Xingang

[Michele Monro]

Beijing is a microcosm of modern China and al its contradictions, and with so much to offer, you can but tip your toes into the culture and sights – the architecturally magnificent Forbidden City, the equally impressive Beijing National Stadium (Bird’s Nest), the elegant grounds of the Summer Palace and the stately buildings of Tiananmen Square. For a different experience you can also visit the Great Wall, which snakes magnificently through the surrounding countryside, desert, hills and plains.

We were ready to dock at 6.00am this morning, but the Chinese officials decided to let another ship in front of us (no doubt one of their own) We’d be up on deck since 6.30am for a 7.10am departure for our tour but with the delays we didn’t even berth until 8.30am.

Beijing City, in northern China and the Capitol of the People’s Republic of China, is about a three-hour drive from Xingang, one of the country’s major ports on the Gulf of Chihli in the Yellow Sea. Coming in so late might mean we’ll have to forego the Bullet Train but they won’t know until later. As usual we were docked in the middle of nowhere and the massive terminal only had the normal duty free wares, although the shop was tiny. Arcadia are operating a shuttle bus transfer service between the ship and Aeon Mall but as a couple of people told me later, there was very little there.

What I haven’t mentioned is the weather. It was minus 6 at 6.00am but the wind chill factor made it feel like the Antarctic. My knee had given way when I’d got up this morning and within a short time my muscles had started going into spasms. I had no choice but to pull out of the trip. It wasn’t just the travel time, but it was also a twelve-hour tour, which involved more than three hours of walking. We’d been told that it would be colder at The Great Wall as there is no protection from the elements and on top of this rain was expected. Not only have I not shaken off my cough yet but also I’m talking tomorrow, if I go sick I can wave goodbye to working with P&O again. The one thing I was pleased about was that I was able to give my ticket to Andre who was dying to go and he hadn’t been able to get on the crew trip because it was full so at least my ticket wasn’t wasted. Everyone has promised to take lots of photos for me so that is at least something….. Gutted.

Instead I booked myself into the Spa for a paraffin wax treatment on my knees and ankles but the sad fact is that as soon as the damp creeps out, my arthritis creeps in. Most of the gang plodded back at about 8.00pm and everyone, without exception, said that I wouldn’t have been able to do the trip. Apparently the steps were very steep and the rail that was there was so cold that your skin stuck to it. The claim that The Great Wall is visible from the moon has been debunked many times, but is still ingrained in popular culture. The Wall is a maximum of thirty feet wide and is about the same colour as the soil surrounding it. The apparent width from the moon is the same of that of a human hair viewed from two miles away. To see the Wall from the moon would require special resolution 17,000 times better than normal 20/20 vision. Unsurprisingly, no lunar astronaut has ever claimed to have seen the Great Wall from the moon. So there you have it.

I met up with Louis at the Piano Bar and we nattered for ages about the business. He used to be in the group Wall Street Crash and his real name is Stephen, more names to remember!

Late night for me at midnight and the clocks are going forward another hour again tonight. That makes it GMT +9, so it is really difficult to find the right time to ring Max.

[mariana44]

Michele---just caught up with your last 5 posts--such fascinating reading--especially with the ups and downs you are experiencing--if you ever feel like writing another book, you definately have the material.

I have always wanted to see the Great Wall of China--but it looks as though I may well have been disapointed.

[karl]

Wall Street Crash were my favourite group, I recorded al their tv apperarances on video and have since burned them to dvd, I was in their fan club and have their albums.

They were hugely talented and are greatly missed.