Update From Beijing 30th Jan 2006

The 29th January was the start of the Chinese new year - Year of the dog.

The Chinese new year is comparable with Christmas as its all about family, a bit of religion and loads of over eating.

The day for us started with a display in the hotel



The joke was lost on most of the guests.



After the display, we headed to a local park where a festival was in full swing.

Entrance to Datai Park - Beijing






Taxi anyone !!!



These are super sized joss sticks.



After leaving the park, we went for a bite to eat in a local restaurant.
This little dish is meant to be spicy beef with veg.
Someone needs to tell the Chinese that chili doesn't count as a veg !!!
Needless to say it blew my head off.



30th January 2006

We booked a guide and headed to the Great Wall Of China.

The Great Wall Of China

There were two directions that you could take along this section of the wall the wall.
The easy one or the hard one.

The photo above shows the easy route, which is why it was so crowded even so early in the morning.

Needless to say we opted for the uphill climb !



They even sold T-Shirts with "I did the Great Wall"
We declined.




And that Bag Lady keeps turning up, this time there are two of them !!