Saturday

Yesterday morning we visited the Great Wall called Badaling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badaling). It is about an hour's drive from downtown Beijing where I am staying. As we drove on the highway to our destination you could feel the temperature begin to drop as we entered the mountains. Felt like driving through Colorado in some parts, albeit on a much smaller scale. The Great Wall is a different experience than I anticipated. We did much more climbing that I had imagined. At some places the angle was 60 degrees steep. There were both ramps and stairs, many of them being uneven. You had to watch your footing very carefully. Because it was a cloudy day we did not have the ability to see very far. Visibility was around 100m from the wall. It was eery the way the wall appeared about of the fog, like a ghost surrounding it. To comprehend how many people and how many materials was put into this construction is mind boggling. The wall stretches 12,000 km across the entire country. What was fascinating was how important the Badaling section of the wall played in the history of Beijing. It served as one of the primary shields for the city from the invading Mongol tribes to the north who wanted to gain access to food and soil-rich land good for growing crops.

After spending a couple of hours hiking the wall, we were ready for a nice break and dined on traditional noodles near the base of the wall. The Ming Tombs were our next destination (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_Tombs). The Ming Tombs are the burial grounds for 13 of the 16 Ming emperors. We visited the Ding tomb, which was discovered recently in 1957. The tomb, grounds, and exhibitions were quite impressive. Following the tour of the tombs, Zhongcheng and I headed to his home to meet his wife and daughter (11). Neither of them had met an American in person before. His daughter has had some exposure to English speakers before. Currently, there is an Australian English teacher at her school. She was reluctant to speak with me but was very curious about my blue eyes. The dog did not like me, except when I was petting her. I also assume I was her first American and looked quite different. She barked until she wore herself out. The four of us went to a traditional Korean-style restaurant because Zhongcheng's wife is Korean and she wanted me to experience some of their food. We had grilled sliced Ribeye and it was wonderful. We also enjoyed traditional Korean soup and salad. For dessert, we had a sweet soup which we drank out of a cup. It smelled like cinnamon to me, but they insisted it was not. The dinner and visit was fabulous and Zhongcheng's daughter presented me with a gift she had made. It looks like the lanyard's we used to make at summer camp but the woven loop was made out of string rather than plastic.

Right now it is early on Sunday morning and I'm amazing how quickly the trip is passing by, but I am definitely missing my friends, family and home. Hope everyone in the states has a nice rest tonight.