The reason for the limited time at the wall soon became obvious when we arrived at our next port of call - a Jade Factory. Once again, the blurb made it sound extremely interesting; "understand how to tell if jade is real or fake and watch artisans at working, carving this emerald stone into works of art"
The artisans at work turned out to be one man in a booth.
And following a brief explanation of how to identify fake jade, we were encouraged to visit the vast shop. It was quite amusing to see the huge number of sales staff which seemed to appear from nowhere and follow you around. But there were certainly some amazing pieces on offer.
I particularly liked this one because of the incredible detail in the mane and tail - unfortunately it cost £35,000+ so I don't think we'll be popping it into our luggage.
We then went upstairs to the in house restaurant for lunch, where we had probably the best meal so far. Then back to the hotel for a couple of hours downtime before heading out to an "unmissable" cultural show which was staged at Happy Valley Theme Park.
The Golden Mask Show tells the story of a queen, who wears a golden mask, and creates a splendid dynasty. The play has eight chapters and features more than 200 actors from China and abroad. Produced by Chinese playwrights, directors and designers, it features Chinese dances, acrobatics, costumes, and lighting and acoustics. The story was impossible to follow, but the costumes and lighting effects were quite impressive.
Yes, that really is a live white peacock on the lady's head.
And these men appeared to be skipping whilst dressed as chickens with bright red feet!
One part of the show that was particularly spectacular was the flood scene, when millions of gallons of water poured down onto the stage (not sure what the men rolling around were meant to portray).
We've spent a lot of time on the coach today, so here are a few shots snapped through the window.
Window cleaning Beijing style.
There may no longer be 9 million bicycles in Beijing as Katie Melua once sang about, but there are still an awful lot. These are ones you can rent extremely cheaply and are a popular way of getting around the city.
The sheer variety of motorised vehicles amazes me, I'm sure some of them must be home designed.
We couldn't work out what this chap was doing, it looked like he was trying to break into an electricity substation but in fact it was a parcel collection point.
I thought my eyes were playing tricks at first but this car really is green at the front and pink at the back.
Lots of insanely tall buildings everywhere.
These duvets are very popular too, presumably meant for colder months they cover the hands and also the front of the leg and might also provide a bit of a soft landing in the event of a crash
The first chance I've had for street shots, I took these on the way to dinner tonight.
This style of T-shirt wearing seems quite popular with middle aged men - I DO hope it doesn't catch on in the UK.
We went to a traditional Peking duck restaurant. Peking duck was a favourite of the Emperor's court and the elite during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) but subsequently spread throughout Chinese society to become a national favourite and a symbol of China. Not for me, thank you!
Ian went to wash his hands before eating - incidentally this is something only us and 1 or 2 others appear to bother about - yuk! He reported back with some excitement that the urinals were full of ice cubes and flower petals so I made him go back and take a photo. Fortunately no one was using them at the time.
