Saturday 5th August 2017
We were up early again today as our tour (420CNY each plus tip) was to commence at 8am. Destinations – Great W all then Summer Palace without tourist shopping stops. It will be a big day again.

Traffic was to be our nightmare today. First change of plan was o swap the itinerary around as the crowds at the wall are usually less in the afternoon. Being the weekend the crowds will be worse. So we headed to the Summer Palace first. We struck a little traffic on the way but it kept moving, sometimes slowly but still it was moving. The Summer Palace was the home of the Empress. We saw meeting rooms, prayer halls, statues, special rocks that took 2 dynasties to move. One of the large rocks was used to block the vision from the courtyard entrance into the meeting room. Their was a 700m long outdoor covered corridor, which had 14,000 pictures painted on its, beams and ceiling for the Empress’ entertainment. Each painting was different. The corridor went from her living quarters to the restaurant/food hall. This was because it was recommended to walk 700m after eating to aid digestion, so she could go to the eating hall by carriage but had to walk home, thus the reason for the covered corridor. In the eating hall there were 3 tables all prepared with the same food, the first table was for looking at the food, the second table was for smelling the food and the third table was for eating the food. No-one was allowed to eat the food from the 1st and 2nd table, it was thrown out. The corridor was a beautiful walk by the lake (not frozen this visit), Their were a couple of blossom trees still in flower and the lotus flower was also still in bloom. Her residence was located high on the hill. The roof was grey at this palace but at the Emperor’s residence the roof is yellow. The Empress was called the Dragon Lady. She ruled for over 40 years because her husband died young and her son was too young to rule, then something happened that prevented him from ruling and the Empress named her grandson to be Emperor but he was only 4 so she continued to rule. Very clever Dragon Lady. The grounds were huge, the lake was man made and the dirt was used to make the hill for the house to sit on. It was very beautiful.

It took us over 30mins just to exit the Summer Palace Street as cars were parked both ways and there was only room for one car to go one way as well as scooters and pedestrians. We sat still for 15mins before our driver got out and went to see what was happening. He got cars to move over and around so we could get out.

Next stop – The Jade Factory and lunch. I know I said no shops but this was added to the itinerary when the email came back after payment. What I wasn’t expecting was that the tour guide (Sue) would say we were also going to the Medicine Healers (massage) and/or Tea House if we had time. So much for ‘No Shops”. The Jade Factory was quite interesting – Jade comes in many colours not just green. It can be green of many shade, white, black, rusty brown and red. The way to check that it is real jade is that it doesn’t scratch and it it translucent. There were many pieces to purchase, small and large and elaborate with minute details. The most intriguing is a set of hollow balls within each other. Started from a large square block and carved within each other. The most elaborate a boat that took one year to carve. The carvers technique is learnt from their family. There are no schools to teach this art. Whilst in the factory we were followed by sales girls frequently asking if we wanted to try on some jewellery in the view to buy. Something Benny and I just Love. Not. We had a look around and then went to lunch in their restaurant. A Chinese meal.

On our way again, heading for Badaling Great Wall which had a cable car up and down as well as walking. Great option for us with varied ages. Or so we thought. After about 10 mins driving we came to a stop, Sue said we need to change plans and go to a different section of the wall as it was going to take 2.5 hours to get 50km to the wall. She suggested we drive for 2 hours to Mutianyu Great Wall but would only have 6 mins in cable car up a quick walk and 6 mins down. Even though this was supposed to be one of the prettiest sections, it wasn’t walking the Wall which we were very keen to do. She then suggest Juyong Great Wall, 10km closer than Badaling but on a different highway. Downside, no cable car and very very steep wall. We didn’t really have a choice in the end because on looking at road App again it was going to take 11 hours to get to the other sections. Weekend Traffic – A nightmare.

We finally reached Juyong Great Wall at 2.30pm and we had agreed to forgo the Medicine Clinic and Tea House to spend more time on the Great Wall. This was fine by us as we really didn’t want to go there anyway but a disappointment for Sue as she gets commission for taking people to each of the tourist stops. We were only to have 2 hours on the wall due to the time it took us to get there. Oh well, so off we go. Benny and Helena headed straight up and I was to stay with Colleen and go a little way up, then go back down with her to the cafe and then head up again myself and Benny would pick me up on the way back. But this was not the case, Colleen walked a little way up the wall and then she insisted I go and meet Ben, which I did. I met him up a couple of Towers and we hiked up to the 12th Tower. It was very steep, the steps varied between 40cm and others were 10cm and any in between, this made it difficult to get momentum and on the way down it was very tricky. It was very crowded to the first two towers but after that the crowds thinned out so that by the time we reached the highest tower there was only a sprinkle of walkers. It was very beautiful. Unfortunately due to time restrictions (we probably only needed an extra 30 mins) we were unable to do the loop and had to go down the same way. I was grateful for the little souvenir shop halfway down as I had an ice block from there.

The way down was a lot easier except for the occasional misjudgement of a big step, that came on you by surprise.

We got home at 6pm. 1.5 hours for 50km. Traffic seemed to flow until we got near the city.

We then had a Korean BBQ for dinner – Lettuce, carrot, cucumber for wrapping the BBQ items (which I luckily asked about just before the end of the meal). Squid, chicken wings, beef strips and cattle ligament. Potato, sweet potato, zucchini and mushroom. After choosing our meals based on pictures a waitress came and cooked for us on the circular BBQ in the middle of the table. The cattle ligament was our ‘try something new’ dish. It was chewy but tasty OK. The Korean BBQ  was another new experience and something I will look for again.

We had a lovely night with Benny and Helena.