Today is the 9th of september. With thanks to Wouter and Joris we are going to the Chinese wall and the Summer Palace. Because of the time, we first go to the Summer Palace, which closes early. Our tourguide Jerry leads us to all the interesting places and tells us a lot of background information. Just like yesterday, we Dutch are an interesting attraction for the Chinese. Bart can tell you everything about it. At a singing event, first about 200 Chinese sing a song about Mao and Chinese heroes, after which we sing 'Zie ginds komt de stoomboot'. Both of us are very happy with each others performance. We take a group picture with a group of Chinese people and take the boat back to the bus which takes us to the wall.
After the luxurious summer palace we go to a restaurant for lunch. It has nice decoration and even a four stars toilet. After this nice lunch we arrive at the Chinese wall. Here we take the lift up and can walk around for two hours. It is very special to walk over this ancient building. Back down there are a lot of souvenir shops and a lot of us look for souvenirs. The starting prices are high, but after some haggling and walking away, we get the prices down. From the bus on the way back you can see a total different surrounding and culture than in Beijing itself. Back in Beijing we go to the Temple of Heaven. Unfortunately the temples are closed, but the view of the temples in the dark is special. For dinner we go back to the district around the hostel, where we eat Hot pot. In a Hot pot you can cook the meat and vegetables by yourself. After the dinner most of the people go to the restaurant next to the hostel where we ate yesterday, to drink beer or cola. It becomes a great evening, and night... The weekend is over and tomorrow it is time for another great day in Beijing.
Fieke Hillerström