More rain so its Beijing NOV11TH 2012

o615hrs after a good nights sleep,Carol making tea in the room before another adventure.
Our tour after breakfast was in sunshine,but very cold as we moved through the city.
I saw our first Azure winged magpies the Chinese sub species I had seen its European
counterpart in the Coto Donana in the 80's,also there were lots of its commoner cousins
Magpie and the ubiqutous Tree Sparrow (not so in Britain).

First stop 0900HRS Beijing north suburb industrial  art factory,where some hand paiting was being
done.The painting of vases called Cloisonne Ware  also called Copper body.
This pottery was very popular as far back as Emperor Chingtai of the Ming dynasty.

Our main goal today was The Great Wall at Badaling,this was something special one of Chinas
heritage monuments,there were lots of tourists here but there was no rain too spoil our day.

This distant shot doe's not do it justice but it shows off the difficult terrain.

Carol and I climbed up to the second tower which was no mean feat considering the gradient.

The wind from Siberia  was freezing and not far off gale force as wrapped up against the cold
we commenced our descent.

Just a few crows and Azure winged magpies were the only birds of note,we made our way to the
tea room for hot choclate before heading back to Beijing.

On route back to Beijing we had a photo stop at the Beijing Olympic Park where I photographed
The Birds Nest.

Back at the hotel around 1600hrs I photographed the original Beijing city wall outside our
hotel.