Day 2

We woke this morning to clear blue sky and sunshine feeling very refreshed and ready for the Great Wall. Apparently blue sky and sunshine is a rarity. Breakfast was excellent and we probably ate more than we should but we are on holiday so we indulged. 

At 8am we set off for the Great Wall. Rather than go to the nearest touristy section, we were driven 2.5 hours to a very quiet section. It took an hour just to get out of Beijing. The traffic is unbelievable. In London you pay to drive into the city. In Beijing you take turns depending on the numbers on your number plate. Sunday is a free day and I think the whole of Beijing was on the roads yesterday. We've never seen congestion like it. 

We arrived at our quiet section of the wall and off we went. The steps are either very shallow or very deep which made it quite tiring. It was quite amazing and unbelievable that it stretches for 6000 miles. It was also lovely having it to ourselves. As you can see from the photo, we had it to ourselves, apart from the women guides who accompanied us. I suppose they're a bit like beggars but they weren't begging. They had all sorts of stuff that they wanted us to buy at the end but that we didn't want. Instead we gave 100 yuan which is equivalent to £10, no strings attached, but they still weren't happy. In the end you just have to be rude and ignore them. 

The other disappointment of the day was the champagne picnic on the Wall. I think our guide thought we were joking when we asked where the champagne was when he was handing out the Subway chicken sandwiches that he'd had made up before picking us up at 8am.  Now to me a chicken sandwich, bag of crisps and a can of coke does not equate to 'Luxury tours receive a champagne picnic on the Wall', especially when said picnic has been carried in a rucksack for a couple of hours with the temperature 29c. Whilst on the bus returning to Raffles I penned an email to Cox and Kings and have already been assured that their Product Manager will be in contact with the ground organisers here to sort things out!!!! We'll see. 

We arrived back at 4:30 and it was a quick shower and change to be back out at 5:15 to go to the most famous Peking Duck restaurant in China. Because the traffic is so bad plenty of time has to be allowed to get anywhere. 

This is our chef carving our duck, which was delicious, as was everything else that was brought to the table. We all ate mountains of food before being whisked away to see a show, The Legend of Kung Fu. 

Now after the disastrous Flamenco Show in Spain I was a bit worried about this one. I needn't have been as it was wonderful. The whole show and the dance in particular, moved both himself and me to tears in places as it was so beautiful. Certainly something that we will remember. 

Now we are back in our room and just about to round the evening off with a glass of whisky. Well we can't bring an open bottle home, can we? Cheers.