Day 03 - Sunday 15th May

The main goal for today was to visit the Great Wall of China. Suzy’s research back home had discovered a driver who would take us there and back rather than using a tour bus. The driver’s web site described him as Beijing Joe. He said he would meet us in the hotel foyer at 9am carrying a sign saying “Joe”.

He arrived five minutes early. The car was large and comfortable. It even had working seat belts – although Joe did not wear his. It had air conditioning but he only turned it on when we were stuck in traffic. Otherwise, he relied on partially open windows to provide the cooling we needed.

After negotiating with car park attendants and police, he managed to take us close the entrance the chair lift that takes you to the Great Wall.

Near the entrance, there is a garden that starts off looking quaint and then leads you into an amazing underground cavern that reminded me of Jenolan Caves. This leads to a walking path that you can use to climb up to the Great Wall. This would be ideal for fitness fanatics and registered masochists who are looking for an early cardiac arrest.

We took the cable car. Joe told us that it is best to walk north along the wall from the top of the cable car until post 23. Beyond this point, the wall has not been restored and can be dangerous.

Even for the restored part, the journey takes you up and down along the stone walkway before heading up and up and up to the first peak. It is a challenging walk for most people. The last section is very steep.

The views are very worthwhile – especially once you get to the top. The feeling of achievement in getting there is even better. Those ancient Chinese warriors must have been very fit. We had to be very careful travelling down again but it was obviously not as tiring.

At the bottom of the cable car, we were confronted again by the street merchants trying to sell us their wares. They are very pushy. It is hard to get past them. If you want a cheap T-shirt, saying “I climbed the Great Wall”, this is where to get it.

Joe was waiting for us at a café for lunch. When we went in, they told us that they only had soup (plus lots of trinkets and T-shirts). The other choice was Subway but this did not appeal to us.

Suzy had read that there was a nearby restaurant called the School House and so Joe drove us there. It was a good choice. The restaurant is owned by westerners and caters for westerners.

Suzy wanted to visit a market in Beijing and so Joe dropped us there rather than at our hotel. It was in a multistorey building that is crowded with merchants and teeming with customers. We bought two pairs of trousers for me and some cashmere jumpers. We had been told that you need to bargain and Suzy did a great job in doing so. In the second shop, the salesgirl looked exhausted by the time Suzy had bargained her down to an acceptable price.

We caught a taxi back to the hotel from the taxi rank outside the market. The taxi organiser was quoting a price that we knew was too high but we were prepared to be conned to be able to get back to the hotel in time for happy hour without having to try to flag down a taxi out on the main road.

After happy hour and more red wine, we went off looking for somewhere for dinner.

We needed to get more cash and so we went to the Bank of China ATM in the building next door. The machine did not give us any cash but printed a receipt telling us to contact our bank. This seemed strange because the people before us and after us managed to withdraw cash.

Near the hotel, we were amazed to see several brides and grooms lined up on the narrow concrete median strip next to the service road having their photos taken. In the background was an array of pretty blue fairy lights along the highway plus heavy Saturday evening traffic. I’ve yet to see this scene on the median strip on the Pacific Highway at Gordon.

For dinner, we found an Irish pub in a very fancy hotel nearby.