At 4am I decided to have some more food so I walked through the carriages back to my suitcase. People were sat in the aisle and sleeping in all kinds of positions some making it hard to walk past. I got my last noodle packet and ate it with some of the dried fruit I had as well. Then I decided to try to sleep sitting down for a bit something I really should have done earlier. The next carriage was strange like a restaurant car and there were seats free so I sat at a table and slept a bit leaning on the table. A security guard woke me up around 5 and I had to leave the carriage and soon after we arrived in Beijing around 5.30 and I let most people leave first and then got off. I hadn't booked a hostel yet so I got stood outside McDonald's and tried to use a few different wifis and also my sim card but nothing worked so I decided to walk to Leo hostel which I had originally booked and also got mentioned on wikitravel. I went to the metro and bought a contactless card with 20 yuan credit for 40 yuan and went a couple of stops to Qimen then walked to the hostel. I didn't have a booking so I used their wifi and booked 4 nights but they couldn't check me in yet so I left my luggage and ignored the guys advice to stay and just went out to see the great wall. It was the only thing I'd done some research on so I took the tube north then got out and walked east towards the bus. I was looking for an arrow tower on my left which didn't make much sense as the road was on my left but I saw a block on my right which had drainpipes looking like arrows so I tried to go round it but the park didn't let me and it didn't look like there was a road there anyway. I checked the map and realised I'd gone west and not east, maybe thats what a lack of sleep does. I went back and headed the right way and found the arrow tower and the buses and there was the bus 877 I wanted there so I ran and it wouldn't let me on as it was full so I went to the bus behind which was almost full so I had an aisle seat which wasn't good as I wanted to sleep. The seats were really small as well so there wasn't much space but I spent a little time making some space on my phone for photos then drifted off for about an hour. We were stuck in traffic but still it took about 90 minutes to get to Baldaling and it was close to 10. I got my ticket for 40 yuan, didn't see the wall museum that was closed anyway as it was Monday and I headed up the wall to be met with a choice of north or south. There was nothing about that online so I headed north where most people were going and had to walk along a very crowded wall with lots of slow people and groups. It was not much fun but after 40 minutes it came to a cable car station and the wall looked like it curved around ina circle so I carried on that way and there were a lot less people there. It was also steeper in places and the stones were quite slippery and smooth but no problems for me and it was a nice walk on a sunny day. I'd brought my jacket and even my jumper I'd gone back to the hostel for but I didn't need either. At 11am though I came to the end of the wall and either had to go down or back so I walked back but then to avoid the slow crowded part I found a shortcut walk not on the wall which meant I got to see the wall from the side. Back at the start I headed along the south section which had a lot less Chinese people and more foreigners. It was not so slippery either but came to an end after not so far so I went back and left to get a bus which I had to queue for. I got a window seat and slept a bit again until we got stuck in traffic and was back a bit before 2pm and as I got off people were swiping their passes as they left the bus. I looked at the machine and hesitated and someone said I should swipe it so I did and got charged again, 6 yuan for each journey I was down from 33 charge to 15. I could have gone back and checked into the hostel but I decided to walk there and see some things on the way and I found a supermarket which was not too much of a diversion so I went there and got some juice, buns, beans of some sort and something I wasn't sure of that looked like shredded pancake but didn't taste of much. I went through a park to the river and crossed at the bridge and it looked ok but then on the other side was a big road with no way across. I ended up back at the tower where I could cross the road and I headed to a temple. I got to where the temple should be and went through a gate and looked around and it all looked a bit new and not very temple. A security man called me back as I wasn't supposed to go there. I used google translate to ask for a temple and he was very unhelpful not pointing in any direction so I assumed there was no temple. I walked along a lake past someones former residence and then past a princes mansion where soldiers were not letting anyone in. There was the stables nearby which were shut and I walked on to a temple that was a construction site. I thought of going on a bridge over the lake but instead went to the drum tower nearby and the bell tower. It was 30 yuan to go into both but it was getting late for me to get a good bed at the hostel so I left and walked south. There wasn't much to see, the lotus bazaar had moved inside, the park had an entry fee so I decided to come back to that and the opera building wasn't visible even though I was nearby. I came to a fruit store that had a discounted fruit bin so I picked a few but then the lady there charged it at 6 yuan per kilo, 3 times what I had been paying so I left it. There was a temple which was closed for construction work which was a shame as it was a big one and I went around the west side of the Forbidden city. There was a spring park with a 10 yuan entry fee and then I was back at Tienanmen square so I went through security and across the square. There were not many people but then there was not much to see just a monument in the middle and some buildings around the outside. I headed back to the hostel and bought some fruit at the shop. At the hostel I didn't have enough to pay for the whole lot so just paid 50 which was the deposit and I got a top bunk. I was tired so I had a rest and there were people making noise and the bed was very close to the ceiling so I wasn't happy. The room also didn't have so much space for things but my bag fitted under the bed. I woke up a couple of hours later at 8pm and had a shower then went out for food and cash. The nearby ATM had shut at 8pm as the hostel had told me and the nearby shopping area was not that good. I headed south and there was less going on but I came to some kind of theatre where the tickets were pretty expensive. I went to do s loop and across the main road I saw an ATM so I got out as much as might last me the last few days. Then I crossed back and got a microwave meal and some rice as well from a 7-11. I headed back to the hostel and sat around planning where to go and saving web pages. The place was reasonably lively but a lot of the people were young like a group of 4 playing the card game hearts as if they had just invented it and it was the most novel thing ever. I went to bed around 11.30 and went to sleep.
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