The last leg of the 194 day RTW trip (sadly). So looking forward to coming back to Gordon Brown's New Britain & joining the fastest growing trend in the UK economy - the massed ranks of the unemployed. Hear doing your expenses is the new way of earning a living & more...
We had 4 days in Beijing, with the final journey being done by flight and not some mammoth train ride. Day one & two were both early starts in attempts to miss the crowds, as there was a 3 day bank holiday over Friday & the weekend for Labour Day, so everything was packed. Beijing with 17 million people is bad enough, when you start to add a few more million, everything gets very congested.
Day one was the 10km walk on the Great Wall, on the scenic section 3& 1/2 hours out of Beijing. This was the Jinshaling to Simatai walk which is said to be the most scenic as the wall climbs through the mountains. Weather was awful when we arrived -really wet which probably helped keep the crowds down. After about 2 hours it began to clear & by the time we were coming off the wall the sun was fully out. Glad their were no UK Health & safety representatives on the wall or we would never have been allowed on it!
Day two was another early rise to get to the Forbidden City before the crowds. By 9.30am we were pretty much crowded out of the place. The City itself is a series of magnificent buildings, but all began to look similar after a time & you couldn't get near any to go inside because of the crowds. Next we walked to Tiannamen Square but had to pay to walk through the gardens as the roads there were too congested with pedestrians. Warned by our tour guide to be on our best behaviour there, or we may be 'disappeared & taken for re-education'. Sounds like coporate training to me! After this our time was our own for the next 2 & 1/2 days to explore as we wished. Gill & I headed for the Pearl Market (which does a lot more than pearls). Here we bought her birthday present of a pearl necklace, & then we returned the next day when she added a set of earings & a ring (Christmas present 2009 - I'm now in credit!).
We tried to do the new museum (couldn't find it), & the National museum was closed. We also tried to visit the Aquarium which is supposed to be the best in the world, only to find our Intrepid book had listed the wrong price, it was actually 12 times more expensive than they said, so didn't go in, as down to our last few Yuan by then. Gill visited the Lama temple at the crack of dawn & the Temple of Heaven (I spent the morning sleeping!). Spent some time walking & seeing some local streets, including one very trendy area with little bistros & cafes. We also moved hotel for the last 2 nights to go down market as no longer on the tour, & checked in to the International Youth hostel, which was fine. Had our Last Supper with the tour group on the Sunday & we all visited the Night Market, where some had the appetite to eat scorpians. We had Monday to ourselves - so did more last minute shopping in the Silk Market, bartering hard for a Rolex watch (another genuine fake).
Tuesday we flew home, parying that Gordon Brown was going to meet this flight from Beijing, as he had done with a previous flight. One message for him though: Chinese Communism is the best Capitalist model I have ever seen - ther it works, & ant cheating bankers or politicians would be 'disappeared or taken for re-reductation'.....
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