Oh, before we go any further, a disclaimer; I'm a little bit more "wordy" than my bride. Let's go.
We then hit the breakfast buffet (bacon & sausage by the buckets!!!) here in the hotel and then back up to the room to get ready for our bus tour of the Great Wall with the other families who are adopting. While we were all gathering in the hotel lobby waiting for our guide to show up, it began to snow here as well. Beijings first snow of the year.
Our guide showed up & began taking inventory of the families and then we piled onto the bus. It was a little more than an hours ride to the wall, driving thru old & new areas of Beijing. The infrastructure is fascinating to me. The buildings, bridges, road ways, river beds, etc... We drove through an area that I found absolutely fascinating because of how tightly packed everything was. The tour guide referred to this area as a hutong. More on this later.
Once you're out of Beijing proper, you start seeing mountains. Within another 3 minutes of driving, you see the Great Wall. Pictures cannot begin to prepare you for the first sight(s) of the wall. I would go so far as to say it's at least a little bit intimidating. The bus is parked, we get some instruction of how not to die, take a few pictures and then we're turned loose.
Have I mentioned that it's snowing?
We start up. At first, there's not many steps but instead it's ramped at about a 10% grade of slope. With the ground damp and snow falling on it, it was slicker than whale poo in an ice floe! If not for the mortar between the stones, I would have been doomed. Heck, there were kids, dads, moms, and old ladies with canes that were passing me. I just couldn't go until I realized that if I positioned my feet onto the mortar, I could get some grip and go.
By the time I got that figured out, the ramp part of it was over and we were to the steps. Some of the steps have a rise of about 2 inches and others have a rise of about 20 inches. Some of the steps are very level and some of them are sloped downwards to the front of the step.
Did I mention it was snowing? And slick? And we're climbing the side of a really tall mountian?
We made it past the first tower to a small platform (think: place to lay while waiting for a helio-rescue) about midway to the second tower. It was plenty far when you consider the fact that you have to get back down.
Going down was even harder in my opinion. I was holding Robby's hand the whole time so I was essentially going down sideways, banging my right knee on the hand rail about every other step.
Thankfully the snow had let up shortly before we were to head down so the steps cleared off a little bit.
Once we were all present and accounted for, the bus pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the peril ridden roadways (we saw lots of accidents on the way to and from the wall).
Part of the tour was lunch at a jade museum. Jade in China carries nearly as much signifigance as gold in the U.S. So we go to this restaurant that has the museum/store on the first floor and the eatery on the second. When we got done eating, we went back downstairs to get some history of jade, shown where the carvers do their work and hear some other talking points. Then you're allowed to shop. We didn't buy anything but did do some haggling.
Back onto the bus. We didn't get to stop, but they drove us by the Olympic Village so we got to see the bubble building and the birds nest (thru the haze, that is). We didn't stop so we only got pictures through the bus windows. I didn't think this was anything special, but they don't play football or have the big rock n' roll shows there, so take that for what it's worth.
To my surprise (probably because I wasn't listening earlier), we were on our way back to the hutong for a rickshaw tour! The hutongs are the oldest part of Beijing and are essentially a maze of very tight streets/alleys that were designed originally for walking. Now they have scooters, bicycles, cars, people walking and probably some other stuff that I've already forgotten. How hundreds of people don't die per day here is beyond me.
I'm drifting, back to the tour...
First they showed us this community playground where the people come out and exercise every morning. Then it was off to a local market where they had fresh meat laid out, fresh veggies that were absolutely gorgeous, more of the cheap gifts you always see from the street vendors, spices and more. Heck there was even a lady riding her scooter through the market!
Next up was the rickshaw tour. Woe to the poor guy that drew our family! We taxed him pretty good during one part where he had to catch up to the rest of the group due to somebody driving a car in an area that the Good Lord never intended! We stopped at a local residents house and they took us inside to see what they're like. Not a bad little shack and it was heated so we could have stayed a whole hour for all I cared.
Back to the rickshaw to finish up the tour and show some mercy our poor pedaling driver. We were then led back to our bus to go back to the hotel. It was a little after 4pm by this time. On the way back to the hotel, they took us by the market that sells scorpions as well as other critters of that sort for you to eat. We're going to go there tomorrow and see if we can't get some pictures of that and to see if they have any free samples!
We tried to find a little dumpling shack that's close to our hotel but after going through iron clad gates and into dimly lit alley ways with a 6 year old, we decided it was probably best to just hit the restaurant at the hotel again for supper.
I took Robby swimming in the hotel pool again tonight. It's a strange thing... there's a hotel worker there by the pool but the only thing he does is make you sign a waiver that states that he will not do anything but watch should you be drowning. I think part of the reason for that is because he's dressed just like all of the other hotel workers. Black suit and tie. You can't jump in the pool with that on... it's dry clean only.
Big day tomorrow. Orientation class, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, scorpion market and peking duck for supper... you don't have to give a 24 hour notice here!
Off to bed.
p.s. Seeing all of the little Chinese kiddos while we're out and about is really starting to make the heart ache to meet our little Caleb. Two more days!
We start up. At first, there's not many steps but instead it's ramped at about a 10% grade of slope. With the ground damp and snow falling on it, it was slicker than whale poo in an ice floe! If not for the mortar between the stones, I would have been doomed. Heck, there were kids, dads, moms, and old ladies with canes that were passing me. I just couldn't go until I realized that if I positioned my feet onto the mortar, I could get some grip and go.
By the time I got that figured out, the ramp part of it was over and we were to the steps. Some of the steps have a rise of about 2 inches and others have a rise of about 20 inches. Some of the steps are very level and some of them are sloped downwards to the front of the step.
Did I mention it was snowing? And slick? And we're climbing the side of a really tall mountian?
We made it past the first tower to a small platform (think: place to lay while waiting for a helio-rescue) about midway to the second tower. It was plenty far when you consider the fact that you have to get back down.
Going down was even harder in my opinion. I was holding Robby's hand the whole time so I was essentially going down sideways, banging my right knee on the hand rail about every other step.
Thankfully the snow had let up shortly before we were to head down so the steps cleared off a little bit.
Once we were all present and accounted for, the bus pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the peril ridden roadways (we saw lots of accidents on the way to and from the wall).
Part of the tour was lunch at a jade museum. Jade in China carries nearly as much signifigance as gold in the U.S. So we go to this restaurant that has the museum/store on the first floor and the eatery on the second. When we got done eating, we went back downstairs to get some history of jade, shown where the carvers do their work and hear some other talking points. Then you're allowed to shop. We didn't buy anything but did do some haggling.
Back onto the bus. We didn't get to stop, but they drove us by the Olympic Village so we got to see the bubble building and the birds nest (thru the haze, that is). We didn't stop so we only got pictures through the bus windows. I didn't think this was anything special, but they don't play football or have the big rock n' roll shows there, so take that for what it's worth.
To my surprise (probably because I wasn't listening earlier), we were on our way back to the hutong for a rickshaw tour! The hutongs are the oldest part of Beijing and are essentially a maze of very tight streets/alleys that were designed originally for walking. Now they have scooters, bicycles, cars, people walking and probably some other stuff that I've already forgotten. How hundreds of people don't die per day here is beyond me.
I'm drifting, back to the tour...
First they showed us this community playground where the people come out and exercise every morning. Then it was off to a local market where they had fresh meat laid out, fresh veggies that were absolutely gorgeous, more of the cheap gifts you always see from the street vendors, spices and more. Heck there was even a lady riding her scooter through the market!
Next up was the rickshaw tour. Woe to the poor guy that drew our family! We taxed him pretty good during one part where he had to catch up to the rest of the group due to somebody driving a car in an area that the Good Lord never intended! We stopped at a local residents house and they took us inside to see what they're like. Not a bad little shack and it was heated so we could have stayed a whole hour for all I cared.
Back to the rickshaw to finish up the tour and show some mercy our poor pedaling driver. We were then led back to our bus to go back to the hotel. It was a little after 4pm by this time. On the way back to the hotel, they took us by the market that sells scorpions as well as other critters of that sort for you to eat. We're going to go there tomorrow and see if we can't get some pictures of that and to see if they have any free samples!
We tried to find a little dumpling shack that's close to our hotel but after going through iron clad gates and into dimly lit alley ways with a 6 year old, we decided it was probably best to just hit the restaurant at the hotel again for supper.
I took Robby swimming in the hotel pool again tonight. It's a strange thing... there's a hotel worker there by the pool but the only thing he does is make you sign a waiver that states that he will not do anything but watch should you be drowning. I think part of the reason for that is because he's dressed just like all of the other hotel workers. Black suit and tie. You can't jump in the pool with that on... it's dry clean only.
Big day tomorrow. Orientation class, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, scorpion market and peking duck for supper... you don't have to give a 24 hour notice here!
Off to bed.
p.s. Seeing all of the little Chinese kiddos while we're out and about is really starting to make the heart ache to meet our little Caleb. Two more days!
I knew you'd get that Peking Duck joke in here somewhere... Very envious of you going to the Forbidden City. I saw an in depth show on that on PBS and it is one place in Asia I would give just about anything to see.
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