Day 3 - 16 Apr 2014

An early rise this morning so we can arrive at the Great wall at the Juyongguan Pass and hopefully beat the heat and the crowds on the great wall.

As a renowned pass of China Great Wall, the Juyongguan Pass is located 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) north of Changping, around 60 kilometers (37.2 miles) from the downtown of Beijing. It's enlisted in the World Heritage Directory in 1987 as a national cultural protection unit. Situated in a valley surrounded by mountains, it has long been a military stronghold.

On the drive I took some photos of buildings to give an idea of what high rise really is.

Olympic Games infrastructure

Part of Olympic games infrastructure

After leaving the city we passed through the countryside which was quiet mountainous.
Just a Couple of photos as they grow trees along the roadside which makes taking photos from a moving bus an interesting activity.

Having arrived at the Juyongguan Pass we given a briefing about the wall and than sent on our way to investigate the site. For most this included some climbing up the wall. Michael, Alan and I made it to the top.
There were 14 guard houses on this portion of the wall and there were approximately 1500 steps to reach the top. I estimated that from the bottom to top there was an increase in the elevation  of about 500m.

The steps were very uneven with the highest ones being around 0.6m high. It was just as well that it wasn't raining as the climb would have been quite dangerous. On the decent I realized that it was a great decision to be there early as a horde of climbers were ascending. Human traffic jams and blocked ways were part of the descent.

Photos of the Wall. I did not think to take some close ups of steps as I concentrated on the vistas. Hindsight is great. Unless you are in an aircraft it is difficult to take pictures which show large parts of the wall. It snakes around hills to much.

The wall at the back of the photo are actually the other side of the valley, however it does give an indication of the terrain over which the wall was constructed.

The starting point for the climb

On other side of the valley

Another view of the starting point

Alan Climbing

View of the valley from the wall

One of the guard towers

Steps on this side and across the valley you can discern the wall

From top looking towards Mongolia

View down wall from top

Part of the wall

 Leaving the Great Wall we drove to a Jade factory. I had not realized how many different types of jade there were. We lunched at the jade factory.

Some photos of items and sales area.

Sales Area

Sales Area

Leaving the jade factory we made our way to the Olympic site.

One strange building - there are other buildings with unusual shapes

Olympic Complex.

The Watercube, swimming  complex is still in use.

WaterCube

Part of WaterCube

Birds Nest

 Birds nest no longer in use.

On the way back to the hotel I couldn't resist  photographing their power lines 

 

We are staying tonight in the same hotel as last night.

After dinner we went to a show (The Legend of Kungfu). It was the story told by the Master of the Temple to a young boy about another young boy who was taken by his mother to an ancient Temple. Here through practicing Kungfu and Zen becomes a Master and reaches the sacred goal of entitlement and becomes Master of the Temple. Enjoyable show.