Beijing

Having gone to China for work I had a day upon arrival to run around and see some sites.  I had looked forward to it but hadn't really been quite prepared for what I was going to experience.

First, the Great Wall.  I am not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't this.  Enormous, majestic, winding into the far distance.  The Great Wall was so much more than I could have imagined.  Pictures will have to tell the story.  It's hard to find words.

    

I arrived at 7:45 am when it was still a bit cooler.  I climbed stairs for almost an hour surrounded by Chinese families.  By the time I got near the top it was almost 9am and searing hot at 90 degrees.  I made some friends along the way - a couple of cute girls ditching their parents, and a few locals asking to have a photo taken with me (guess they don't meet many Westerners!)

   

Using every moment of my time I did a motorcycle sidecar tour of Beijing and a zip around the Forbidden City.  Beijing is an amazing mix of the hyper modern and the ancient.

But my favorite part of Beijing is the little old neighborhoods called hutongs.  Some are really old and run down, others are revamped and trendy.  All of them give you a feel what old Beijing might have been like.