Day 7 – We met at 7:50 to go to the Great Wall. It was about a 2 hour bus ride to get there. As we drive there we went through tiny villages and saw some of rural China. It started out very cold in the morning and it was raining. When we arrived there I had a pullover and a raincoat. Quickly, I removed them as we started climbing. The rain also went away and it turned out to be a beautiful and sunny day. Before we started climbing up the hill we went through these water caves, we stepped on stones cutting through water paths. There were lights in it that made it look like a club and there were different signs in Chinese saying the different parts of the rock (I think). Then we were outside and saw some baby ducks on the side of the hill as we started scaling the hill. There were rooms on our way up showing different rocks and stuff. Then the stairs came. We climbed up stone stairs and some of them were slippery due to the rain. Once we made it to the Great Wall we thought it was an accomplishment. Then we started walking along the wall and going up different stations. The stairs were all different heights and some you had to literally use your hands to climb up. There scenery was gorgeous and my words cannot do it justice. There were so many little bugs surrounding the great wall. They just got in your way and you hated them every second they were around you. The sun was shining directly on us and I was getting hot. It’s a good thing my hair was curled already or it would have been curl city. We made it to once point where the stairs were basically vertical, some people stayed back because they were tired but I figured I was only going to be in China once and was going to do it. I’ll rest later. The view was even more gorgeous and made it so worth it. There was a Chihuahua up there with the people who had snacks stands. These stands were along the entire wall and it must be a hassle for the workers to have to carry stuff up there, but I am sure they make money.
You would think walking back down the wall would be great, except it’s hard because the stairs are all different sizes, and it’s straight downhill and your feet slide forward in your shoes. So it’s basically as much work as going up. But we made it to the toboggans to go down the hill and they were SO MUCH FUN! I took a video of myself going down the slide. I would easily pay 60 rmb to do that again.
Then we were to the little market at the bottom and I finally got bargaining down. The one lady wanted 440 rumb for 2 tshirts and I laughed at her. After going back and forth and me walking away she gave them to me for 40 rmb. They are I ❤ Beijing shirts but the Beijing is in Chinese characters. I got one for my brother and one for myself. I also got a rice had (originally 160 for 40), a mini great wall for 10, and a mini snow globe for 5. I am excited to bargain more in the upcoming days.
Then we went to an American style buffet with the Chinese version of American’s Chinese food. I was excited to hear that there was a pizza bar. The pizza had all sorts of vegetables and meats on it. I picked the pizza with the pineapple on it and it was pretty good. I thought I had finally found egg rolls in China, but inside was a purple potato and it wasn’t so good. I really liked the mango juice to drink and they had a green apple carbonated drink that was really tasty. Overall, the food there wasn’t so great and I probably wouldn’t go back. But there was ice cream and ice cream is one of my favorite things to eat.
After lunch we went back to the hotel. I finally had someone show me how to turn the TV on and was watching Olympic qualifiers for gymnastics. I had no idea what anyone on TV was saying but I’ve always enjoyed watching the gymnasts. For dinner we decided to try out KFC seeing as it is more popular than McDonalds. Luckily, they had a menu we could point to and I wanted a chicken sandwich. The guy was trying to ask me if I wanted a spicy one or not and I must have looked like a deer in the head lights. One of his coworkers spoke a little English and asked me “spicy?” The meal was pretty good for fast food. I liked the mashed potatoes and was excited to drink lemonade. Drinking coke for every meal was getting pretty old.
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