Off to the Great Wall at Mutianyu today. Sky very grey and slightly hazy coming out through suburbs. Temp 20-24c
After a painless drive (taxi) to Mutianyu Ying had asked the driver what translation app he used
We are now the proud face of Chinese tourism 2026!
He had gone off and found the Tourist staff and we were surrounded by 4 sashed and suited ladies and photographer! Then asked to pose for their publicity drive
We then paid about £14 each to join a series of queues for the cable car eventually reaching the car and thence the wall. Unfortunately we hadn’t realised this was a public holiday weekend in China for Ching Ming (tomb sweeping day) so the wall and ascent were heaving. We made it to two towers. The wall itself is awesome not strictly by size, but by its length inaccessibility and manpower needed for construction
Onwards and back down to the summer palace where the other half of Beijing had descended to. We managed about 1/3 of the way round including the long corridor but it was also very windy suddenly. Essentially the summer Palace was constructed around a huge lake, predominantly along one side, with a magnificent catching bridge across to an island
Finally back and supper at a local cafe type place. We tried to order “saliva Chicken (just see what the translation meant, but instead had pulled chicken and beef in puff pastry. Simple filling and tasty for £10
NB Ying says people have been very kind to us, especially assisting with Alipay, WeChat and so on