Day 8 - Beijing & Great Wall

Today we did only three things, but they left us utterly exhausted. First we loaded up at a luxuriously late 9:00am to head out to the Great Wall. We went to a section that was over an hour away from town. Along the highway buildings became smaller until only one story farmhouses dominated, overseeing meager acre plots of crops. Being a major tourist attraction, the hello-people were on us practically before we left the bus. Bought tickets for the ski-slope-like chair lift and traveled up the hill to a low section in the Wall.

Though the Great Wall was originally constructed around 200 B.C.E., the section we were on dated from around 1400 A.C.E. I find it quite frankly amazing that the stone for that section was hauled over 100 km from a quarry outside Beijing - then up a hill and mortared into place. Equally amazing is that the wall was mostly effective at keeping out the Mongolian hordes. Every 500 meters or so there is a guard house or barracks. And in between are some of the most torturous steps and flats known to humankind as the wall follows the curves of the hills and mountains. Steps range from petite 1" high to more than 18" 70-degree, hand-over-hand climbs. Soaked in different levels of sweat, we all managed to make it to the final tower that is part of the tourist section. After a brief pause to admire the view and catch our breath, we had to hike back down (and up, and down).


Getting down was way way cooler than going up. The ride down was a steel toboggan ride. With a nod to Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, we climbed aboard our one-person power-less folding "go karts" and followed the steel track down.

A long bus ride (and nap!) back into Beijing and we arrived at our second destination - the Silk Market. Originally narrow alleys of stalls open to the elements and packed with Chinese and foreign tourists alike, the Silk Market was leveled and replaced with a 7-story indoors version of hte same. Barkers shouted, lured, and even sometimes grabbed passers-by to tempt them into their 8' x 8' stalls. The first two floors were dominated by textiles of all forms - from "Polo" and "Armani" shirts to be had for as little as 30RMB (about $3.50), to socks, "silk" blouses and children's clothes. Then were watches of all "makes", jewelry and pearls, even electronics such as Wii systems and iPhones. Despite being universally exhausted, we all set in to the shopping with a fervor. Flush with our purchases about 90 minutes later, we headed back to the hotel for a quick shower and change for our third event...

The Peiking Duck Restaurant. This restaurant is so popular that it has opened three additional locations across Beijing. The meal was, in a word, indescribable. We savored 16 courses including the world-famous Peiking Duck. Probaly the most interesting two courses were the fish. We actually got to meet it when a chef came out with a steel pail of water and a grouper nearly lept out in a vain attempt at freedom. At the end of a 13 hour day, a solid hour of stair-climbing, and a meal that would put Bacchus to shame, we headed back to the hotel, called our mothers, and slept like the dead.