A week and a half for the wife and daughter number three, commencing with five nights in Beijing and a visit to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City:
And then on to the Great Wall, which was far more impressive than I was expecting. The part we visited was quite steep and the steps were very uneven, so it took a lot more effort to climb than I was expecting:
It also made me wonder why they actually went to the effort to continue it in certain places, as the hills were so steep that I could not imagine an invading army being able to navigate the terrain, even in the absence of a wall:
We also visited the Ming tombs. They were very peaceful at this time of the year and we were quite happy to spend some time just sitting in the well-maintained gardens:
Then on to the Summer Palace which was full of weeping willow trees, which was a little like walking through a scene on a piece of Spode pottery:
We also spent an afternoon shopping, although we weren't adventurous enough to load up on some of the multi-coloured delicacies that the locals appeared to enjoy:
Then on to Shanghai, which was every bit as Westernised as I had been lead to believe, but with its own unique flavour:
A visit to the zoo, and more shopping:
And a night cruise to round out the trip:
A very enjoyable trip, but it was great to get home and tuck into a nice medium rare rib fillet and it will probably be another month or so before we can look at another Chinese meal. I have managed to get back into a painting routine again however, and hope to have a few more posts up during October.
