16km of Wall

Well day 2 on the wall was an epic effort! After our 2 hour bus trip out of Beijing, we landed on the Jinshaling section of the wall, northern pass gate Gubeikou ready for a 16km trek.

It started off quite hot, with a steep mountain climb through the bush to get to the wall. This was a little tough considering our previous night's activities but it certainly kick started our day with a bang.

The countryside was absolutely stunning and ever-changing with every peak and valley we covered. Stopping regularly to take in the views and capture the moments on film, we trekked for about 6 and a half hours up and down stairs, climbing hills and following narrow paths alongside the wall where we were unable to walk on sections.

The lactic acid started to kick in during the afternoon and I found some of the stairs a little challenging... short legs don't really help!




Our guide Michael organised to purchase a goat from a local family to be barbecued for dinner at another local family house near the wall. We arrived tired and hungry and were met by our friendly hosts who welcomed us into their world with much enthusiasm! I've never eaten goat before and I initially had a few issues with it, because I like goats and wouldn't normally be interested in devouring one! We were all blown away by how good it was though. It was absolutely awesome!



After a few beers and a full belly we got back on the bus and travelled to a town about an hour away from the Wall. The bus ride was one hell of an experience...with the Chinese driving habits of overtaking on bends, flashing their lights and generally risky behavior, we had ourselves a little white knuckle time..



We arrived at what we thought was a pretty flash hotel..from the outside. My room looked something like a ballroom with polished wooden floors, a couple of beds up one end, a billiard and card table in the middle and tv etc down the end. Sounds good in theory, but it was a little bit creepy really. There was actually a Fawlty Towers feel about it with one of the staff showing us to our rooms, flicking on lights and pointing out switches all the while constantly talking in Chinese as if we understood what she was saying. Unfortunately for some of our girls, they were shown into rooms that actually had people sleeping in them! Others had malfunctioning toilets and me.. well I managed to have a shower under a trickle of water, which took a while.

All in all we we felt a great sense of achievement. We're now ready for day 3.

Day 2 on the Wall

After our first few hours on the Wall yesterday afternoon, we spent the night in a magical little lodge high up in the mountains. Breathtakingly beautiful and very serene. We are all pretty pumped about this walk and our first taste of many many steps yesterday gave us a good indication of what the rest of the trek is going to be like!

Dinner was a hilarious affair last night.. After 4 bottles of Chinese liquor, one bottle of Vodka and 45 beers (yes that's right), the chopper team from Aus proved themselves to be a partying lot...a few headaches this morning but a hearty Chinese breakfast of egg and tomato, bok choy, potato and noodles has set us up for what is to be a difficult day. Day two and four are apparently the hardest, so we're going to get a workout!

I'm a little battered and bruised after falling down a hole last night in search of a toilet... What could have been a pretty serious incident turned out to be a rather funny sight ....apparently... and has since earned me the nickname WC... Yes it's the incident of the trek so far. Funny how us Aussies always seem to find ourselves talking about bodily functions and toilets etc... we find our humour in the strangest of places.

We are almost at our drop off point so I'll sign off for now, but here's a photo of Andy and I into the awesome dumplings at dinner last night!

Leaving Beijing

Well here we are on the bus out of Beijing in the middle of some amazing traffic in the mountains!

Trucks, buses, cars, motorbikes and farmers with trailers all working out their way.... organized chaos..

Beijing was certainly an experience, Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City were unbelievable! Our wonderful guides, Kyle and Michael ensured we had a great day. Kyle has been taking us to some great little restaurants where we have had the BEST food ever! Chinese food in Australia will never be the same again! A funny little story .. on our first meal out in one of the local hutongs (alleyways), we all dived into a dish we thought was basic greens.. Only to find out we were eating green chillies! Needless to say, the beer went down very well after that!




We are all very excited as we are nearing the Wall... Not long now before we are standing on one of the 7 wonders of the world!


Watch this space...

One more sleep

So Peter Martine and I arrived at the Sydney International Airport Hotel... wandered up to St George Rowing Club for lunch, only to find the kitchen had closed..so we went in search of a takeaway...no easy task in this neck of the woods! But we did happen upon Harry's Cafe De Wheels after a long wander up the road! Yummo... Tiger please!

I'm still kicking myself for leaving my walking shoes back in Newcastle..of ALL things to leave... Anyway, thanks to my trusty landlord with a key and a tricky conversation with him about WHERE the shoes were and WHICH ones to take, he delivered them outside my door and the awesom Brendon Tricker will be collecting them before he heads down here!

A little bit of a stressful start to the trip...

Two days out

So... we've finished our fundraising, culminating in a team total of over $65k so far! We're madly packing and preparing to leave sunny NSW (haha yep) and head to Sydney tomorrow in preparation for our 8.30am flight out of Sydney on Saturday 8 October 2011.

The day is nearly here!!