Day 2

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Another full day! Up early to get on the road, and semi beat traffic to head to the Great Wall! But before we did that, had another great breakfast, western and Asian style.

After that we headed to the Jade factory, where we saw a bit on how jade is carved and the grades of jade. And yes... I did buy something! we stayed for about an hour, you can shop in the huge store, or sit and relax at the coffee bar. When we were all finished, we packed back on the bus to head to Juyongguan Great Wall. there is not much in this world that can beat being there and actually trekking up the mountain, along the wall. Very steep and sometimes large stone steps. the views are breathtaking. You are surrounded by mountains. they have a different beauty than the Rocky Mountains. The weather was very overcast, so it gave a real ethereal feeling to the whole time. And believe it or not, with the time we got, I did make it very far. My legs can attest to that. But besides the achy body and trying to practice yoga breathes, it did give me some great reflection on my life and life in general and the walls put up, by me or others, personal or even lifelike trials, trying to overcome them, or maybe learning that some walls are just not made for things to come over. They are what they are. And the biggest lesson is that if you put walls up, they are hard to tear down. It was all physical and mental this morning!

We then headed for lunch, wasn't as good as yesterday, but the beer was great! Next we head to the hutong. Which is "old Bejing". That was a neat experience. vehicles are not really allowed within the walled area because the roads are so narrow! You get around by foot or by rickshaw. Of course which we took! the Hutong is what I thought Beijing would be more like. And yes, it is a walled area with houses, restaurants, bars, you name it it's there. Really amazing!

Supper was Peking duck... No I didn't try it, looked really fatty. But I did eat bamboo shoots which were delicious! I'm practicing for when I get my panda, Pete!

Lastly we headed to the "snack street", Wangfujing Street. There is all Asian delicacies... Scorpion, sea horse, centipede... Nope didn't try any! It's also a street market which is right around the corner from the very high end shopping stores. (No I didn't buy any shoes, but I did see some cute ones!)

We have now returned to the hotel as we have an early flight tomorrow to Xian... To see the terracotta soldiers! So this girl is gonna shower off the smell of deep friend scorpions and get some sleep!

Until tomorrow!

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