China - The Great Wall & Forbidden City (Beijing)

Finally after another gruesome night train we reached our final destination Beijing. After quickly checking in to our hotel we left for an excursion to Tienanmen and the Forbidden City. Tienanmen was kind of a disappointment. Having heard so much about it (not only about the student uprising) it is basically nothing else but a huge open space covered in concrete, surrounded by the Mao Mausoleum, the National Museum, the "parliament" and the entrance gate to the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City

The entrance gate to the Forbidden City. Mao is supervising who is entering.

There were lots and lots of people walking towards the entrance, almost as many if not more than in Angkor Wat. I had a hunch that it would not be a peaceful strolling through the Forbidden City.

Bummer ..... most of the important buildings were covered in scaffolding to give them a new polish before the Olympics.

View through a partially open gate of the Forbidden City into the outside world? Or just a different part of the city?

Inside the city .....

Loved this sign ... no flowers to be seen, but you are not allowed to pick them.

"Mode of transportation" ... a bike rickshaw comes handy when you need a nap.

"Mode of transportation 2" - Oisin (from Ireland) and myself tucked into a small bike rickshaw on our way through the narrow alleys of an older part of Beijing, close to Tienanmen and the Forbidden City.

The Great Wall

The Great Wall, one of the wonders of the world, was enlisted in the World Heritage by UNESCO in 1987. The Great Wall winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus stretching approximately 6,700 kilometers (4,163 miles ) from east to west of China. With a history of more than 2000 years, some of the section of the great wall are now in ruins or even entirely disappeared.

We did a 10 km hike on the wall from Jinshanling towards Simatai, it was quite strenuous up and down many steps. We saw several well preserved areas of the wall (usually close to tourist areas), but also many stretches of wall in complete disrepair and crumbled to pieces. This photo was taken on a section where the wall and watch towers were not in the best condition.

Sometimes it was quite dangerous to hike along the wall. The steps and sidewalls were sometimes crumbling or had disintegrated completely..... and when you are afraid of height like me it is a little more difficult.

Unfortunately the weather was not too great, but I hope that some of the shots look good and will give you some impression how magnificent this structure still is.

The wall in this area was basically built along the ridge of the mountains. It must have been an interesting logistical task to make this happen. I assume the wall was started in several different locations and the building materials transported on the finished parts of the wall.

Unfortunately it was not a clear day, but I hope you can make out the wall on the far horizon on top of the mountain range.

Our last task was to climb down several flights of stairs and then walk across a rope bridge to the other side of the canyon.