Images of China

At the hotel

The hotel we have been put up in is modern and very luxurious with a grad extrance and guard who salutes every time we drive or walk past. The hotel has its own fishing ponds for carp and you can hire rods etc. I hav swum a couple of time but it is so expensive about NZ$18 a swim but ohhhh so good after being out and about in the heat. the pool is a lijke a commercial cmplex but no one hardly uses it so each time I have swum a life guard comes out and sits there waiting for me to drown and give him something to do. In the ladies they run around turing on showers, bringing towels, opening lockers and just making sure everything is as one could possibly want. rather disconcerting when you are used to doing everything yuirself. the hotel has so many staff. Today we are all exploring Tiananmen square , shopping and the Forbidden city. Time is quite limited as we also have meeting in the early afternoon so having an early start into town and hopefully it will be a little cooler.

At Beijing Course the only Kiwi

Great wall of China

2007 China

Today we organised a bus to the Great Wall of China. Organising anything out of the ordinary takes time in China but we managed it. It was about 37 degrees and most of the clim was down hill as we all cheated and caught the gondola up to the first point of access. The steps are all inconsistent with some just 5 cms and others 50 cms so at times it was a slog climbing up and down. Along the wall are areas similiar to garretts where the temperatures drop ut of the suna nd many peopple just stop, smoke and eat in the shade. Locals have carted water and drinls for the tourists and are hawking them along the wall.There are 3000 m able to be walked and orginally there were 6kms of wall. The wall was only ever breached once in its history and that was when one of the local important commander's wife was taken as a concubine by the emperor and in revenge the commander allowed the mongolians through the gate . I guess his life was cut short. The views are amazing looking across the hills and mountains. today we have had blue sky as the smog is a thick haze across the city and stretching towards the valleys, hills and rural areas.