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Gong family name at Shaanxi-style restaurant; we had a private room
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Fanfei's aunt, Mom, and Dad with us at dinner
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her Dad drove us to see kites after dinner
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and then to the Olympic Park
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the Olympic flame was here
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International Broadcasting Centre
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Fanfei in front of the Water Cube
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Bird's Nest Stadium
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Water Cube
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the view from my second hotel, New Century Grand Hotel
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at Tiananmen Square
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Great Hall of the People
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Gate of Heavenly Peace viewed from Tiananmen Square
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Meridian Gate I think
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Fanfei at The Gate of Supreme Harmony
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Hall of Supreme Harmony
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panorama shot - we were there on a Wednesday, so this was a quiet day apparently
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Huge Stone Carving, made of marble transported from 70km away
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Imperial Garden
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Empress Dowager Cixi ordered Consort Zhen to be thrown into this well
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lunch at Bellagio, after the Forbidden City - tofu dish here
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delicious aloe and mango drink
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my store
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subway again
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sweet pea puree
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on Thursday morning we left for the Great Wall at Simatai; here's an old city gate to Beijing
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Fanfei and me on the gate
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Purple Paradise, while waiting for our 2pm time slot on the Great Wall
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Fanfei's Dad's Uncle's Wife, Fanfei's Mom's sister, with us at the Purple Paradise
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not very helpful
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lunch before heading to the Great Wall
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Fanfei's Dad's Uncle and his wife
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Gubei Water Town
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our tickets for the Great Wall
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Fanfei and her Dad
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the wall behind heads to Jinshanling
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much steeper than the popular wall section near Beijing
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me and Fanfei's Dad going up
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still to climb - 10 towers in total
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Fanfei at one of the gates
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the cable car which went up to the 8th tower
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Fanfei and me coming up to Tower 9; her Mom took this one - her Mom and Aunt took the cable car up
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looking back down at Towers 7 and 8
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Tower 10
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came back down to Tower 7 for some panoramas - visibility getting a little bit better
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Fanfei and her Mom with Tower 9 behind
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Fanfei's Mom and Dad
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Tower 9
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Fanfei and her Dad
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about to walk down to the top of the cable car
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at the bottom
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walking around in Gubei Water Town, waiting for sunset so we can see the Great Wall lit up
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all man-made waterways
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Great Wall lit up in the background - this one is from my waterproof camera
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and this and the next one are from Fanfei's Mom
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the next morning at our lodge
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Chengde Mountain Resort
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Fanfei pointing at Sledge Hammer Peak
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fast food lunch in Chengde
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prayer wheels at Puning Temple
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the Temple with the Big Buddha
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Big Buddha
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dinner back in Beijing
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lots of good food here! I enjoyed the food a lot more than the Simatai food
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second Peking Duck lunch on the Saturday back in Beijing
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Fanfei's elementary school
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foot massage
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hot pot dinner with Fanfei's friends
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goodbye dumpling lunch at Fanfei's Dad's apartment
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Fanfei and her aunt flying to Toronto; I'm flying to Dubai
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