Beijing 8:25pm (6:25am Alberta)

Today was a crazy busy day, so get comfortable....

Our story actually starts last night, when I was woken up by the sound of falling water. The annoying Chinese torture kind of "plink. plink. plink." At first I thought one of us hadn't tightened a tap all the way, so I got up to check. Nope, there was water falling from the ceiling in the bathroom - although most of it was landing in the tub, so I guess that was good. So, I called down to the front desk and had one a truly surreal conversation. Apparently 2am is not a good time to practice your 2nd or 3rd or whatever-th language. In the end, she sent up someone from housekeeping, who brought us 2 bottles of water. LOL I brought her into the bathroom and you could see the comprehension dawning. "oooooh" with big eyes.

So we threw all our stuff in our bags and moved into the room across the hall. Which turned out to be non-smoking, so yeah! Unfortunately, although she'd been fine 'til then, Mom started snoring at that point and after the move I couldn't locate my earplugs again. Soooo glad we'd passed out early!

6:30am wake-up call this morning and after climbing on the bus, we set off for the Great Wall. However, it's about a one and half hour drive, so there was a stop along the way at a Jade Factory. (Did I mention yesterday, that the Factories are Government sponsored and the product is guaranteed, so it might not be as cheap as on the street, but you can be sure it's not plastic!) I bought myself a cool piece that can be worn as a ring or a pendant and some gifts for people at home. Mom and I both got presents because she's the tour leader. Cool!

Beijing is HUGE and on the way to the Wall, you're basically driving through urban, urban, urban... bang! Mountains! The are totally the mountains you see in paintings too, down to the mist of the morning. However, the sun came out as we made our way through the traffic to the parking lot. We could see some sections of the wall and they were literally nose to neck with people. Yikes! Fortunately, lovely Marco took us to a slightly less famous section (no Presidents or Prime Ministers have done publicity shots there) and it was completely reasonable.

I always pictured the wall as just a single line, but there was a an outpost in the valley, from which you could climb either way up to the wall on the ridge line on either side. Most of the group went left to the flatter section, but I thought of Stuart and hung a right with two others to the steeper climb. They gave up after a bit and I kept climbing. I didn't quite make it to the very top, because I was starting to run out of time, but I got damn close and it was my turn to be a rock star in the process. Apparently white girls climbing the wall alone are a novelty - old men were giving me the thumbs up, a group of four girls climbed along with me and I got stopped by about 50 people to take photos with them. Aaaahh... my adoring public. LOL

I actually think I would have made the top if I hadn't have stopped so many times. Oh well - next time. I have to bring Stuart here, he would adore it. No two steps are the same height or depth, so it's a lot like climbing a mountain path. And with the sun out, but the time I reached my turning point, I was roasting and had drunk most of my water! When I got back to the bottom, I bought a lime ice pop that was so cold, I froze my inner upper lip to it and ripped some skin off. Nothing like a little blood with your lime!

From the Great Wall, it took us about 45 minutes just to get back to the edge of the city. That National Holiday again and everyone was coming to the Wall. We saw empty buses and cars abandoned in the left lane and people decided to just walk from where they were. Thank god they took us early.

It wasn't much farther into the city that we stopped at a Friendship Store. There are two in China and they were started by Chairman Mao when foreigners weren't really encourage to visit. There was only one hotel, one restaurant and one store they could be in, and he basically used them to rob visitors blind. Now, it's just a nice restaurant and a cloisonne factory. We had lunch and Mom and I both bought goodies for people at home.

The next thing on our itinerary was the Temple of Heaven. For the first time here I felt what I'd been expecting all along. There were a billion people (of course!) but it was peaceful and happy and just lovely. Due to the hundreds of trees, they call it the lungs of Beijing and you could finally get a breath of clean air. Aaaaahhhh.... The temple itself was huge, especially when you consider that they only used it twice a year! Now it's place where the retired folks hang out to play cards, play music, sing, dance and generally have a good time. I also bought myself some silk on a wand to swoosh around and got some applause from the locals. Apparently, white girls aren't expected to be able to DO anything!

That was our last scheduled stop of the day, but Marco had a surprise for us. He'd arranged tickets to Kunfu Legend, which is a famous live show about a Shao Lin monk. It combined martial arts, ballet, tai chi and Shao Lin tricks like breaking steel rods on their foreheads. It was surprisingly cool. Not everyone went, but those of us who did were glad we had. Plus, Marco bought us ice cream, so Stuart would have approved - dessert before dinner!

The bus with everyone else picked us up and we went for Thai food. As usual, very yummy! I have to say that foodwise, nothing has been particularly new or startling. If you think of Chinese food as what you get at the mall, it might be an education, but to me it's been like most of my diet anyway.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton of stuff I meant to tell you, but it's been a long day and I'm tired. Besides, I have to have something left to tell you when I get home! Tomorrow we leave Beijing in the early evening, so I don't know if I'll get in a post tomorrow night or not. Don't panic if you don't see one right away!

Cheers!