Sitting here in the Beijing airport at the Lei Cafe (as in Hawaiian thingos around your neck) and an hour with which to update our Great Wall day of wonderment.
This monumental structure was built 2,400 years ago and there was a similar number of steps to negotiate to get on top of it. But what a champion feeling to walk along an ancient structure, the hard fought, sweated labour of indentured coolies.
Like all walls, the irony is it failed to keep the marauding Mongols out of the big city; Hadrian’s Wall in a similar era fell short of subduing the wild Scots, the Berlin Wall seemed unable to secure east Berliners and even the outstanding Australian rabbit- proof fence came to naught.
At this Wall there was a nodding acquaintance to modernity in the form of Pizza and Arabica Coffee, Subway, Baskin and Robbins stores and free WiFi!
We also saw the Ming Tombs and dolefully the Jade Factory and enamelware works, that both harboured glitzy retail shops with free tea to corral the male species leaving wives un encumbered to be shepherded from counter to counter
The drive home took 4 and a half hours thru kerb to kerb, bumper to bumper Sunday traffic, but our driver (who drives in demolition derbys at the local speedway,) gave a thrilling display of forced entry, lane- changing.
Our guide Selena has been a gem over the past 4 days and it would be remiss of me not to mention all the top drawer restaurants we have enjoyed.
Flight MU2106 China Eastern awaits at gate 59 ready to whisk us to Xian and the terracotta warriors.
Confucius say… getting sick at the airport, could be a terminal illness.
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