Dawn breaking over the wing as I slide up the window blind just a little. In stark contrast to the dark wet night back at Heathrow, clear blue sky with a tinge of pink and orange as the sun creeps up to herald the new day in Beijing. Very comfortable night with loads of leg room. Even slept quite a bit after a very nice lamb hotpot. Hardly a murmur from little Archer and he’s still sleeping after our interesting breakfast of Congee with prawns followed by cheesecake and coffee. Still utterly amazed at the price of this flight and my companions paid even less – £350 each to get to the other side of the world and back!
I currently find myself in a local restaurant on the way back from the Great Wall. Zhang has been brilliant in looking after me. Just sipping some tea while waiting for pork dumplings. Way too many dumplings and all for just 20 yuan (a couple of quid). The Starbucks I just bought in the airport to keep me going til midnight cost me 33 yuan!!
Going back to earlier today…. Yes it was such a relief to see Zhang in arrivals holding up my name. Needless to say, the Great Wall of China was awesome and made even better by the glorious warm sunshine. Stunning light for painting! All the extra layers I brought for this apparently snow-clad wall was totally unnecessary – hat gloves and scarf left in Zang’s car. A tee-shirt would’ve done. I should know better than to worry about these things! I gave up counting the number of steps up and down the undulating way but I did get almost to the top of the left hand summit of Mutianyu.
I’m sure I will sleep well on the flight to Auckland tonight. I would fully recommend WildGreatWall Adventure Tours. I’m glad I didn’t opt for a guide. Zhang’s broken English was good enough for me in the car and he even gave me a mobile to phone him in case of troubles. It was so peaceful high up on the wall by myself with very few tourists about. The views across the mountains on either side were stunning.
I had hoped to get the last two days up on the blog but the Wifi in Beijing Airport is rubbish. I find this hard to believe as the airport itself is huge and up to the minute with every convenience, the biggest one I’ve set foot in, and I have passed through a few! I had to take a train from the terminal to the main entrance earlier. This evening I probably walked a good half mile from the train to the lounge for my NZ flight so not suffering from lack of exercise today!
just sorted wifi after chatting with lovely Chinese girl who works at the airport but has also travelled widely like me. She put her own code in.
Just boarding for Auckland…..