This place is actually pretty crazy. It’s the first culture I’ve been in where I’m like wtf, I genuinely have no idea how to react to people and what to do when people talk to me.

We went to the Great Wall this morning. And I mean morning. We were there at 3.30am (work reasons which I can’t disclose). It was magical to see the approaching light of dawn reveal more and more of the wall. Unfortunately we were in a valley so I didn’t get the shots I would have liked to get but it’s not the end of the world. It’s a crazy place, it stretches on practically forever and feels like it hasn’t really changed much in the last 1,000 years or so. The steps are uneven and dangerous and a lot of the time I have no idea how they managed to build sections of it.

I talked to a Chinese guy today who shall remain anonymous for obvious reasons. He told me how the Chinese government are “comforting” the Tibetan monks, just like they did a few hundred years ago when they built pagodas for them in Beijing. No mention of the whole “let’s kill all the monks” thing then. No surprises there…

I talked to him afterwards and he told me that he doesn’t really believe what the government-run media tells him. He just seemed scared that someone would notice he doesn’t believe 100% in the government. This country is run by fear and you can smell it in the air wherever you go. The chinese government have perfected the whole “disappearing” trick, and I don’t mean it in the sense of Abra-cadabra.

I also found out that unofficially most countries were blocked from Visa applications for the Olympics to prevent them coming and causing trouble or protesting. The same man I talked to above told me that France, Spain and Italian citizens had all been completely blocked from coming to China for the Olympics. Of course that’s just word-of-mouth but I can’t help but notice the complete and utter absence of any westerners not part of a corporate outfit of some kind or another.

I’m going to post some photos and some more commentary later, got a lot on right now and crazy busy and we’re going to Beijing’s most famous Restaurant, the Beijing Duck in about 20 minutes and I still need a shower!

Laters…