We Climbed The Great Wall!

[Laura's Entry]

Yesterday we climbed the Great Wall at Mutianyu, it is a section of the wall that is not very isolated but not as touristy as Badaling, it is sort of in the middle. We intended to go on a four hike in a more isolated area but we were not feeling very well and decided against it (I swear we have not been feeling quite right since we arrived, hopefully soon we will feel like ourselves again). We booked a private tour through our hostel and went with our driver and three other visitors. It was a lot of fun, we did the most hiking out of everyone in our group; we must have hiked for almost four hours! I was strating to get tired but Jon kept encouraging me to keep going, which I am glad he did because we were able to get some great views. We took a cable car up and a tobbogan (not sure if I spelled that right) down. There were other people on the wall but we were able to hike up to a tower away from everyone else, and it was just the two of us for a short time. I wish we had gone with the more isolated hike, but oh well, at least we got to see it. There were a few vendors on the wall that would take your picture and then try and sell you postcards, we stopped and talked to a couple of them and they were really nice, even when we didn't buy anything.

We were exhausted by the time we got home and we rested for a while before going out to an acrobat show. We met a couple of cool guys from our hostel on our tour of the wall (Justin and Chris) and we ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the evening. We all went to the show then we sat in the courtyard and had some drinks.

Everyday we tell ourselves that we are going to go out and explore the nightlife but by the time 8 o'clock rolls around we are yawning and end up staying in (similar to when we are at home). Maybe we will go tonight =)

We were supposed to leave Beijing today but we accidently missed our train- good thing we had not bought the tickets yet. The train to Hong Kong only leaves every other day so we had to cancel our reservations in HK and we are staying in Beijing for an extra couple of days. This is fine by us considering that Beijing is less expensive and what I would consider more authentic. Besides, we are finally starting to meet people in the hostel and it will be fun to get to know them better.

I think today we might go do some more sight-seeing. Jon is usually in charge of the sight-seeing itinerary and I get to pick where we eat; it is a great compromise. The food here has been fabulous so far, I think that eating local food is going to be one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.

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