We had an early start this morning, so Blogless Sandy and I went down for breakfast 10 minutes after breakfast opened. We were stuck in a queue. Five minutes later I looked back…

Yikes! By the time we got to the head of the line, every seat was full, there was only 30 minutes to go until we needed to be on the bus, and there was a roiling mass of people around the food. Luckily, I saw the door guy had takeaway boxes. We grabbed them and went in.

Blogless Sandy and I had different strategies. She stole a fork and chose sensible options. I went for the “eat with my fingers” and so I found myself standing next to a little boy at the hot chips tray, both of us loading up with chips and chicken nuggets.
As we left the packed dining room, there was a CRASH as someone had their plate knocked out of their hands.
Of course my meal turned into Frogdancer’s sad breakfast, as I sat in our room shovelling stone cold fries in my mouth. But at least I made sure I got my strong black coffee.

This morning was the iconic Great Wall. What was even more exciting was that we were going to a jade factory first. Ever since I saw the jade bangles that a couple of women bought on the Vietnam trip, I’ve wanted one. Now was my chance.

They say that you don’t choose the bracelet; the bracelet chooses you. A bit like a cat, I guess. I went in there thinking that I’d walk out with a dark green jade, which is the colour everyone thinks of when it comes to jade. I also thought that with jade coming in A, Band C grades, I’d be happy with B.

This is the bangle that chose me:

I also may possibly have bought a pair of earrings to match.

We were back on the bus and Tina gave detailed instructions as to which gate to turn back by. “ Gate 9 is enough. You turn back then. If you go to gate 12, you’ll definitely be lost. I see you in Mongolia!”

She then asked for the passports of everyone aged over 60. “ There are lots of accidents on the wall. The people will take your information and have the ambulance on standby!”

Look at the steep incline we were led to! I messaged Lucas, and he replied with, “Steepest spots usually means best sightseeing.”

Tina’s advice is always practical. “The t-shirts from Great Wall are what I call 3 Generations t-shirt. You buy a t-shirt that fits you. You go home, wash it, it shrinks, so it fits your son. He washes it, it shrink again and it now fits your grandson!”

I clearly remember going to the Great Wall when I was on the North Korea trip in 2018. Helen’s son Matt, our North Korean tour guide, was living in Beijing at the time and so he knew the best part of the Wall to go to. The one with the chair lift up and the toboggan slide down.

Sadly, TripaDeal wants us to exercise. 

Blogless Sandy is a lot fitter than I am, so I told her to go ahead. I looked at the mountain ahead of me, remembered that really steep climb I did in Vietnam and decided I’d climb the hill to the building at the top.

Last time, I played a game with myself to take photos that looked as if the place was deserted. It was a challenge, but I got some great shots. This time?

No chance.

I was pleased when I made it to gate 8. Some of those steps were as high as my knee.

The trouble with the Great Wall is that when you reach the spot you challenged yourself to reach, there’s always another chunk in front of you. 

I climbed another chunk, then decided that I’d done enough. I went back down and decided to award myself with the same thing I did on my first Great Wall experience.

A Magnum ice cream. My first Wall started my little tradition of ice cream after every high climb or chairlift.

Then it was back into the city to go to the lake and the Hutongs.

It was a Saturday and it was packed. Tina was calling out to us, “Sticky rice! Sticky rice!” every time we crossed a road or had to push through a crowd.

I was excited when we got to the lake, though.

I’ve been here before. Matt took us here on our last afternoon in Beijing.

Everyone in Beijing was here.

The hutong doors are all like this. I remembered the doors in Zanzibar’s Stone Town.

I like looking down the lanes.

After the pedicab ride, we were let off the leash for half an hour to go shopping. Zoom in on the street… this place was packed. Tina warned us that the pickpockets here were highly professional

This is the shop where I bought a little tea caddy in 2018. It’s still here!

It’s not often that I saw a little boy in costume.

After we met up with Tina, we moved through the crowd together… “Sticky Rice! Sticky Rice!”… and we walked through the streets of the hutong quarter of town.

Hutongs are very old houses. Tina said that she lives in one, which has been in her husband’s family for 5 generations.
We were going to a family home for dinner and a surprise.

The first thing I saw when I walked through the door was Chairman Mao. I guess every autocrat has to be put in people’s houses somewhere.

The surprise turned out to be a cricket show.

Real crickets, not the game, thank goodness.

This mighty beast is called Mahammad Ali. He’s a fighting cricket. This is a “sport” that has a thousand year history. It goes to prove that people will bet on anything.

The show itself was hilarious. This guy obviously loves the spotlight and he milked it for all it was worth.

He showed us all of the paraphernalia involved with raising these crickets and in the end he showed us a video of a fight. They don’t fight to the death. They have an arena and the first cricket who forces his opponent out of the ring 3 times is the winner.

Crickets only live for 3 months, so it’s a short career.

After the show we had the dinner that our hostess cooked. It was so very good. This was an optional extra, and it was worth every penny.

We wended our way back through the streets until we met our bus.
This was a very good day.

Dad Joke of the Day: