Advertisement
Wow. Yesterday was many adventures packed into a few short hours. Last night I was so exhausted, the only thing I could do was crawl into bed. I even fell asleep on the bus home from dinner! This morning we are getting ready to leave for Shanghai, and I will bid Beijing Zai jian. This City will always have a special place in my heart, as it is the first City I came to with a passport. I have made many memories here that will last a lifetime.
Yesterday morning we were up pretty early (we have been getting up around 4 or 4:30 each morning). So we went ahead and got ready for the day and took a walk around the block of our hotel. It is a true 'city block' and it took us a little longer than we thought it might. It was very interesting to see what was on the back side of our hotel. It could have been a different city altogether. So much paverty and demolition, and then a giant hotel in progress just across the street. It is a bizarre picture when you walk down the street. When we got back to the
Also behind our Hotel
This is the same street as the pictures of rubble and new construction. hotel, it was time to go to the Great Wall. Everyone in our group was very excited and you could feel the energy among the crowd.
We drove through Beijing into the outskirts, near the Olympic Villiage, and to the Great Wall. It was awesome. The Wall was started over 2000 years ago and marked the border of China, though now it runs more through it than around it. We were to have brunch 'on the Great Wall'. I didn't realize that this was literal, and I was stunned to find that a beautiful section of the Great Wall had been closed except to us and they had set up brunch there. The views were absolutely took my breath away. It was much warmer today, but there was a cool breeze from time to time that provided some relief.
After brunch we decided to head up the 'easy side' of the Great Wall. We did not have a lot of time, just around 1 hour, and wanted to get as far as possible. We set our sites on the tallest tower we could se from the brunch area and set out. Boy, was that a challenge! The steps
are far from uniform so it may seem easy, with several feet of tiny steps that are easy to manuever, and then you will find a section where the steps are much taller and it requires a lot more effort to climb them. Despite being the less strenuous side, it was still a major challenge. We were stopped by a group of Chinese women climbing near us for a picture. It was so funny. They could not speak one word of English except 'American', but we figured out that they wanted to take a picture with us and were of course fine. It is interesting being the visitor. The customs here are so different than the US, and so they think nothing of approaching strangers, holding onto your arm, taking your picture, etc. It's strange.
We almost gave up a couple of times, but we made it to our destination. There is a worker stationed there to take your picture, and I thought 'wow, if I had to climb those stairs to work every day I would be in great shape'! Haha
After we the Great Wall, we went to the Cloisonne factory. It is enamel ware that
originated in Beijing during the Yuan dynasty. It was very interesting and very beautiful.
After that we took a long bus ride back to the Hotel. We took a small detour through Olympic Villiage - that was cool. Traffic laws seem to be optional in much of the City so it takes a long time to get anywhere! We have been given a police escort both days and it doesn't seem to make much difference, motorists, pedistrians, and bicyclists don't seem to mind cutting right in front of the police car. It is scary, but funny.
Last night we were invited to have dinner at the Great Hall of the People, which our guide describes as 'China's White House'. It was amazing. We were greeted with music as we steped of of the elevator. And the excitement did not end there. We were treated to a 15 course meal (yikes!) and the Chinese Philharmonic Orchestra played. Just before the close of the evening we were treated to a soprano and tenor from the Chinese opera singing a few songs. It was unbelievable.
It is hard to imagine Shanghai living up to the experience of Beijing, though I
will try to be fair. I am enjoying my trip but starting to miss home more. I can't wait to see everyone.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.075s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0279s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Joshua
non-member comment
Bologna!!
Are you pulling my leg, was it really that hard to climb. It should have been easier to come back down. I hope you're having fun. You are so lucky? Did you buy something yet, if not please do, I'm your favorite!!!!