Spent the first half of the morning trying to remember the route to get out of our hotel suite. This was of course made even more difficult on account of the countless Air B&B guests we now had to tread over on our way through our seemingly endless maze of rooms.
The chosen few, ie Bok and Michelin,had to tie up a few loose ends in the form of the cars now creating a rather up market traffic jam in front of The British Embassy. Packing up cars ready for return can be rather tricky with just two guys , especially when a nameless Scottish Gent declined on health and safety grounds to lift the proverbial finger. A mental note was made to see him between Monday and Wednesday next week.
The rest of us started to feel like proper foreign type tourists as we climbed on, then off, the buses and dutifully followed our guide’s umbrella with earpieces in place.
There are certain “ sensitivities “ in China that one must respect, not least any alleged events that we now better understand to have never happened in Tinanmen Square. But we still had to persuade Gobbi from shouting loudly about looking for tank track marks .
Unbelievably hot, and seemingly packed. However, the real crowds were to be found at 4.00am in preparation for the flag raising ceremony. Gutted to have missed that but youtube is a great resource. Whoops, just remembered not available here .
The energy sapping heat reminded me more of a pizza oven than the usual sauna simile, it was literally stifling. The square progresses through a series of huge gates to the Forbidden City and its imposing architecture. Built between 1406 and 1420 (first and last factoid). Great opportunity for another passport scan. I suppose that’s to check that just in case you slipped through the last twenty passport checks getting into Beijing with malign intentions, you didn’t at least get to visit this tourist hot spot (no pun intended).
A lazy afternoon and ….. wait for it …no scheduled activities until our dinner. Bok’s going bloody soft if you ask me.
A bit of impromptu shopping for some and no doubt chilling for others .
Dinner as guests of INEOS China hosted by “our men in China” Pronker and Peilin, where amongst others Monkey cut her teeth as our youngest speech maker. Let’s be honest, there aren’t many 15 year olds who would have the confidence to stand up in front of a large gathering and deliver a faultless speech. Maximum respect.
All good things of course must come to an end. And so it was that some of our number discreetly headed off to catch an overnight flight whilst the rest of us returned like homing pigeons to the roof top bar.
There have of course been an army of unsung heroes who have kept us on and off the road. To name but a few, huge thanks must go to Buya and his team in Mongolia. The epitomy of calm competence. Challenged by Shadow to a wrestling bout Buya called it a truce before face was lost (literally). Tiger and Jesse endlessly smoothed our path across China with Melvyn and Ada our vehicle logistics geniuses.
And last but certainly not least, Big Ben and Klara, two utterly wonderful,sleep deprived people who made sure that our journey was chronicled for posterity and that we were fed, watered throughout. Both very much a part of the core team, and always brilliant company.
So very many incredible memories shared, friendships made and strengthened and so much laughter had. To say we are privileged doesn’t begin to cover it . To a man (woman) we all recognise that this journey was unique and almost certainly will not be repeated anytime soon, if ever .
None of us know what the future holds but what we can say right now, is that we all shared something very special during the Mongolia 5000 adventure. We are all truly grateful for being included in this magnificent mad cap adventure. Jim , thank you, it was truly epic.
Off we go, just back in time for tea and medals.
