Sunday 29 April - the air this morning is no clearer despite it being three day holiday which means some of the factories are shut.
Our guide Lisa had pointed out that on a good day it was 1.5 hour drive to the Great Wall and that today it would take longer. With that in mind we set off at 0930.
It seems that in an attempt to control the extra 1000 cars a day that hit Beijing's already clogged roads depending on your registration number you can only hit the grid lock every other day. However it seems on the weekend its a free for all. So we headed on to the already stop start Expressway and limped our way out of town. Some two hours later we hit the first stretch of reasonably free flowing traffic which was actually just past the airport turnoff.
Having spent so long getting there the first stop was for lunch and some Beijing delicacies which include chestnuts. The section of the Great Wall we visited consisted of about 4 kms which had been restored but gave a good idea of the scale as the wall snaked over the mountain ridge into the distance. Luckily a handy cable car whacked us up to the wall itself so no struggling up the hill other than a short walk through the souvenir stands with the "I climbed the Great Wall" t shirts !
Back to Beijing the traffic was easier but by the time we got back at 5 we just headed to the hotel with a short stopover in WalMart to get some Liptons tea bags which seem to be in short supply in the Sofitel.
Our guide Lisa had pointed out that on a good day it was 1.5 hour drive to the Great Wall and that today it would take longer. With that in mind we set off at 0930.
It seems that in an attempt to control the extra 1000 cars a day that hit Beijing's already clogged roads depending on your registration number you can only hit the grid lock every other day. However it seems on the weekend its a free for all. So we headed on to the already stop start Expressway and limped our way out of town. Some two hours later we hit the first stretch of reasonably free flowing traffic which was actually just past the airport turnoff.
Having spent so long getting there the first stop was for lunch and some Beijing delicacies which include chestnuts. The section of the Great Wall we visited consisted of about 4 kms which had been restored but gave a good idea of the scale as the wall snaked over the mountain ridge into the distance. Luckily a handy cable car whacked us up to the wall itself so no struggling up the hill other than a short walk through the souvenir stands with the "I climbed the Great Wall" t shirts !
Back to Beijing the traffic was easier but by the time we got back at 5 we just headed to the hotel with a short stopover in WalMart to get some Liptons tea bags which seem to be in short supply in the Sofitel.