Beijing & Great Wall

We just arrived home and it's 11:00pm on Tuesday night. The last 4 days have been exhausting to say the least so we will only blog a little at a time.

Friday was the first day of a three day holiday call Labor Festival. Friday was a light work day so I was able to catch up on a few things and then we just hung out around the neighborhood. On Saturday morning we flew from Shanghai to Beijing on an early flight and arrived at our hotel by noon. We hired a private car and driver to take us to the Mutianyu site of the Great Wall which took about 2 hours to reach. Once there, the crowds were not too bad. Once you walk through the street vendors trying to sell t-shirts, hats, food, and other trinkets, you arrive to the ticket gate at which point you take an old ski lift to the top of the hill. This ski lift was older than me. Once you reach the top, the view is pretty amazing. It's also amazing to think that this entire wall stretches more than 5000km and was only crossed by the Mongolians twice. From the ground to the top of the wall is probably 200 ft.

It was about 95 degrees so we didn't stay long. There were lots of stairs and once you see one stretch of the wall I think it just repeats itself a few hundred times. We rode the tram back down the hill and was greeted by a couple guys in Mongolian costumes for photos.

Back through the street vendors Theresa decided that Madeleine needed lunch so she started negotiating for a banana. She approached the first vendor and explained that she wanted only one banana. The vendor weighed it, gave us an impression that this was a big one, and said she wanted 5 RMB (about 75 cents) for the banana. Speaking like a well trained Chinese negotiator, Theresa replied with "ahh!! that's too much" and walked away. Within eyesight of this, she approached the next and asked "how much for one banana?" Without weighing the banana the vendor asked how much she would pay. Theresa said "3 RMB." "Oh no, this is good banana" said the vendor. As we walked away we heard "okay, okay, okay." Theresa walked away proud of her first Chinese negotiation - one banana for 3 RMB (about 40 cents).

The drive back to Beijing took almost 3 hours so by the time we arrived at the hotel we were exhausted, ordered room service, and went to bed early.