Introduction to today's journey
Today's journey takes me to the Beijing Ancient Observatory in the early morning before I meet with my new tour group and head to nearby Beijing Station to catch a train towards Dandong.
Today's Journey
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Exploring the platform at the top of the Beijing Ancient Observatory in the morning. Many pieces of equipment invented by the Chinese astronomers sit up here. Too bad the sky is so hazy here from pollution these days. |
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A huge instrument used for tracking the planets across the sky, now sitting in the gardens of the observatory. |
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A small observatory at the back of the complex. |
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Heading back into the middle of Beijing, I pass a small part of a side segment of the Great Wall of China which passes through the city centre. |
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I enter a hotel to get a tour briefing for my next leg, meeting the group I will be travelling through North Korea with. From here we head to the nearby Beijing Train Station to start the tour. |
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Embarking the overnight train at Beijing heading up to Dandong. |
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With the group in the very crowded carriage with three levels of bunks. Thankfully I have a lower bunk. Sleeping in the upper bunk in the Reunification Express in Vietnam had been a bit scary. |
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The sun draws low as we travel through city after city. I'm sure we are a long way out of Beijing already, but it's hard to tell where one city ends and the next one begins. |
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Passing countless apartment blocks housing all the people here in the world's most populated country. |
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I quickly get off the train for some fresh air in the mid evening before we all go to sleep in the bunks as the train continues towards Dandong. |
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