it as almost impossible. . We walked over 25000 steps covering 20 kilometres and at least 197 flights of steps. . . The only reason I could carry on was the amazing view that homed into the viewfinder every time things became too much. . . The view really was spectacular - as I type I am gutted that already the mental picture is fading. The end of the walk back down to Jinshanling Lodge was a bit blurry and even the poster exhorting us to come in and buy some soluble coffee didnt raise much of a smile.

However, a quick shower (it had to be quick as the hot water tank was tiny!) and a much more passable 'barbecue' meal - most of which appeared not to have been barbecued at all - left us feeling more positive. We had much entertainment watching the nearby youths get drunk on a single glass of wine and then it was into the Chinese name writing competition. We weren't good enough to win, but we were at least fortunate enough not to come in the bottom three. Rather surprisingly, Dave also managed to avoid being in the bottom three, despite us having added a number of 'embellishments' to his effort - as a punishment for him showing off about how easy it was. After a few bottles of cold Chinese beer we returned to our 'cells' to continue the party. However, a quick look at our room indicated that our time might be better spent packing as it resembled an explosion in a clothes factory. Tomorrow will be our last day in the wall... What a strange feeling.

Tue 10 April: Near death at Black Dragon Park

Tuesday 10th

Another early call and the rucksacks seem fuller than ever if that is possible. . . This morning we get the great news - it makes Subway sandwiches look a real treat - today we are going to stop and make our own packed lunches. . . - gasp horror! Cue 32 people queuing up to collect slices of 'Bingo' processed cheese, processed ham and what later turned out to be 6 month out of date wagon wheels (not really but they did taste like that) We arrived at Black Dragon Park in lots of clothes we had been told it would be cold and wet. . . Of course no trip would be correct without the obligatory toilet stop first - grim is not the word! It took every bit of strength Lisa possessed not to fall in - And I was not any more impressed - little did we know that just 20 metres away was a new toilet built specially for westerners - made of marble can you believe - thanks for telling us . Black dragon park really is spectacular - beautiful ponds with the mountains towering above-

 and yes there was evidence of cold - the ponds were thickly iced over - with workers using pick axes to try and break it up ready for the main Chinese holiday in a couple of weeks where they will spend the day frolicking in small boats on said iced over pond. . . The lunch didn't actually taste that bad - which was a good job given the afternoon ahead of us . . .

The afternoon started at the temple celebrating the black dragon that gives this region rain . . . Hundreds of feet above lay a new gleaming road - with a goat path leading up to it - but hang on a moment we haven't seen any goats this week- before this thought has settled Michael or guide has begun whizzing up the path at what can only be described as warp speed. . . . Ten minutes of this and I was having a mild asthma attack (aka a good sit down and a rest) and we eventually reached the road. . . To my horror there was no bus waiting there for us . Instead a short walk down the main road and then we were back on the wall - at least what was left of the wall - a tiny ledge with a sheer drop either side and a gradient downhill of 45 degrees - scary scary scary. . .

 Add to that lots of loose stones - at least we could see the bus now - several hundred feet directly below us - however we knew there was cold beer on board - and a marble toilet to visit!! I slowly learned not to shut my eyes when the drop was really scary and Lisa learned not to look over the sides! I am happy to report that we all made it down safely - although we had taken too long for the Chinese - the marble toilet was locked up and we had to content ourselves with a beer-

And so on to Jinshanling lodge - the rain finally arrived so we were an hour late arriving - it looked quite quaint but quickly we discovered there was no water, the electricity was interesting to say the least and rumours spread like wildfire about bed bugs. Harry another guide set us the challenge of teaching us to write our name in Chinese - apparently my name means Peaceful and Calm - something I am sure my children will find hard to believe - and Lisa means Beautiful Beautiful !!! Will our resident doctor was a bit horrified to discover his name meant small woman and NOT Big Warrior as he hoped - oh how we laughed!!!

The beds were more concrete than ever so the end of the day was not met with great optimism for sleep - Gubieku tomorrow!!