Darran's Diary (London to Beijing): Great Wall 4th July

Not having a bike now and flight not until Tuesday, there is only one thing to do and that is the tourist bit for the last couple of days.
Cannot believe i have just said that as it only seems a short while ago that we started off in London and now it is finished.
OK off we go to the great wall which is over two hours away by coach even though the thing is at least 4500 miles long and it goes slow. I would have liked to have ridden the bike to the wall as the roads are good and twisty and a photo of the bike with the wall in the background would have been excellent. Just have to remember that this is the first trip and tweeks will be made for people doing it next year. I know that this can be seen from space so as we get near it is instantly obvioujs

The wall we are seeing is not the usual tourist bit and therefore means it is quiet, there is even an official sign saying it is not open to the public but his does not deter the people from the local village

Access is across the dam and then up the side of the hill not to the tower you can see in the picture but the next one. The temperature is over 40 Deg C again so it is going to be hard work.
This climbs really quickly and ther are sections where there are no stops but the floor slopes. I am sure their is a very good reason military wise for this but it makes for sweaty walking. You can see it in the picture with me in it and the wall follows the contour of the mountains. Our guide for the day calls it the biggest Tomb ever for all the people who died and are incarcerated into the structure of the wall

Time to get back to the coach for the aircon and we also have a show to see tonight called “Cheng YE, the story of Kung Fu”. Very similar to the series of “kung fu” on the TV years ago with David Carradine, of the training of the Shaolin Monks
It combines the martial art with a story and art and dance. IT was brilliant and very entertaining and the fighting choreography was just superb.
No picture allowed but i did get a few sneaky shots and some of the peformners after the performance. The Chinese do tour this show so if you get a chance , you must go and see it.