Day 3... The Great Wall

This was by far the highlight of our trip to Beijing. Because it was about a two hour drive from the city, we left a little earlier from the hotel. After breakfast, we boarded the buses and started our way toward the Great Wall. It was interesting driving out in the country of Beijing. It is so much different from Japan- open fields, countryside, big spaces.

We arrived at the Mu Tian Yu section of the Great Wall by about 9:15 am. Allen told us this was better than the popular Badaling section of the wall where there are many more tourists. The first stop was the bathroom- no need to say anything else (not luxury in the least bit) I had my toilet paper handy though and I just took a deep breath and got out of there as quickly as I could. We took a cable car up to the climbing section. As we were going up, we just had to pinch ourselves- The Great Wall! Wow.

I really don't even know what to say other than BREATHTAKING! To be standing on the wall and see it strech on and on and on is truly amazing. The Great Wall stretches from Shanhaiguan on the east coast to Jiayu Guan in the Gobi Desert, which is more than 4000 miles.

We walked for just under two hours, mainly taking pictures and stopping to just take in this awe inspiring World Wonder. There were many towers where soldiers stood watch and guarded the wall. The boys had fun hiding in these towers, pretending to shoot the enemy.

The pictures say it all!

On the way down from the wall, there is vendor after vendor of people selling things- t-shirts, watches, trinkets, food, stuffed panda bears, chopsticks, etc. We started walking down and one women said, "Hey lady, I remember you. I give you good deal. How much you pay for this. You want t-shirt? How about table cloth?" It was hysterical. They haggle with you. They even haggle with the kids. Matthew ended up getting a little stuffed panda for $1.50 US. Patrick wanted a piece of Jade in the shape of a dragon. I don't think he got the greatest deal, but it was a fun experience for him. The whole way down they run after you to get you to buy things. We had been told this was how it would be, so we had fun with it. We played along with them, and bought a few little things, but nothing big. The boys just loved bargaining and got pretty good at it by the end. Patrick would walk away and say, "No- too expensive!" They would say, "Come back- I give you better deal!" It was comical!

We left the wall and stopped for lunch at a Cloisone factory, a unique art form of bronze casting, originating during the Ming dynasty. This was yet another tourist trap, but not my thing, so I didn't find a need to buy anything except two panda bear Christmas ornaments for the boys.

The next stop was the Ming Tombs, which is the final resting place for 13 of the 16 Ming emperors. It is a 40 sq km area of rolling countryside dotted with tombs and small villages and farms. This was not really that impressive to us after being at the Wall earlier in the day.

We were ready to crash at the hotel, so we had another quick dinner at the hotel and hit the hay! Our last day in China would be a long and busy day.