10/13 Walking the Great Wall

October 13th

Today is the GREAT WALL!!! The party of 5 is joined by Mr. Shi and Wendy (his niece). She is the one that wants to go the USA for school so she is another English speaker which is nice because Leon can't multitask. He can only function in one language at a time (which I can't complain about because I only know one language!)

We got to see more of the city by driving out to the Great Wall. We took the Beijing Tibet Highway to get there. On the drive, I chatted with Wendy. She likes to watch movies and listen to rock music. Her favorites are Coldplay, My Chemical Romance, and a band that Taylor Momsen is in. She also likes to watch Game of Thrones so we chatted about that for a bit.

When approaching the Great Wall, you can understand why millions/billions flock to see it. From far away you can see where the Great Wall cuts through the mountains. Some of the leaves were changing colors on the mountain side. It made for lovely photos.

The weather was perfect for us to explore the Great Wall - nothing but blue skies. We first parked and then took a bus. From the next location, we bought an aerial tram ticket and a ticket for the Great Wall. This has been our most expensive excursion yet - it was 140 RMB per person or ~$24. It was worth every yuan (another term for RMB). See tickets below.

We took the aerial tram up. Mr. Shi did not come with us so the six of us all fit in one tram.

Then about 5 minutes after disembarking the tram, we all became men! Leon told me that a boy becomes a man when he steps on the Great Wall.

The Great Wall was all that I expected and more. Some of the things I expected were lots of stairs and lots of people. However, something I didn't expect was that lots of the wall was steep slopes with no steps.

My dad has a pinched nerve in his back that has caused sciatica and causes him to have drop foot which makes it pretty difficult to climb or walk far distances. He has been managing this trip like a champ so far. Both him and my mom have done great walking and climbing. However, even the Great Wall was too great for them. They did climb to the 8th tower of the North side of the Great Wall. They people watched there with Leon's mom.

Wendy, Leon and I walked, slid, ran, almost fell down the Great Wall to the 11th watchtower. One watchtower was covered and Leon told me that this was were they put cannons. The other watchtowers were out in the open so I wonder if they had temporary structures no longer there anymore to protect them from the weather. We walked for around an hour. I don't know what was harder going down or climbing up! I might just call it a tie. The other people that were walking the Great Wall varied especially as we got further away from 8th tower. I saw people in platform shoes, old people, babies/toddlers, Chinese minorities, non-Chinese tourist and many others. 

 

After climbing down for an hour and then back up for an hour, we made it back to the parents. We headed back through the masses to catch the aerial tram. We had really great timing because getting on the tram there was a very small line and getting back on the tram there was a small line. However when we were getting off the tram, the lines to catch it in both cases were very long with lots of people waiting.

We met Mr. Shi down at the base and he purchased a beautiful snow globe for my parents of the Great Wall. Mom and I purchased magnets to remind us of all the steps!

We ate lunch in the car as Mr. Shi drove us back to the inner part of the city. Lunch was similar to the day before - bread, snacks. Part of our crew fell asleep on the drive back, while the Americans kept watching the city of Beijing pass by. It is huge! There are tons of apartment structures across the city. The interesting thing about these buildings is how narrow they are. An apartment will span the width of the building in some cases which gives a nice view and windows from each side.

Once we arrived back, we all went to Sam's Club. We thought we were going to Wal-Mart but it was a Sam's Club. What an experience again. We walked around to check out the food and ended up buying some fried chicken and sesame chicken for dinner along with some apples and pineapple croissants. Just like the States, there were many tester stations. Unlike the States, there was live fish that you pulled out of tank and live soft shelled snapping turtles that were for purchase. As we left, another difference was no checker of what did you purchase.

They dropped off my parents and I at the hotel. This was our first night to take it easy and relax. I tried to start writing this blog but instead I took a nap!!! Boy was my body excited to rest for a bit.

What an incredible day, one I don't ever expect to forget!!!