Tour of Beijing with the Super Trekkers

Yet another early start at 7am but this time to have a luxury Western breakfast at the Radisson, a welcome change from traditional Chinese fare. The last full day we would be with the trekkers and official guides was spent on a tour of Beijing by coach and foot. We went to the Forbidden City first which was fascinating and a real insight into Chinese history then onto Tiananmen Square which we were marched through without mention of the any of the important historical events which had happened there. This is not an unusual practice by tour guides.


After a quick lunch and break from the sweltering 40 degree heat the rest of the group went shopping whilst Lynsey and I decided we would rather go to the Temple of Heaven The coach driver kindly dropped us off there and we spent the afternoon exploring there. It was really worth the trip, the architecture alione was stunning and the colours and detail simply striking.


It was then time to head back to the hotel to meet up with the others for our final night with the trekkers.

After the Climb

After the thrill of the toboggan ride it was time for lunch. Mutianyu as one of the more touristy parts of the Great Wall had an array of stalls and shops but unexpectedly also a Subway which is where Michael treated us all to a sub of our choice. I devoured a foot long sub in under 10 minutes!
After we had all gathered post lunch, we were last there anyway as we had walked the furthest to the toboggan, we took a few final pictures and got on the coach back to Beijing which was a 2 hour drive away. The coach took a slight detour into a silk factory which sold the most stunning dresses, unfortunately I didn't have enough Yuan to cover one and really I wasn't going to be wearing fancy dresses for the remainder of the trek so I just stuck to looking!
As we arrived into Beijing we were headed towards the Radisson which would be our lodging for the next two nights which was going to be luxury after some of the trekking accommodation. First the driver took us on a slight detour via the Birds Nest which was awesome on first sight (I will cover this in full in a later post) before we drew up outside the Radisson Blu thoroughly looking like we didn't belong there! After Michael checked us all in we headed up to our room to discover a western toilet, shower and bath- bliss! After a short shower and brief lie down it was time for dinner then a trip to the Donghuamen night markets which were an array of weird and wonderful foods and also fake designer gear rather oddly.

After this a few of us had decided to have a massage which proved to be the most wonderful £10 I have ever spent! I came out feeling as though I was walking on air although it was complete agony at the time. If you are lucky enough to go to China one day a chinese massage is a must!