Date: March 06, 2010
Location: From JinShanLing in Hebei, to Simatai in Beijing.
Weather: -3 degrees Celsius, blue clear sky

On one of the best day for a long time in Beijing, I visited a beautiful part of the Great Wall. Stunning views and challenging climbs made it a good and fun day trip. Could feel it in my knees and legs the day after. Toughest was the second part of Simatai that climed straight up on the mountain. A just crazy achievement to build a wall up there.

this a defence structure of the wall. it enables the defenders to fight at each step while withdrawing if the wall is overrun. the enemy can only climb using the narrow steps while the defender can fight from behind the walls with small openings to fire projectiles.

the famous simatai. not as beutiful to walk as jinshanling but just amazing in the achievement to build it. on the stones used to build the steps can names of the soldiers who built it be read as seen below.

On a short visit to Beijing I decided to refresh my memories of the city and do some quick sightseeing to what I thought was the easiest accessible. Well, with a just started National Party Congress and CPCC meeting it was not that accessible. Still beautiful and magnificent though like a lot of things in Beijing.

One of the things I really like with Beijing is that it has kept is culture and chinese style. Photo below is from the hotel where I stayed. Located in the Hutong it is very traditional and was a nice feeling staying there and walking around in the lanes.