We were woken a little after 5am this morning to the sound of a squealing pig which seemed to be in some distress and then there was silence. We think pork might be on the guesthouse menu tonight. Not a particularly nice wake up call!

We had all slept well due to total exhaustion from the previous days long trek and were happy to get into our mini bus and head back to Beijing. We were sad to leave the picturesque countryside and our last sight of the Great Wall but more ancient sites await us in Beijing.

The Summer Palace in Beijing was our next stop and another visual treat to behold. Built around a giant lake the gardens and buildings that surround the lake are exquisite and provide a tranquil and beautiful setting for locals to enjoy the outdoors. Today was our first real sight of blue sky and a perfect compliment to the day.

We thought all of the stair climbing was behind us but could not miss out on the opportunity to climb three flights of steps to the top of the Buddhist Temple to take in the view of the Summer Palace grounds and the city skyline.

We caught a dragon boat back across the lake and it was back on the bus and back to the Dong Fang Hotel where we were all looking forward to a hot shower, bath towels, comfy bed, and western toilets!

With just two days to finish off sightseeing and shopping in Beijing time disappeared at a rapid pace. We had planned on taking in the night food markets on Friday night after a Kung Fu demonstration and made our away across town in taxis and a rickshaw. After a bit of an incident with the rickshaw driver and lots of walking in the rain we were very disappointed to find the markets were closed. So no BBQ scorpions!

Saturday dawned another clear blue sky and we were up and about early for a bike or rickshaw ride around a local Hutong.

A Hutong is a local neighborhood laid out in a square area and as we walked and cycled past Chinese families in their homes, which are set right on the street with their doors open, we got a real taste of how they live. Because there are no sewerage pipes in these old houses they do not have bathrooms. The Government has built public toilet blocks in each Hutong and residents use these. They shower in communal showers in hostels in the Hutong. Very different to our western way of life!

After taking in the beautiful architecture of the ancient Bell Tower and Drum Tower it was off to the Pearl Market for some serious bargain shopping. This was a real treat as we all headed off in opposite directions with Kyle following us around to help with the bargaining!

Our final night in Beijing was a true celebration. Kyle had prepared a slide show of our entire trip with backing music which we enjoyed over a celebratory glass of champagne and then it was off to dinner in a private room at a traditional Chinese Restaurant to savor our favorite Chinese dishes for the last time. Kyle then took us on a tour of the bars finishing in a karaoke bar in a private room for some hilarious and very out of tune renditions!

Today we are heading back to Sydney. We are all missing our families and looking forward to getting home. After farewelling Michael at the hotel and Kyle at the airport we know that we will all have shared memories of this once in a lifetime experience. It is hard to believe that only three days ago we were on the Great Wall. The challenges we faced individually and together have forged a bond between us all and we are already talking about our first reunion. There has also been many questions about when and where the next Black Dog trip will be!

Pedometer update – whilst we were in Beijing we did 19,363 steps on Friday and 18,996 on Saturday per person. The exercise has lifted our mood substantially.
Libby is already talking about getting to the gym on Monday. This is our last
Blog of the trip. We hope you have enjoyed sharing our journey and thanks for the many comments. So get up off the couch and Exercise Your Mood and please help us make a difference by making a donation at www.blackdoginstitute.com.au/donate

Location:Beijing

More at www.kyletaylor.com

Our trek start this morning was only a few minutes from the hotel and both Kyle and Michael had assured us it would be an easier climbing day today. They will both be growing pinnochio noses for telling such fibs! We spent the first hour and a half weaving up an unbelievably steep and winding concrete road before entering the dense forest and trekking for another half an hour along a steep winding mud and rock goat track. It was such a relief to finally reach the wall until we looked up and saw endless vertical stairs that made yesterday’s walk look like a picnic!

We did a step count as we mounted and the total was just under a thousand! And we’re not talking normal stairs here. The closer you get to the top the steeper they get. As always the reward is the most spectacular view and you are just in awe of your own personal achievement.

We stopped for a lunch break after the thousand stairs as we all needed food and rehydration. Although there is always a fogged in sky it was much warmer and more humid today so sunglasses and caps made their first appearance from our back packs.

We were all silently hoping that we had reached the top for today but there was still more climbing ahead this time onto an unrestored section of the wall that is heavily overgrown with dense vegetation. So as well as navigating your way carefully along broken rocks and stones we had to deal with head height scrub which narrowed our path. When we finally made it to the end of the wall the view was breathtaking! You cannot imagine how the Chinese built the towers and wall on top of perilous rock faces so long ago. Apparently there are around 2 million people buried under the wall.

The descent was another torturous climb down a very slippery muddy goat track for nearly 2 hours. Weaving through lush almost rainforest like trees and shrubs it was perfectly still and very pretty when you weren’t looking down at your feet! When we reached the end and looked back to where we had climbed from it was hard to believe. Only a photo can truly explain our achievement.

We are all in incredibly high spirits and very happy. We have trekked as a team all helping each other along the way. There is a great age range amongst us spanning 25 – 54 years. So our endurance levels and fitness are quite varied but we always start as a team and finish as a team!

The other aspect of the trek has been being away from any technology. None of us have access to email and those with phone reception have only used them for text messaging. To be so far from our day to day world has been a refreshing and enlightening experience for us all. To be able to completely switch off from technology frees up the mind and also contributes to an enhanced mood.

Tonights accommodation is in a traditional Chinese guest house. After a 7 hour trek we finally made it to the guest house and there was an optional further 2.5 hour trek. Vicki and Kyle opted out so they could write their blogs and the rest headed back up the mountain with our guide Michael.

They returned exhausted and exhilarated after a one hour trek up and back down the mountain and half an hour along an extremely crumbled section of the wall. One section involved crawling up a crumbled flight of stairs to see the famous stairway to heaven. This is too dangerous to climb so it was back down to the guesthouse.

The Chinese guesthouse is a newish construction, definitely not a work safe site! We slept upstairs with balcony rails not yet installed and roped off and work tools and pipes and cords running in all directions. Cold showers for all, no mirrors and squat toilets certainly challenged the females in our group!

Tonight we learnt how to make traditional Chinese dumplings by our host family. This was lots of fun and they were delicious! Early night for everyone tonight due to total physical exhaustion! Back to Beijing tomorrow for some more sightseeing. It has been the most amazing experience and an enormous personal challenge. We are so proud and honored to have visited this ancient and significant part of Chinese history and to have shared it together!

Today’s pedometer count – 21,368 per person so more than 235,000 steps! Yeah!!! Exercise Your Mood!

Location:Fanqi Hwy,Beijing,China

After such a big day yesterday we had what we thought was going to be an easier day today. Only a two hour walk before returning to the hotel for a shower, lunch and a bus trip. But oh were we in for a surprise. This part of the wall is partly restored but also exceptionally steep. The walk from the hotel back up the pretty tree lined road and then a huge climb up stairs, that we didn’t even notice yesterday, was a pretty tough start. We were joined by a group of Mongolian women who quickly identified those that needed some help and formed friendships during this first part of the walk. They had walked from their homes in Mongolia which is a two hour walk over a full mountain range and through a valley of cornfields to the start of the wall. Their English was surprisingly good and our tour leader had forewarned us that they would walk the length of the wall with us and then try to sell us some souvenirs.

It wasn’t until we reached the first section of the wall that we realised what was in store for us today. 15 towers to conquer, each one with a vertical staircase up of about 120 stairs. The Mongolian women were a god send, holding our hands, helping us to mount step after step and when you finally reach the next tower you look out the other side and see yet another seemingly insurmountable climb! I can do it, I can do it, I can do it became the mantra of the day. We are all suffering some type of leg pain today, some calf muscles, some thigh muscles and a knee injury. But nothing would stop us from achieving our goal. Electrolytes are a great boost to energy under such endurance.

Full marks must go to Amy for conquering her great fear of heights over the last few days. Her support team of true loyal friends have been beside, in front of and behind her over the last few days giving her guidance, support and encouragement. To see her tackle today’s climb with such confidence is a true achievement. Go Amy!

Each tower took us to new heights and with the increased height came an even more spectacular view. To look back over the area you have covered is truly inspiring and spirits are very high.

Our tour guide Michael was determined to keep us to schedule this morning with the threat of not getting a shower if we did not get back to the hotel by 11.30. This was truly motivating and when we caught sight of the road from the 15th tower we were keen to make it to the bottom in quick time. Our new Mongolian friends were quick to open their back packs and out came a selection of souvenirs which we were more than happy to purchase to thank them for the enormous help they had been to us. Back to the hotel for a quick shower followed by another delicious banquet lunch and then a much needed chill out for 2.5 hours in the bus to our next hotel.

Stef, our team podiatrist conducted a survey on the bus of our physical endurance and limitations. One of the questions she asked was what level of anxiety we were feeling . Interestingly none of us really felt much if any anxiety or stress despite the high degree of difficulty with our climb today. Our only limitations were in the physical sense with painful calf and thigh muscles. Clearly the excessive exercise we have undertaken has done wonders for our spirits and freed our minds to enjoy conversation, much laughter and comraderie.

We arrived at The Great Wall Hotel at around 4pm which gave us 3 hours of free time, the first of the trip. We were all feeling very weary from such a big climb and welcomed the opportunity for some rest.

Another scrumptious dinner and a raucous game of cards saw the night in. We all need a good sleep tonight to be ready for our final climb tomorrow – 6 hours! OMG!!

A word about our Inspired Adventures Team Leader Kyle. These sort of adventure challenges can be made or broken by the Team Leader. We certainly hit the jackpot with Kyle. A very relaxed, all American Boy, Kyle has a wicked and quick witted sense of
humour, is highly intelligent and speaks fluent mandarin. He’s also not bad to look at!

Todays pedometer count – 14,535 per person. So just on 160,000 for the team. Exercise Your Mood! It definitely works!!

Location:Mutianyu Rd,Beijing,China

We set off at 8.30 again for a 2.5 hour drive to start on our trek. We were all expecting to see the Wall at our drop off point but instead were dropped off in a village and trekked through back streets before entering a corn field and trekking up through a narrow track through a lush green valley. The thing about the Great Wall of China is that it is all built along mountain ridges so no matter where you start there is always a painful climb to get to it.

Today’s trek is along a completely unrestored part of the Wall that dates back to the Ming dynasty in the late 16th century. It is in quite a dilapidated state with bricks and stones crumbling and missing in large sections. Just keep smiling and pretend it looks safe! We saw barely another tourist all day and felt like we were on top of the world. The funny thing is we have full mobile reception all along the wall! We have seen little wildlife here, just a few birds and no forest creatures, just a few wasps which freak a few of us out!

After a 2.5 hour trek we came to a closed section as it borders a military base. So we headed off the wall and spent the next 2 hours trekking down from the wall through very dense forest along the tiniest steep goat track in single file. This took quite some careful navigating until we reached the bottom of the valley and walked through farmland heavily planted with corn. The Chinese grow corn everywhere. All along the wall you look down and see corn fields planted right up steep mountain slopes. How they manage to plow the fields and plant the corn is amazing. We met some farmers along the way and watching their reaction to a single file of women passing them is most amusing.

As with every day on the wall what goes down must go back up and we started on our trek back up through the dense forest. This was quite a challenge and each corner we turned we hoped we would come to the doorway back up onto the wall but still there was more goat trekking to go. Finally we came to a rest spot under a tree at the base of the wall and there was a young boy about 10 years old waiting for us with a box of icy cold drinks – coke, sprite, water, iced coffee! He had carried them all up from the base of the valley in a box to meet us. He had been at school all day and came up after school. How about that for earning your pocket money!

Finally we returned to the wall and trekked for another half an hour before coming to our exit and descending down a beautifully planted and paved road to our hotel. The Jinshang Hotel was so cute. Little villas with a shared lounge area. Quick shower and change for dinner and we went to a local guest house for the best meal we have had yet. Cooked by the mama of the house the food is quite unlike local Australian Chinese food. Everything is organic, low fat, lots of vegetables cooked so creatively with amazing flavours – example cucumber ribbons shredded like linguine and cooked and served hot with some amazing flavor. Absolutely delicious! After dinner we had our first experience at shopping and bargaining. We all bought some souvenirs for family before visiting an artist shop specializing in Chinese paper cutting. This ancient art is absolutely beautiful and many of us are bringing home some special pieces to remind us of this very special journey.

Relatively early night for most of us with a few staying up for some card games. Totally exhausted tonight and need some sleep to rest our aching limbs for tomorrow’s challenge.

Pedometer count – we have all been wearing our pedometers and todays step count was 27,776 per person. So as a group we have a combined step count of over 300,000 for the day! We challenge everyone to beat that and Exercise Your Mood!

Location:Longfeng Line,Chengde,China

We left the hotel today at 8.30 for a four hour drive to the Eastern Qing Tombs. It took about 2.5 hours to get out of Beijing as it sprawls over such a great area. So interesting seeing the real China. Love their way of keeping the roof on their houses – tin roof held on with lots of heavy bricks and stones, no nails! Could be very dangerous in a strong wind!! There are masses of crops along the side of the road, especially corn. They take the husks off the corn and then dry out the cob of corn on the road. So you are driving along and you look down a side road and it is a mass of yellow corn cobs. They served corn for dinner and no-one ate it! Lots of fruit trees too and the largest peaches we have ever seen. No shortage of food here and every time we sit down for a meal the table is laden with delicious vegetable and meat dishes. Very healthy diet.

The Eastern Qing Tombs were another visual treat and amazing feat of architecture. The burial ground of five Emperors, their wives and concubines, the tomb was hidden underground so the invading troops could not find and desecrate the tombs. The underground tomb is entirely marble with the most ornate carvings and massive marble doors on a circular marble hinge. It is an underground spiritual temple and you could not imagine how they were able to build such a thing in 1661.

Back on the bus and another 1.5 hour drive to our first look at the Great Wall. Taipingzai Great Wall in the Tianjin Province. We were all so excited but not quite prepared for the enormous climb from the very start of our walk. Steep does not nearly describe the climb! Some of the steps are a double height, some normal and some half height. So you are constantly navigating your feet, thank god for the trek poles and the occasional hand rails. Always remember that what goes up must come down and for some of us the up was hardest and others the down. But we are a team and we did it together and conquered the first part of our challenge. The views are spectacular and how they managed to build the Wall is completely baffling.

We were all elated to have reached the end of our first sample of the Wall and to reach our beautiful Hotel which is built into the Wall. The Laijou Mountain Villa. As we entered through the turret we all jumped in the air for our group video and screamed out Exercise Your Mood. As a group we feel like we have been together for a week already and are forging great new friendships and strengthening old ones. Spending so many hours in a bus each day you get to learn a lot about people and there is much laughter each day. Another great tonic for the mind! We enjoyed another sumptuous banquet dinner and shared some local rice wine 45% alcohol. So no more posts tonight!

A word about the toilets – holes in the floor, very good exercise for your thighs and indescribably awful! Can you imagine 9 women experiencing this several times each day. Sometimes it pays to be a Man!!!

Location:355 Provincial Rd,Chengde,China

Today was an amazing tour of the ancient sites of Beijing. We were all up early for breakfast and ready for our 8.15 departure with first stop the Temple of Heaven. Built in 1420 during the Ming Dynasty it covers an area of 273 hectares (674 acres) and is three times larger than the Forbidden City. It is where Emperors came to worship the God of Heaven to pray for a good harvest.

Our tour guide Michael has us following him around with a soft toy panda on a stick to stand out in the crowds. It was a beautiful day which even started with blue sky, and after touring through the temple and grounds we enjoyed some karaoke and line dancing with local Chinese in the gardens around the temple. The chinese people have no inhibitions and are so graceful in their dancing which looks like a combination of tai chi and ballroom dancing. We then had a game of chinese hacky sack with feathered hacky sacks! Great fun and good exercise to prepare us for lunch. We spent 3 hours at the Temple of Heaven before going to a great restaurant for a traditional Chinese noodle lunch that cost us $4 each including beer!

After lunch we headed off to Tiananmen Square. You cannot imagine the size of it till you see it in real life. It is 440,000 sq metres flanked on either side by the imposing Great Hall of the People and the Qianmen leading to the entry gates of the Forbidden City which is dominated by a huge portrait of Chairman Mao. His glass coffin is on display in the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall which sits at the opposite end of the Square. As it was Sunday there were Chinese families everywhere enjoying the sunshine. We walked across the square and under the road to enter the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City covers just under 800,000 sq metres of land. It was built between 1406 and 1420 and was home to 24 different Chinese Emperors. If you have seen the Movie the Last Emperor you will recognize many of the buildings and courtyards. We spent another 3 hours here touring the various inner and outer buildings and learning much about the history of this architectural marvel. Our guide Michael is a frustrated History Teacher – hope there isn’t a test at the end!

We returned exhausted to the hotel at 4.15 for a short rest before heading out at 5.30 for Peking Duck and some more delicious Chinese food. Sampled our first Chinese wine called Great Wall which was very good. Like a light pinot. After dinner we went to watch a Chinese acrobatic show at the theatre. This was spectacular with a death defying 4 x motorbikes in a domed cage as the finale. Check out the video. Finally got back to our rooms completely exhausted at 9.30 for some much needed sleep in preparation for our drive out to the Great Wall tomorrow. A truly amazing day!

Hi Family and Friends. We are in transit at Singapore and due to fly out shortly. Missing Dave, Emily,Holly and Jack already! Will keep you updated with progress. Love Amy xo

Location:Airport Blvd,,Singapore

Well here we all are at Changi Airport in Singapore. It was a bit of a last minute rush at Sydney airport so we didn’t get a photo there. Had a good flight from Sydney

although a bit of a rough landing in Singapore due to some bad weather. Will be boarding shortly for the flight to Beijing. Yippee!!

Location:Airport Blvd,,Singapore

We’re all safely aboard and about to take off. Took ages to get through the airport so no time to take photos or eat. We’ll post again soon! Have to turn the phone off now. Here we go!

Location:Departure Plaza,Mascot,Australia

Only three more sleeps till we depart on our amazing journey to the Great Wall of China! There’s lots of excitement brewing as we all finalise last minute training and preparations. Our fundraisers are still bringing in donations to help support our Developing Countries Project. Well done to everyone for such an amazing effort. Next post will be from Sydney airport 6am Saturday morning where we will all meet again bright eyed and bushy tailed ready for our adventure!!!