July 17, 2010
Today was the last official day in China. Really, it has been much better than I thought it was going to be. And today, really solidified how awesome China is. I woke up really early again, and so I ran down to the gym (trudged would be a better word…but ran sounds more exciting), and ran a bit on the treadmill and went for a quick dip in the pool. We had to be up early anyway because we were going to the great wall of China in the morning! I got ready and went down for breakfast and got some more good food. The breakfast buffet is really pretty darn awesome. They give you all you can eat, and there is such a variety of food, and its pretty much all gourmet! I love the omelets, French toast, and even veggie/egg sushi. I didn’t really like their other kinds. Yum. I grabbed some stuff and headed out because we were running out of time before we had to leave.
We were on the bus for nearly 2 hours it felt like, even though the drive was only something like 30 or 40 miles. There was just a LOT of traffic and all the traffic moved really slowly. But finally, we got to the great wall and it really kind of jumps out of nowhere, and it is REALLY long. We went to a less touristy spot, and it was kind of nice. It wasn’t a wide as it is in some places, and that actually was kind of nice. You could get views from both sides of the wall with only a second or so in between. We wanted to take a picture as a group before we went up and climbed it (It literally was a climb, and we could go one of two ways…the less steep way, or the really steep way.) Anyway, we took the picture and then all these Asians kept wanting to come and take pictures with us…so what we thought was going to be a minute turned into 10 minutes. It was so funny! We all felt like rock stars and we all loved taking pictures with the people. The cutest ones were the kids. It was so fun to see how excited they were to see such a big group of white people. Haha. I love China.
I decided to take the steep side. And it was STEEP. Much steeper than I thought. I did really well for a while, and my legs didn’t burn much, but after a while, they started burning pretty good. But surprisingly enough, I loved every minute of it. I had to keep reminding myself…this isn’t just any climb…I’m on the great wall of China! It was really cool too because the section that we were in had actually been used in defending Beijing during some of the historical wars in China. Kind of cool to imagine how it all worked. We got a lot of pictures on the way up and down, and whats really funny is that there was this shirtless dude who started up the wall after our group and he totally lapped us…he was up and down before we were, and he stopped and talked to us a couple times and to other people on the way too! Haha. Its Crazyness I tell you.
We got down from the wall, and Joseph and Chad were nice enough to buy us ice cream. I decided to get my Nestle product for the day (haha) and the ice cream cone was quite good.
We ate and then jumped back on the bus. The bus driver was trying to pull the bus out of the area and there was this big tour group of Chinese people, a lot of whom were just sitting on the ground. What is crazy is how close the bus got to them! I seriously think that the bus got within 6 inches of this older grandma, and finaly someone got the group tot move out of the busses’ way. It seems like the busses are always just kind of squeezing through areas. Insanity! We got caught in more traffic on the way out, and it took us more than an hour to go about a mile. But, we passed a lot of tour busses with more Chinese people on them (lots of kids) and they saw us and just started waving and taking pictures. Haha. The more we waved or gave peace signs, the more they loved us. And the more we loved them! It was so much fun.
After we got out of all the traffic, the next step was the Birds’ Nest and Water cube, two of the main Olympic Venues from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Man, I wish we could have toured both, and that we could have spent more time there or even gone at night. I bet it would have been awesome. It was so cool to see them in person, even if from a distance. We got some good group pictures and then had to leave. What was really funny is that as we were leaving, the police came through the Olympic square there and all the people who were selling stuff in the area totally scattered; I guess it is illegal to sell stuff in the square. Haha.
Back to the bus and we were off to the Silk Market. More time for fun shopping! We got there and I pulled out some more money (I don’t know why), ran to McDonalds for some lunch because we hadn’t eaten in forever, and finally re-entered the market to shop. It is so hard to keep track of people in the market! Seriously, when you stop to look at something or even if you just turn around, its so easy to lose the group of people that you are with (largely I imagine because our group consists of girls who are shorter than 5’6”…but I’m not judging haha). It was seriously fun though and there were a lot more going on than there was at the pearl market the day before. I got some really awesome deals on a few awesome things, which I can’t really write about here, because some of the things will be gifted to…who knows…it could be you! Anyway, one thing I will show is this really unique piece of art. The guy sits at the table and dips his hand into a dish of ink and then moves it around the piece of paper making these amazingly detailed pictures of Chinese scenery. They were beautiful! And a lot of them go together in pairs or trios. So, he wanted about $20 bucks for one…first I told him $15 for 5, but I got him down to $15 for 4. Not too bad. They really are nice…so nice I may have to keep them for myself!
I switched in between groups multiple times depending on where I was and what I wanted to look at, and it got to the point where I really got separated from the rest of the people who were shopping. No good. I couldn’t find them and I knew a ton of them had already left, so I decided to brave the metro myself and go home. It was only 3 stops away anyway, and I couldn’t/didn’t want to take a taxi ($$). So, I took my big bag of loot and braved the crowded Beijing Subway on my own. It was pretty awesome, actually and it wasn’t super crowded which was super nice. I wasn’t complaining about htat a bit.
I came out of the subway stop and saw three of my friends going to dinner. They said they would wait for me and so I went into the hotel to drop off my stuff. We ended up meeting with a few other people in the group and went to this place called the Sunshine House. I decided to get fried rice noodles with vegetables. It was good, but much different than I thought It would be. Chinese food isn’t the same Chinese food as you find in the states haha. I really liked it though, the veggies were just different than I expected. I also tried a friends beef curry and it was awesome! A great meal to end the Beijing portion of the trip.
A group of us decided to meet up and go swimming/hot tubbing as well, and it was really fun. I had a competition with one of my friends, Shalece, and I totally won haha. We were trying to see who could go the furthest in the pool without breathing. After a few tries, I made it from one end to the other (about 25 m). haha. Fun times.
I took another friend out to find somewhere to eat, almost watched Toy Story 3 (Its China, remember) and then packed my heart out (or my suitcase, whichever you prefer) before hitting the sac. A long and hard day, but a very fun and rewarding day. I love China, and I love this trip. I can’t believe there is less than a week left. Good times.
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