"Beijing, Olympic hosts 2008" a Beijing Travel Page by SirMustang

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Old Beijing, High Street

"traffic, what traffic"

What an experiance, airport to city centre in a taxi, hold on to your hat cause this is a must. I dont care if your from New York, London, Paris, Sydney where-ever, this place will have you beat for traffic jams, dodgems and orchestral horns, the whole thing is an experiance within its self and sets the tone for a fantastic week we had in China.

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Forbidden City

Chairman Mao looks out over the entrance to the Forbidden City. Crossing over a moat you enter through ornate gates through a passage way that is the closest you will ever get to going through a time tunnel. One minute 2005 next its 1460 and it's amazing how hard they are trying to preserve this massive historical city within a city.

At the moment (Nov 2005) they are refurbishing half the city so there is quite a bit of scaffold around, but there are still amazing buildings and historical notes to view and read even while this is going on.

Reading literal Chinese translation is the funniest thing you will see there. I wont spoil it for you but the "Keep of the Grass" type of sign takes on a whole new meaning over there. (If you look at the attached photo and read it will give you some idea).

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The Great Wall, once seen, never forgotten.

The Great Wall

You know when you really anticipate visiting somewhere and you really look forward to it and you build it up and build it up and when you get there its just a bit disappointing and not what you really thought it was going to be like, Well what ever you do if you get just one chance in life to visit the great wall please do it, or you will regret it. I was waiting 3 months to get over to China and view the wall, even on the tourist coach I was squirming around trying to be the first to catch a glimpse of the great Wall, and when you do get there and you do see it for the first time it takes your breath away. 4000 miles long, 5-6 metres wide there is absolutely nothing to compare with it on this planet.

We walked 7KM of the wall to the highest point, from a roller coaster which took us up the mountain to the start of the wall. (Yes is was a roller coaster, on a track with single carts to sit in that take you up the mountain, it only becomes the coaster bit on the way down). The view and the different types of people you meet there, from all over the world, is staggering and I have 2 hrs of video to prove it (sorry mum). So as I've said if you get the chance go. Oh and by the way, if you do head for the top, look out for a little Chinese man playing Auld Langs Hine (sorry if the spelling is wrong) on a penny whistle as he tries to sell you souvenirs from the wall.