The Great Wall

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Hello again,

Well, i definitely don't feel like writing right now, but i don't think I will feel like it tomorrow either..😊 So here it goes!

Today Jake and I somehow woke up at 530am again. We had a lovely cup of tea in the lobby and waited for Megan to get ready. We are trying to figure out the Tibet situation because its a little bit difficult at the moment, and by difficult I mean twice as expensive as I thought it would be. The bad news is, our only other option out of the country is by air which would cost just as much. The Olympics are pretty much screwing us in every way possible. It seems like the prices for everything have gone WAY up and the whole Tibet situation is just a mess. Its not that they don't want you to go... they do! They just want you to pay your entire trip budget to do it.... All right, enough with the complaining.

Today was pretty awesome. We ended up leaving the hostel around 830 and opted out of taking a tour to the Great Wall. This turned out to be an interesting decision. We walked to the metro and took that to the bus station. The only problem is, my Mandarin is limited to about 20 words, and not many people speak English outside of the tourist areas. So after emerging from the metro station we literally spent 1 whole hour wandering around this block (little did we know the bus station was about 10 feet away the whole time... underground) trying to find the right bus. Once we finally found the bus station, and then the right bus... we hopped on for about a 1.5 hour ride. I think we all fell asleep and were awoken by the sound of someone yelling "Simitai" (our final destination) and ordering us to get off the bus. Literally. We were pretty sketched out because this was clearly not the right location for our transfer and we were in the middle of nowhere. As it turns out, taxi drivers wait at this stop and get on the bus to check for westerners.... Sooooooo... we had to agree to the taxi ride since our bus had left... The taxi driver ended up being really nice... and we were able to bargain a tiny bit (bargaining in China is NOT like bargaining in India.... not nearly as fun and people sometimes get really angry at you)... So then we spent another hour in the taxi to get to the section of the Great Wall we wanted to go to... The scenery was pretty bland, I think the entire country is under construction... or at least all of Beijing and the surrounding areas. We did however pass some fields filled with really beautiful white flowered apple trees. China has some really amazing plant life.... there are trees all over the city as well with bright pink and red flowers.

Alright, so we arrived at the Great Wall. We went to one of the less popular sections which is known for its scenery and lack of crowds. The climb up was INTENSE.... many of the sections are nearly vertical and the steps are all completely uneven. There was a really pretty lake right below us so that made for some awesome views. We hiked for about 3 hours... the distance was not far at all.. it just takes a while. By the time we got to the top my legs were shaking (we were also hiking on the one meal we had at 8am... we accidentally skipped over the whole lunch thing)... The views from the top were really wonderful. (I would upload pictures right now but my camera cord is upstairs and i already tripped going up the stairs cause my legs won't lift high enough)... On the way back down they had a zip line over the lake... we decided to do it even though it was $6 dollars. It was pretty fun...but a little too short. From the bottom of the zip line we took a VERY short boat ride back to the entrance. The Great Wall has to be one of the LEAST overrated things I have seen. This is my second time and it was equally as impressive.

From there it was a LONG journey back. I think the trip back took about 3 hours... Jake started talking to this extremely annoying and very arrgant old german man who then followed us all the way to back to the metro. We ended up getting lost in the metro, so we were able to escape him finally😊 .... We were all too tired to go searching for food so we ate at our hostel. Which we have all vowed never to do again. Our hamburger came complete with Chinese pickles, a fried egg, two uncooked pieces of ham, and some very suspicious cheese.

Oh how could I forget. Last night I ate part of a chicken head! a very small part... but still. We went to a local place next door and were handed a menu completely in Chinese characters. We ended up ordering what the table next to us had..... who knows why... which was a large hot pot of soup with an entire chicken inside. Head, inards, feet... the whole darn thing. China sure is a culinary adventure.....I'm trying....

Ok. time for bed.....

Thanks for all the comments! Please leave more! I didn't know I had to approve them... but now I know. Alsoooooooooo... for anyone who likes these stories enough.. you can subscribe to the blog and then I believe you get sent an email when I post new ones.

Tomorrow we're taking it easy... Goodnight!

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Comments

[Briana]

woohoo!!
i just had a wonderful time reading your blogs!! it's strange how you can be sooo far away and yet it seems that you are so close... eew for the chicken in the soup deal, yay for the amazing views from the great wall(and for the morning tea--just had mine), and congrats on finding your way around a country where you can only speak 20 words of their language!!! can't wait for more psots

[Br]

I think I need to go somewhere like China....
Traveling for three months is sure to cure a broken heart, right?! I am all subscribed. And I can't wait to hear more!

[Evelyn]

I can't wait to see pictures!

[Jakes Uncle Patrick]

Chengdu - Nee How!
Hey! Uncle P here, I was in Bejing and Chengdu 3 yrs ago, had a great time. I have a very good friend who is an english professor at a university in Chengdu if you find yourself needing assistance, let me know and I will hook you up. Just got back from Kenya 3 weeks ago, another great trip, wish we had talked before you left! Oh well, more to catch up on when you get back. Be safe, and don't drink the water!

[erica]

chicken head
i LOVE that you ate chicken head (don't tell that it was just a little...still counts). keep having fun! don't worry, you'll find a way to tibet.

[naila]

miscellaneous chicken parts.
good work on eating a chicken head. or rather, knowingly eating a chicken head. theyve probably secretly fed us those in khi and said they were potatoes or something.

[Melissa]

love the stories! have FUN! I like hearing about the food - my dream job would be that guy on the travel channel. Did Jake get sick from the orange/kiwi on a stick? HAVE FUN (no more mouth-puking, that's gross) :)