BEIJING Ba Da Ling Great Wall of China

One of my dreams was to scale the Great Wall of China. This dream was realized. We took a train from Beijing North station to Ba Da Ling. That day it was drizzling in the morning and a bit misty in the early part of the day. The train ride took one hour.

We took the easy way out. We caught a cable car ride up to midway and then scaled up to the max point on foot. A sensational feeling overwhelmed me when I could see the Great all way down below when the sky began to clear.

Although the feeling of seeing the Great Wall for me was not one that was emotional for me it was, still, quite moving. What an engineering feat, and what a dream it was to want the Great Wall built!

( it was thought on the average 1 person died for every 1 meter of the Wall constructed. The Great Wall is over 8000 km long. So mathematically, 8 million workers perished building the Great Wall)

BEIJING ..... FINALLY

I HAVE LONGED TO SEE the Great Wall and Tienanmen Square for many years and this time we made it! Beijing sounded so mysterious to me all this while. Even when I was doing business in China I never got to visit this great city and spent all the time in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

We caught the bullet train from Tianjin to Beijing - a journey of 113km and made it in 30 minutes. And it only cost us RMB 69 per person (A$10). It was ultra comfortable and efficient. Trains depart from Tianjin Station every 15 minutes and arrive at Beijing South Station.

Arriving Beijing South we thought we would be adventurous and caught the underground subway. From memory we caught the #4 train and changed to #1. After asking around the cops for direction at Wangfujing station we finally made it to Wangfujing Grand Hotel, our abode for the next few days.

Beijing on a rare blue sky day. Taken outside our hotel room

China National Library

One of my wishes come true - Tienanmen Square

The irony of Chinese translation

Sustainable Environment message - billboard

On the last day of our Beijing trip we caught a cab to the North of the city just so we could stand in front of the Bird Nest and the Water Cube and take these shots! The return trip took us one hour!

This hotel is supposed to look like a dragon, with its head in the far left of the photo. This is the only 7 star hotel in China

We spent many a meal at McDonald's

Beijing South Station