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.

Day 02 - Saturday 14th May

The flight to Beijing was due to take off 20 minutes after midnight local time (or 2:20pm Sydney time). By that time, we were getting quite tired.

The plane was very old. There were no TV screens. After take-off, they offered us a small entertainment unit that was like a game machine with headphones. To watch a movie, you sat it on your meal table and fiddled with the controls below the screen. We didn't bother.

When Suzy did her research on the seats for this leg, she found that the seats recline slightly – nowhere near turning into a bed. It was like sleeping sitting up. Then again, it was much better that economy class because there was plenty of leg room. We managed to get a few hours of good sleep.

The baggage pickup and passport check at Beijing airport were quick and we got a taxi promptly to take us to the Park Plaza Hotel.

Although it was before 8am, the hotel had our room ready. I think it helped that I had joined their loyalty club – Club Carlson. It’s a very nice room on level 12.

After a shower and change of clothes, we took up their offer of a free cup of coffee on level 15. Then we consulted the concierge in the lobby and decided to book a tour for Monday to see some the key highlights.

Next we headed off on foot for Tiananmen Square which is about 45 minutes away. The plaza is located across the road from the entrance to the Forbidden City.

People told us that it is just a great big square and they were spot on. There were crowds of people everywhere including endless tour groups. Some were assembling to cross the road to go to the Forbidden City.

There are large impressive buildings on both sides of the square, several monuments and a huge flag pole with the Chinese flag guarded by symbolic sentries.

At the southern end of the plaza is a building that is a memorial to Chairman Mao. The queue for this building was very long. When we left, we realised that it went around the corner and I couldn’t see the end of the queue as it disappeared into the distance. It was even bigger than the opening of an Apple store.

We walked back to the hotel for a rest before catching a taxi to the acrobat show that we had booked online back in Sydney. The show was very impressive.

The hotel had told us to allow 45 minutes to get there but it had only taken 15 minutes. On the other hand, the trip back took us more than 45 minutes – partly because of the heavy traffic and partly because it took us 20 minutes to flag down a taxi that not only was available but also knew where the hotel was.

We reached the hotel in time for the end of the happy hour. We needed a drink to recover from the Beijing traffic. Next we had dinner at the hotel and retired early for a good night’s sleep after a hectic start to our holiday.

Day 01 - Friday 13th May

I’d booked a taxi online yesterday for 10:30am with Taxis Combined. Suzy later told me that she prefers to use Silver Service because they are more reliable and so I was even more nervous about whether the taxi I’d booked would arrive. As it turned out, it arrived five minutes early.

This morning, a man had climbed onto the Harbour Bridge causing the bridge to be closed. So, the next worry was whether the bridge traffic had recovered in time for our trip to the airport. When we got to the Warringah Freeway, the traffic was still banked up almost to Cammeray – almost like peak-hour traffic.

Although it was a little slow, it didn’t turn out to be a big problem. In fact, we arrived at the airport soon after 11am. I’d allowed plenty of time - our plane wasn’t due to leave until 2pm.

The queue for economy class was very long but because we were travelling business class we walked past this queue to the business class queue. There was nobody in this queue and we walked straight up to the check-in counter. My guess is that we would have been waiting in the economy queue for more than an hour.

Even at the customs departure area, we were able to use the Express Lane and saved more time. So we were in the Malaysia Airlines business lounge soon after 11:30am. This gave us plenty of time for a Scotch and a snack.

They called us 20 minutes because departure time. Once again we did not have to queue with everyone else but walked past the queue to the business boarding gate.

When the plane pulled back from the gate with a jolt, it felt as though we really were on our way for our big adventure holiday after all the planning and anticipation.

The plane was a fairly old 747. The service was good and the meals were good but not as good as some other airlines were have used. The seats reclined a long way back. However, they weren’t completely flat. We managed to get a rest for two or three hours despite a screaming baby nearby.

Although, the flight was supposed to be 8 hours 30 minutes, we arrived almost 30 minutes early. Normally this would be good news but our next flight didn’t leave Kuala Lumpur until just after midnight. It gave us more time to relax in the Malaysia Airlines lounge.