We have an early start for the day we finally get to “climb the wall”.  Two of Helen`s friends pick us up and drive us 60km north of Beijing into the mountains at Badaling, where you find the most recently built part of the wall completed in the eighteenth century.

The wall rises 600m to 1,000m above sea level, and varies from 6m to 14m high.  The walkway on top of the escarpment is said to take 5 horses or 10 men “parallel”.  We walk the wall about 1km to a peak on the right side (perhaps north east) from where we have approached the Badaling village, and in some parts it’s really steep.  There are all sorts of nationalities (many with noticeably American accents) on the escarpment, it’s a buzzing atmosphere, and one group (South American?) is bellowing their national songs with great gusto.  I think maybe we could do the same when we get to the top – but then there are only two of us.

At the top an entrepreneurial photographer asks “you want a photo”? Only Y30!” doesn`t realise it, but we`ve left our camera back in the car, so he has a realistic proposition for us.” So I wait until there`s not so much business going his way and show him Y25.  He raises his eyebrows, shrugs, but nods and ushers us out to line up against the right backdrop and takes the photo.  Another vendor is selling metal plaques on which he engraves your name (confirming you`ve made the climb), and its inset in an attractive red display box “You`ve earned this!  You want? Only Y108!” However, he commits to Y30 for some Americans, and we slide in on their coat tails for the same price.  Smiles all round – everyone apparently has got a good deal.

Getting back down feels more difficult – some of the steps are a huge drop and the slope is steep.

Back in Beijing we have another hot pot lunch, this one featuring lambs` tails.  When you fish round with your chopsticks you wouldn`t know what part of the lamb you`ve got as you dip it into the peanut or sesame sauce.

They then take us on to the Summer Palace, which we enter at the North Gate.  Get ready for more climbing!  The first flight up to, through and around Buddhist halls is 64 steps – then there are four more flights of 20 steps.  What keeps us going is that we`re aware of the Kunming Lake on the other side, and whilst trees on the summit shroud a clear view of it all, we can see that it is vast.

So too is the Summer Palace area itself, as befits the emperor of the day.  We descend more gradually down the other side to the lake side.  Like Tamaki Drive on a hot summer afternoon, there are large numbers of people ambling along the waterfront, and many have taken to the water in boats of varying descriptions.  We are reminded that this is Children`s Day, and there are many families present.  Trips in ferry boats with dragon heads can be taken across the lake to the other side where you can see the 17-Arch Bridge, and smaller craft (some of which you can pedal with your feet) can be hired at various places along the water`s edge.  Again the marble centre of the walkway is much more comfortable than the stone paving either side – even here thought has been given to such comforts for the emperor.

We learn that Summer Palace has been ravaged by invading Anglo French forces on two occasions in its history.  After the later sacking, it was the Empress Dowager Cixi who managed to divert Naval funds for its restoration.  All power Cixi!

We exit Summer Palace at the East Gate, and we hire two 2-seater tuk-tuk contraptions drawn by a 2-wheeled bike (with driver).  As it turns out we are a long way from where we have parked, so for Y40 for the two conveyances we`ve saved ourselves another half hour`s walk.

Back at the hotel we head out with the intention of having a pizza at Pizza Hut.  Children`s Day is still in full swing, and Pizza Hut is packed with a number of families still waiting for tables to clear, so we head for KFC where its not much better.  We join the queue and 20 minutes later get to the front and just order the Y64 bucket.  We don`t want the big bottle of Pepsi and the cups, so we give them away to a family sitting at a table waiting.  There`s a startled look and the dad gets to his feet, but we`re out and gone into the milling crowd.  We hope they appreciate the bonus, but they`re welcome to biff the drink if they choose.  Back at the hotel we have our KFC with a couple of cans of Laoshan beer.

We go with hosts this morning to Beijing`s Military Museum.  There`s glory and pride in the display of planes, tanks and weaponry from relatively recent times, but we explain that they are of limited interest to us – that we are essentially a peace-loving nation with a different set of challenges historically.  Huge statues of generals and military leaders could well be pictures of sports heroes in our halls of memorabilia.

But there is a floor displaying another history of the Red Army from 1927 and the early uprisings, depicting Mao`s setbacks and victories against the kuomintang under Chang Kai Shek.  In 1937, the cause for the Red Army becomes a resistance struggle against the Japanese occupation.  All manner of photos, artistic recreations of these chapters of events, and relics (bits of clothing and utensils) are on endless display.  There`s no doubt a love of revisiting this history.

Lunch features brightly coloured sauces (yellow, blue and red) over mashed todo (potato).  We are persuaded to do some more market shopping in the afternoon.  By the time we`ve taken two connecting underground lines and walked a long way to a claustrophobic market, I find I have a dodgy feeling in my stomach, and have to make a dash to a very substandard toilet.  Beijing is a big place to get around, and you need to be prepared in many ways.

We go out to a really upmarket restaurant where we have another private room for dinner.  One of our hosts has just returned from a business trip to Norway and Switzerland, and he mixes his Chinese and English excellently.  We have a long and interesting discussion about what we have experienced in China.  He`s very knowledgeable man in his mid 40`s, and he is suitably surprised at what he feels we`ve taken in.  He tells us that he established his modern University`s Communist Party in 1988, and explains that it had to prove itself significantly representative of communist beliefs.  We are reminded again that though the religious, political and cultural beliefs of our hosts are poles apart from our own, they remain the most charming and accommodating of friends.

Its our last day in Beijing, so we get away early on our own – catch the 41 bus, remembering Y1 gets you anywhere.  This bus gets progressively more packed with people on their way to work.  At each stop, the driver yells for passengers to move back and make more room.  At one stop she`s yelling so much she can`t hear disembarking passengers yelling back to open the rear door.  Its bedlam and before long we`re hip to hip and thigh to thigh.  Eventually everyone gets off and we`re still a fair way from our destination – so no-one told us that some 41 buses don`t go the distance!

Another bus gets us to the Pearl Markets again where we have noticed there is a good variety of fun shopping bargains to be had (as well as the pearls!).

Jules wants to buy a purse to put in the Y8,000 we want to give Helen for buying some air fares and accommodation, so she negotiates a Louis Vuitton copy for Y70 (NZ$14!).  We look at Rolex watches, and I pay $10 less for my gold “Rolex” than I paid my local jeweller in Birkenhead a couple of years ago for the cheapest reliable one they had in store.  Shame that it lost 5 minutes in the first hour I had it on my wrist, and now just sits on top of my dresser!

We have lunch at Pizza Hut back near the hotel.  What a menu!  This is a clean sit down restaurant with a wide variety to choose from.  The 4 in 1 pizza is Y68 (and one of them is ostrich), and the bottle of nice Chilean Chardonnay is on such a ridiculous special price so we take it – oh, and we had fried squid as a side.

Our hosts have big temporary luggage bags for us for our surplus baggage.  We are assured the extra luggage will not be a problem because they have the right connections at the airport.

Another nice dinner and I attempt to pay, but our friends won`t have a bar of it.  I can only promise them lots of good nights out in New Zealand when they come to visit us.  One of the men is reluctant to visit New Zealand because he can`t imagine being on a flight for 11 hours and deprived of a cigarette.  I suggest he get zonked and sleep all the way.

Back at the hotel, we pack everything and give our hosts gifts, and Helen the money in the Louis Vuitton purse.

We get the wake-up call at 3am – its dark and not a soul in the street outside.  By 4am we`re leaving the hotel and its as light as day.  Broad daylight!  It gets dark at 8pm, but we`ve never been up this early, so haven`t noticed how early it gets light.

Inside the airport a tall well built bloke arrives in jeans and T-shirt rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, talks with the airline people, they take our luggage down to be weighed (it comes to 70kg and we`re 30kg over the limit), the luggage goes on to a conveyer, the man shakes hands with one of our hosts, and we are handed our boarding passes for Beijing and Hong Kong.  Its all accounted for – just like that!

We have breakfast and a drawn out farewell – then dash for a conveyer train that takes us to the departure gate at another part of Beijing airport.

Its been a great experience, but bowls is not part of Chinese recreation.  You get the feeling that if one or two of the parks they have were to be converted to bowling greens, the game would be revolutionised in China.