The Great Wall

Today I checked off one of my lifelong dreams--I climbed the Great Wall of China! It was a foggy day, which made the view a little obstructed. But the experience was incredible. There were many people at the wall, and I had my picture taken with some Chinese high school students. The Great Wall is over 5,500 miles long, and it stretches like a strong dragon winding its way along the mountain ranges. We hiked the Badaling section in Yanqing County (about 70 miles outside of Beijing). The Badaling section was built during the Ming dynasty and is the most well-preserved section of the Great Wall.

We also visited a Cloisonne Factory. It was amazing to see artists working on beautiful pieces of art. Cloisonne vases are made of copper, and inlayed with beautiful colored enamel. After having a nice lunch and shopping for Cloisonne souvenirs, we headed to the Ming Tombs. We had a shocking moment on the bus, when Melanie K. thought she left her wallet in a public restroom. But after a few panicked moments, she found her wallet tucked away in her own backpack.

We were absolutely exhausted after a full day of sightseeing. The bus dropped us off on the street and we had about 45 minutes to find a place to eat and get back to a theatre for an exciting acrobatic show. We were starving, and we searched everywhere for food. We thought we found a Pizza Hut, but it turned out to be delivery-only. Nancy tried to ask a security guard (who didn't speak English) how to get to a McDonalds. Luckily, he recognized her best hand-motion for the "golden arches". However, we didn't have enough time to walk all the way there, so we settled on concession stand food in the theatre. I bought some chips, and I thought they tasted funny. Noah tasted one, and started laughing. As it turned out, my chips were "meat-flavored." Nonetheless, the Chinese acrobats were amazing.