Beijing, 05/10/2005 at 23:00
Day 18: Bei Dai He – Shanhaiguan: Lost in China
A few times during our holiday the biking route guidebook has been a bit of a challenge – on this day more than ever. After 12 kilometers we decided to return to Bei Dai He and start over. Again we didn’t make the guidebook fit reality and decided to navigate on our own, mainly using the sun as compass and the locals as guide. Eventually we made our way to Shanhaiguan where we passed the place where the Great Wall meets the Bohai Sea, to arrive at the hotel shortly after. We still needed to arrange transportation back to Beijing, but the physical battle for queue spaces and seats on the train made (forced) us to take care of our own transportation. Basically there were no seats available in the train due to this week being Chinese holiday, so we hooked up with a local cab driver to arrange a “taxi” for those 300 kilometers to Beijing. Well above the train price, but for European standards very doable!