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Published: July 31st 2006
He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man.
- Mao Zedong
Yesterday, Robbie became a true man.
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He who wins at cribbage on the Great Wall is the almighty cribbage champion FOREVER!
- Robb Modica
Yesterday, Sarah became the almighty cribbage champion.
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It was obviously a big day for both of us yesterday. We headed out of Beijing in the morning and drove two hours northeast of the city to get to a section of the Great Wall called Mutianyu. This section of the wall is supposedly a little less commercial and offers a more "authentic" experience of the Wall -- (though most of the people in our tour group took the cable car to the top - sigh -). We, however, decided to climb to the top, and successfully convinced a mother and daughter from Kansas to climb with us. Though it was a bit challenging, Sarah kept the complaining to a minimum and we made it to the Wall rather quickly (albeit so drenched in sweat that it looked like we had just taken a shower with our clothes on).
The Wall was even more spectacular than we had anticipated...leaving us speechless and certainly breathless. When you're standing on the Great Wall of China and looking at how
Great Wall
Despite being one of the tallest people in China, Robbie is not as tall as the GREAT WALL!in wraps around the tops of the mountains all around you, its pretty hard to believe that you're actually standing there...on top of the Great Wall of China. And now, thinking about how we were standing on the Great Wall of China...its still pretty hard to believe that we were there...standing on the GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!!!!
Luckily we were able to spend several hours on the Wall. We walked from tower to tower, each one seeming much different than previous one, before settling down on the top of one tower to eat lunch (beef jerky for Robbie and M&Ms for Sarah...yummy) and playin a game of cribbage --
And then our time at the Wall came to an end -- but not before we snatched up a few Mao souvenirs from the vendors on the way out. Not only did we snatch up some great Mao stuff, but we also learned that Sarah is a much better bargainer than Robbie!
On our way back to Beijing, we stopped to see an acrobat show. I know, I know...sounds lame...but turned out to be WAY cool. They can do stuff that no human being should be able to
Champion Forever
As you can see, Robbie had a significant lead at this point which he managed to lose after Sarah used her stealth-like diversionary tactics. do.
After the show it was straight to Tiananmen Square to see the flag lowering ceremony. The square was packed with people (no tanks) to witness this twice daily event. Apparently this is a huge deal to Chinese both native to Beijing and Chinese tourists. Our best guess was that there were 6,000 people at the north end of Tiananmen Square surrounding the flag pole. We watched as the guards marched in step out of the Heavenly Gate underneath the picture of Mao, toward the flag, took it down and marched back. Watching the people was as much of an experience as the ceremony itself.
Having convinced most of our group of 12 to join us at the ceremony, we then proceeded straight to a traditional Beijing dinner with bamboo shoots, stringy potatoes, sweet and sour pork, peppered beef, cashew chicken and many other dishes you would find at your local food court, except 14 times as good.
One more day in Beijing to see historical and religious sites, then off to Xi'an on the overnight train.
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Ann
non-member comment
The Great wall!!
Thougt I added one, but I probably didn't hit submit--some things never change. So neat you climbed it. The pictures look awesome. It was freezing when Ann was there. It's very neat that you got to stay for a while and really experience it!! I think it's one of those things you have to experience--no picture will do it justice. The walls of the Rillito are way up and the bridge at Dodge is closed. They won't even let news crews on it. My rain gauge said 4.2 inches Saturday and 2 more this morning. Water is up almost to the bicycle bridges and it will probably peak sometime this afternoon (this is Monday here)