The Great Wall and the last day in Beijing

This was a thrilling site, living up to our expectations and more. The hotel organised a car and a driver for us on the weekend. Maybe a bit above the odds, but a good choice because he was quite a good driver compared to most of the kamikaze taxi drivers we had experienced and he even had seat belts and air conditioning. We drove a bit further out of town than the tourist buses usually go, to Mutianya, so we could climb the wall at a quieter place.

90 kilometres and over an hour and a half later, we arrived at the stretch of the wall called Mutianya. We rode up the very steep escarpment to the wall via a cable car.

Once at the top, the views were amazing.

The weather was stunning too.

We began to realise that the climb would be much steeper than we thought.

All told it is believed the wall may have been way over 10,000 kilometres long.

There are 26 Ming era watchtowers along this section of the wall.

On our last day we headed back to the city area.

This little girl was helping her mother sell flags.

This is the latest in sun hat styles.

Tian'anmen Square at night.

The Forbidden City.

The Summer Palace, the Lama Temple the Confucian Temple

Bill joined this tour and it was a good choice as the smog had cleared and the tour was probably the nicest.

The Summer Palace is really beautiful. It is the largest Imperial garden in China, covering 304 hectares and includes Lake Kunming.

One of the bridges on the lake.

On the boat taking us across the lake.

Another bridge and a pagoda.

Bill after the ride.

This is the Long Corridor, described as the longest art gallery in the world. It is 728 metres and is richly decorated with paintings on the beams and the ceiling. In total there are more than 14,000 paintings, which depict episodes from Chinese classical literature, folk tales, historical and legendary figures, famous Chinese buildings and landscapes along with flowers, birds, fish, and insects.

Next stop the Lama Temple, the centre of learning for the Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Lamas. It has five courtyards and temples in a row.

This was one of the few places we visited in Beijing which we actually had access to the inside.

These guys look pretty fierce.

More roof guardians.

The Confucian Temple was built in 1302, and officials used it to pay their respects to Confucius until 1911.

It is very peaceful...

and very colourful.

The conference dinner and around about the Olympic Park

The conference dinner included a performance of typical Chinese music and dance.

Contortionists.

Rapid face change dancer, quite amazing!

Beijing Opera singer. A very high pitched voice - interesting, but a whole evening of this might prove to be a bit trying.

Not sure where these Spanish dances came from.

The menu was quite amazing.

Actually the food turned out to be pretty ordinary.

Brendon, Grant and Jo. Note to Alexander and Mary - Bill is talking to Jane in the background.

View from our Hotel room. The breakfast here was amazing, a food station from every country you could possibly think of.

This was a hotel nearby shaped like a dragon - seven star - that's its name anyway.

Bill, Jo, Kirsty and Daniel outside the Olympic Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest.

The Olympic flame.

We went with Bill's friend Jo to a Peking duck restaurant. You can see our duck being dismantled in the background.

It came with it's own certificate...

...and all of it's parts.

This is for Thomas and Zoe. If you want to take Elliot to a playground in Beijing, here are the rules. And make sure you don't let him anywhere the grass.

Temple of Heaven, Tian’anmen Square and the Forbidden City

Another Conference Tour!  The Temple of Heaven, a complex of religious buildings, was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. The number nine represents the Emperor and is everywhere in the design of this Circular Mound Altar where a single round plate is surrounded by a ring of nine plates, then a ring of 18 plates, and so on for a total of nine surrounding rings, the outer ring having 9×9 plates.

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is a magnificent triple-gabled building, built on three levels of marble bases. The building is completely wooden, with no nails used in construction.

Inside one of the temples.

A silk factory was today's shopping opportunity and once again I left empty handed. The little white balls are the silk cocoons.

Next stop Tian'anmen Square, site of the 1989 massacre not mentioned in China. It is massive and the brochure says it's the largest square in the world. (Most things are the largest, biggest, tallest, longest etc). This is the Monument to the People's Heroes.

Mao's mausoleum on the square.

A great piece of monumental Communist sculpture.

These gardens soften the scene somewhat.

Gate tower to the Forbidden City, which faces one side of the square.

Joining the crowds inside the massive Forbidden City, the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political centre of Chinese government for almost 500 years. It was built in 15th century and consists of 980 buildings. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.

The more of these dragons and creatures decorating the roofs in China the more important the building.

The Emperor's time piece.

Just to prove I was there!