The Great Wall

An early start allowed me time to get my ATM card eaten by the Bank of China before three hours sleep on a bus took us to The Great Wall at Simatai. This is a mountainous (well, hilly at least) area, and the wall snaked along a steep ridge. It was easy to see how this must have been a pretty handy bit of defence against marauding Mongols. We walked a gentle path to the second tower on this section, low down by a small reservoir, then began the climb up, along the wall. Lush greenery stretched down the rocky slopes on either side and the wall ahead faded into the hazy distance. It was steep enough to work up a good sweat pretty quickly, but I had to keep going as any stop had knick-knack vendors buzzing round you like flies, fanning you or trying to take your arm to 'help' you along. A pity, as it really is the sort of walk that you want to savour. Still, just beyond tower eight I was able to sit quietly and enjoy some peaceful contemplation. I walked part of the way down before taking the 'cable car' (rusty buckets with seats) the rest of the way. This was great - suspended in the misty quiet, looking back up at the wall.

Back in Beijing, there was just time to run through a fantastic rainstorm, splashing through rivers swirling well over my ankles, to get to the bank and beg for my card. Luckily Li came with me to translate useful questions such as 'What does it look like?' (they already had my name and the issuing bank, so I couldn't think of much to add - rectangular and about this big? Anyway, I'm pleased to say that card and I are now reunited.

In the evening we set off to see "Chun Yi - the story of Kung Fu." Which is basically a sort of Andrew-Lloyd-Webber meets karate kid show. It was both naff and spectacular. Well, a spectacle at least. And there were some pretty good acrobatics, kung-fu based dances and so on, including a noisy and impressive stage full of men doing loud and whacky things with swords, shields and athletic bodies.