This morning we met at 7o'clock for our 3 hour drive to the Jingshanling section of the Great Wall. We had heard it was swarming with tourists but luckily for us Intrepid organises trips to lesser-known places so it was just our group for the entire walk. It lasted about 5 hours and was really difficult at parts. It began with a 30minute walk up a steep hill to reach the wall and our guide was not one for hanging around! It was very steep up and down, with flat sections then small steps, big steps, a real mix of hard bloody work in the 30'C heat!! The Wall really is spectacular, and definately worth a visit. In China they say you only become a man if you visit the Great Wall (or woman in my case!) Some smaller parts of the wall were off limits so we had to walk up ands down the hillside for about 2 hours before we reached a section where we could get back on. There was to our surprise a man (in the middles of nowhere) with 2 water coolers full of ice lollies and cold water and coke! It was like a mirage when someones in the desert and they see a lagoon! Only in China!!

We took lots of pics (which will be on here soon we promise!) but they dont really sem to do it justice, it really is amazing. When we reached the end of our walk we discovered a cable car!! The easy route! We stayed in a nice guest house and were surprised that we had a private bathroom with hot water - heaven after the sweaty walk!

The following day we took the bus back to Beijing where we boarded a train heading for our next destination - X'ian. The group were split up for the journey so the two us had to endure thousands of questions from the four Chinese passengers in our compartment desperate to improve their English skills!