Waking up on the train at 9am in the morning after the late night border crossing, the view
out of the window makes it all worthwhile - some 20km in the distance, the Great Wall runs
parallel to the railway line.
Before the steep climb, the train stops for a banking engine to be attached at the back, behind
the baggage van (note the Cyrillic text). We now have one engine on each end of the train, which will
make life a lot easier at the top, where the train reverses to head back down the other side of the range.
The train heads through many tunnels as it rises higher and higher. The wall is visible for fleeting
glimpses, then disappears again. It is possible to get through an awful lot of film on this journey - each
view of the wall looks more photogenic than the last, and not knowing what will come next it is vital to grab
those shots while you can!
There is a stop for about 20 minutes at Ching Lung Chiao station at the top. Here the train will head
back out in the same direction before branching off on the way down, now heading towards Beijing. The wall rises
majestically behind the station.
