Yesterday, Wednesday, we had breakfast at seven o'clock and at eight we got in the bus to the great wall. We arrived two and a half hours later, a bit later than planned mainly because there were persons missing (the tour guide got really mad in Chinese, Beijing style, which was funny to see). We went up with cable way and from there we walked upwards over the wall. The view was stunning. The higher we got the more we saw. Seeing the wall all the way down and going over the mountains was definitely worth it. The weather was sunny again, so we got real sweaty. We went to a watch tower were you could see the part of the wall that is not restored. We rested for a bit and enjoyed the view and wondered how life was 2000 years ago. Back at the starting point we went down with a slide way. That was really fun, but fast. Down at the bottom we went to the restaurant were we had lunch. The lunch was included in the trip and we ate a lot of real Chinese dishes. The way back took another two and a half hours, because we were in Beijing at rush hour.

Back in Beijing we went with the subway for the first time, to the Silk Market. The Silk Market is a store of six floors with all different kinds of things, from clothes to electronics and whatever else you want. It exists of all little shops and you have to bargain real harsh before you buy anything, especially if you are a tourist. We had fun bargaining and finding out that we were actually not that bad, especially Marit. After two hours we were exhausted and went back to the hostel to have a quiet evening and went to bed early.

Today, Friday, is our last day of our Journey. Marit got up real early to see Mao. It was pretty special to see how big (literally) he is perceived to be. After she came back we ate breakfast at the hostel and packed our backs for the last time and brought them to the storage room. We rented bikes again and went to the National Museum of China. We visited the exhibition of the Buddhas and of the old Chinese Bronze time, including the Square Ding dedicated to Mother Wu. We also visited the exhibition were the gifts that China got from other countries in the last decades were shown. We searched whether we could find a gift that the Netherlands gave to China, but we couldn't.

We drove to the other side of the Forbidden City (up north) were we ate lunch, Chinese style. After that we cycled around the lakes and explored some of the Hutong areas.

Now we are back at the hostel. For our last supper we will go to another night market. At nine o'clock a cab comes to pick us up and bring us to the airport. Anniek has to check in at half past ten and her flight leaves at half past one. Marit will fly at nine in the morning to start with her new adventure in Taiwan. Whoever wants to follow her, see her new blog:http://likenihao.reismee.nl/.

We hope you had the same fun travelling with us as we had with it.

With Love,

Anniek & Marit