I'll leave you with the last pic I took on the Mutianyu Great Wall. 

Hilly ain't it? 

Tower window looking out. 

pics 

pics pics 

pics pics pics 

Doorway of the tower looking out.. 

Treasure and I in front of a tower (or whatever it's called). 

Ahhh.. clear skies. 

Off the cable car and onto the Wall. 

Cable car 

Cable Car view 

View from cable car 

Day 4

The Mutianyu Great Wall

I was picked up from my hotel at 10:40 in the morning. It was a little strange being picked up so late, but it wasn't a full day tour either..

Anyway, once I got on the bus I found out that the tour company added a load of people to the tour just that morning and we had to stop at seven different hotels all around Beijing. No one was happy. Instead of having a couple buses pick up people and then consolidate somewhere else, they left it all to one bus.

Needless to say this took off a lot of our time from the Great Wall. After being on the bus for hours picking up people, we first had to stop for another "forced shopping" tour. Cherry, who suprised me with being on the trip, and I were not pleased.

We finally arrived at the Mutianyu Great Wall around 2:30. OH MY GOD!! Because of the time we spent on the forced shopping tour and picking up a load of people that wasn't timed properly, we ended up with just over an hour and a half actually on the Great Wall. Mind you, I paid for a half day.

We spent the money to take a cable car up to the wall rather than hike it (more time taken away from seeing the Great Wall otherwise). The sights on the Great Wall were spectacular. I was really bummed that I didn't get to spend more time there, but at least I did get to spend some time there and the weather was great.

I met another nice couple on the Wall (and bus ride) named Treasure and Vidant. I hiked mostly with them around the top. I was so relieved and glad that the weather was beautiful and that I decided earlier to see two different sections of the Great Wall.

After hiking around for a bit, we needed to head back down and catch our bus. I met Cherry and her husband below. Somehow, they had lost their camera on the way back. :( Cherry told me that just means she'll have to go back when her husband is there on business again.. Lucky her. I'd love to go again (just not with the same tour company). :)

Anyway, I convinced Treasure to go with me to do the Famous Peking Duck dinner. Vidant couldn't eat with us 'cause he doesn't eat meat. Our guide told us where to go and -wouldn't you know it?-- it was on Wangfujing Street.

We had a wonderful dinner (I had a brain fart :( and forgot to take pictures). Thankfully, because we were foreigners, they showed us how to put the sauce on the duck and wrap the duck meat in the crepe thingy. It was absolutely delicious! After dinner and chatting for awhile, we met Vidant after dinner and walked around Wangfujing Street, again.

Taking the whole tour screw up with timing aside, it was a great day.

Grounds of the Temple of Heaven. 

Top of Temple of Heaven with Echo Wall below. 

Inside that wall is Echo Wall. 

Top of the Temple of Heaven 

Forbidden City 

Another pic of Forbidden City 

Private retreat for the emperor. This is where he would meet with some of his ministers. 

One of the guardians in the Forbidden City. The male has a paw on a ball, the female a paw on a cub. Taking a pic of the female is good luck for happiness. Taking a pic of the male is good luck for power. 

Another overlook 

Overlook of the Forbidden City 

Chairman Mao's picture and The Gate of Heavenly Peace 

Day 3

Temple of Heaven, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square

Our first stop was Tiananmen Square, the largest city square in the world. I was a little disappointed with the weather. The whole square was hard to see clearly through the haze. The famous picture of Mao is on the side of the Gate of Heavenly Peace, which is across from the entrance to the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City is sectioned into an outer court (where lesser nobles lived) and the inner court where the royal family lived.

The Forbidden City is undergoing a huge face lift for the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing, so unfortunately, many places were closed or just not as scenic with green scaffolding surrounding it, but what can you do? It was still a great sight to see.

Then we headed out to lunch what was inside the Temple of Heaven. This is where the emperor would go once a year to pray to heaven for a good harvest. The grounds outside the Temple are absolutely huge and beautiful. We actually had to take an oversized golf cart to the restaurant from our bus. There were two places in Beijing that were my absolute favs. The grounds to the Temple of Heaven was one. There were tons of birds flitting around and people doing traditional Chinese exercises, dances and games all around.

After lunch (were I found out that one person from our group was an American ambassador to some place in the Middle East), we toured the Temple of Heaven. A cool part to the Temple of Heaven was Echo Wall. There is this circular wall next to the temple that if you talk or whisper behind one of the buildings on one side someone behind the other building can hear you and speak back.

We walked back through the grounds towards our bus and we came across the area where most people do their morning exercises. Some people were still hanging out. One set of people were playing with this racket and ball. Instead of hitting the ball back to the other, they would sort of catch it and redirect the energy of the ball back to the other person. It was all very Tai Chi. I played for a little bit and actually impressed the guy I was playing with. --Which is amazing, since I'm a total klutz. Aikido, must still have an affect on me.!!--

That was it for our tour of the day. I went back to my hotel and got information on where to go to find a couple books that my boss back in Taiwan wanted. Figures for me that the place to go was back to Wangfuging Street. (Where I've been every day so far!)

Cool doorway at looking out from the end of the Long Corridor.