Monday, September 30
Gooooood evening! Another icky day in Bejing! The smog was at it finest today and therefore I didn't feel much like going out. I pretty much just stayed indoors the whole day and watched movies. Sometimes, you just need days like that. I only went out to grab something to eat for dinner. The rest of the week should be busier though since I am going to go around to some places around Beijing with one of the girls from my class (Rose) since she has some friends coming to visit for the holiday. I think we may do the Great Wall, Summer Palace, Wafuxiang shopping district, historic part of Beijing, Temple of Heaven, Lama Temple, and Hongqiao Market. I hope to go to most of these places, but I know it's going to be packed everywhere for the holiday so I guess I will just have to see how it goes. I also should do some lesson planning this week so that I don't make myself work extra hard once I get back to school. Well...on to another movie. World War Z this time haha. Goodnight!
Gooooood evening! Another icky day in Bejing! The smog was at it finest today and therefore I didn't feel much like going out. I pretty much just stayed indoors the whole day and watched movies. Sometimes, you just need days like that. I only went out to grab something to eat for dinner. The rest of the week should be busier though since I am going to go around to some places around Beijing with one of the girls from my class (Rose) since she has some friends coming to visit for the holiday. I think we may do the Great Wall, Summer Palace, Wafuxiang shopping district, historic part of Beijing, Temple of Heaven, Lama Temple, and Hongqiao Market. I hope to go to most of these places, but I know it's going to be packed everywhere for the holiday so I guess I will just have to see how it goes. I also should do some lesson planning this week so that I don't make myself work extra hard once I get back to school. Well...on to another movie. World War Z this time haha. Goodnight!
Tuesday, October1 and Wednesday, October 2
Ahh there's so many things to do in Beijing and only so much time!! I've been so busy doing things and getting back to my hotel so late that I don't have time to write. Sorry!! I'm trying to upload pictures now but it will only do 1 at the moment so I will have to mess with it later. So...Tuesday. On Tuesday, I met with Rose and her two friends Jill and Tabitha. They are all from Canada and JIll and Tabitha teach in Inner Mongolia....so pretty far north. They live in a small town that only has about 100,000 people....small in China standards haha. We first went to the Temple of Heaven, which was a really beautiful park/historic site. I think it's where all of the religious ceremonies were held for the emperor. I probably should have read up more on it. There were some beautiful buildings though and a sacrificial podium as well...very interesting! After that, we went and walked in front of The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. It was sooo packed!!! Definitely at least a million people there, not even joking. We walked through there for awhile and then ended up at Wangfujing Street which is a huge shopping area. It kind of looks like Times Square. We went window shopping at one of the malls that is there. Jill and Tabitha bought some things from Forever 21. It's so strange to see Western stores here!! It actually was like a normal mall.
We had to leave early though because we were meeting Don, a new teacher Meaghan, and his friend Victor for dinner. We actually ate at a super fancy hotel restaurant that had such good food! We had quite the banquet!! The best thing was the Peking Duck. For anybody who has not had it, eat it. It's delicious! After dinner, we went to Hohai Street which is where we had gone the week before. There are a ton of places to eat, shop and some bars. It's really fun to just walk around. There is a river running through the middle of the street and it's really funny because people fish there, at night, with flashlights. I heard that they never catch anything but it's still pretty funny to watch. We walked around for awhile and then sat down at a bar. Victor (the Chinese friend) got a tower of beer for us and holy cow, it was huge! We were having fun learning Chinese from the guys and then shouting it at the people in the streets haha. We then walked around for a little bit longer and then decided we should go to KTV (karaoke)! None of us had ever been so when is a better time than with a bunch of girls!? Victor took us to some place and holy cow, it was beautiful! Karaoke here is very serious and therefore the KTV places are expensive. You go into this private room that has these huge couches, beautiful chandeliers, glass coffee tables, and then a huge TV. It is completely private and people come and serve you whatever you order. Victor ordered us some beers and then these huge, elaborate, beautiful fruit platters that we chowed on! All of the English songs they had were from the 80's and 90's....so it was really fun going back down memory lane! There were us 5 girls and we had a blast singing Aqua, Spice Girls, and Madonna! I think all of the Chinese people thought we were crazy cause we were just singing out loud and dancing all over. I'm pretty sure the Chinese people who are their usual patrons just sit there and wait for their turn to sing. We were there for quite awhile so by the time I got home, I fell right asleep!!
Wednesday was another day of fun! Around noon, Jill,, Tabitha, and I went to the mall again because we wanted to look around a bit more. Don and Meaghan met up with us after a little while and we walked around together. Since Jill and Tab live so far in the north and in such a small town, they're on a mission to find warm clothes here that are super cheap! They didn't find anything in the mall really so then we went to a foreign language book store that I wanted to go to. I was the only person who bought anything! I bought this really cute bi-lingual book that explains 10 Chinese festivals. I really like it and can't wait to show it to my students! We then all took the subway together and departed from Don and Meaghan. They had to get all of their things to go back to Jinan. I definitely am going to visit Jinan now! Maybe over New Years I will. We then went and found a Walmart!! Yay!! China Walmart is so gigantic! The one that we went to was 4 floors and had just about everything you would ever need. Jill and Tabitha bought some clothes and boots to bring back with them. I bought a new super cute pink hat that I am completely in love it. I looked it up and there is a Walmart in Shenyang so I am definitely going to go there to buy a winter jacket. That way, I won't feel bad leaving it when I come home because it will have served its purpose and they're super cheap! After shopping there for like an hour, we met back up with Rose and went back to the Olympic park.
It's soo awesome to be there at night! Everything is all lit up and there were a ton of people out. We took a tonnnn of pictures, but my camera died so a lot of them are on Rose and JIlls cameras. I think we are going to make a snapfish account or something so that we can all share our pictures. We took a lot of selfies too but my darn computer is being so slow! I will have to upload them later for you! Sorry! So we walked around there for quite awhile and yeah...that was my day!! We did a tonnnnnn of walking! Beijing definitely makes you burn calories! Plus I am determined to find one of those spas where there are fish that nibble at your feet to give you a pedicure. I think that would be so much fun! I think Don and Victor could help us find one, so that's pretty exciting!
Ahh there's so many things to do in Beijing and only so much time!! I've been so busy doing things and getting back to my hotel so late that I don't have time to write. Sorry!! I'm trying to upload pictures now but it will only do 1 at the moment so I will have to mess with it later. So...Tuesday. On Tuesday, I met with Rose and her two friends Jill and Tabitha. They are all from Canada and JIll and Tabitha teach in Inner Mongolia....so pretty far north. They live in a small town that only has about 100,000 people....small in China standards haha. We first went to the Temple of Heaven, which was a really beautiful park/historic site. I think it's where all of the religious ceremonies were held for the emperor. I probably should have read up more on it. There were some beautiful buildings though and a sacrificial podium as well...very interesting! After that, we went and walked in front of The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. It was sooo packed!!! Definitely at least a million people there, not even joking. We walked through there for awhile and then ended up at Wangfujing Street which is a huge shopping area. It kind of looks like Times Square. We went window shopping at one of the malls that is there. Jill and Tabitha bought some things from Forever 21. It's so strange to see Western stores here!! It actually was like a normal mall.
We had to leave early though because we were meeting Don, a new teacher Meaghan, and his friend Victor for dinner. We actually ate at a super fancy hotel restaurant that had such good food! We had quite the banquet!! The best thing was the Peking Duck. For anybody who has not had it, eat it. It's delicious! After dinner, we went to Hohai Street which is where we had gone the week before. There are a ton of places to eat, shop and some bars. It's really fun to just walk around. There is a river running through the middle of the street and it's really funny because people fish there, at night, with flashlights. I heard that they never catch anything but it's still pretty funny to watch. We walked around for awhile and then sat down at a bar. Victor (the Chinese friend) got a tower of beer for us and holy cow, it was huge! We were having fun learning Chinese from the guys and then shouting it at the people in the streets haha. We then walked around for a little bit longer and then decided we should go to KTV (karaoke)! None of us had ever been so when is a better time than with a bunch of girls!? Victor took us to some place and holy cow, it was beautiful! Karaoke here is very serious and therefore the KTV places are expensive. You go into this private room that has these huge couches, beautiful chandeliers, glass coffee tables, and then a huge TV. It is completely private and people come and serve you whatever you order. Victor ordered us some beers and then these huge, elaborate, beautiful fruit platters that we chowed on! All of the English songs they had were from the 80's and 90's....so it was really fun going back down memory lane! There were us 5 girls and we had a blast singing Aqua, Spice Girls, and Madonna! I think all of the Chinese people thought we were crazy cause we were just singing out loud and dancing all over. I'm pretty sure the Chinese people who are their usual patrons just sit there and wait for their turn to sing. We were there for quite awhile so by the time I got home, I fell right asleep!!
Wednesday was another day of fun! Around noon, Jill,, Tabitha, and I went to the mall again because we wanted to look around a bit more. Don and Meaghan met up with us after a little while and we walked around together. Since Jill and Tab live so far in the north and in such a small town, they're on a mission to find warm clothes here that are super cheap! They didn't find anything in the mall really so then we went to a foreign language book store that I wanted to go to. I was the only person who bought anything! I bought this really cute bi-lingual book that explains 10 Chinese festivals. I really like it and can't wait to show it to my students! We then all took the subway together and departed from Don and Meaghan. They had to get all of their things to go back to Jinan. I definitely am going to visit Jinan now! Maybe over New Years I will. We then went and found a Walmart!! Yay!! China Walmart is so gigantic! The one that we went to was 4 floors and had just about everything you would ever need. Jill and Tabitha bought some clothes and boots to bring back with them. I bought a new super cute pink hat that I am completely in love it. I looked it up and there is a Walmart in Shenyang so I am definitely going to go there to buy a winter jacket. That way, I won't feel bad leaving it when I come home because it will have served its purpose and they're super cheap! After shopping there for like an hour, we met back up with Rose and went back to the Olympic park.
It's soo awesome to be there at night! Everything is all lit up and there were a ton of people out. We took a tonnnn of pictures, but my camera died so a lot of them are on Rose and JIlls cameras. I think we are going to make a snapfish account or something so that we can all share our pictures. We took a lot of selfies too but my darn computer is being so slow! I will have to upload them later for you! Sorry! So we walked around there for quite awhile and yeah...that was my day!! We did a tonnnnnn of walking! Beijing definitely makes you burn calories! Plus I am determined to find one of those spas where there are fish that nibble at your feet to give you a pedicure. I think that would be so much fun! I think Don and Victor could help us find one, so that's pretty exciting!
Thursday, October 3
This has been a crazy week...I'm actually writing this on Friday....sorry! So...Thursday....hmm...what did I do on Thursday?! Oh yes...in the early afternoon, me, Rose and her colleague Hope went to the Summer Palace. Jill and Tabitha (her friends) wanted to go to the Forbidden City so they did that...which they actually never got into so that stinks for them! But we went to the Summer Palace and holy cow...it was packed!! We walked around the whole place for about 3 hours. We walked up the the Buddha Incense Temple which is where there is a huge statue of Buddha and you are supposed to pray in front of it. It was actually really awesome and had a beautiful view of the lake. The Summer Palace is where the emperor went during the summer...duh! It surrounds a huge and beautiful lake. There were hundreds of boats out on the lake but the lines were sooo long that we didn't end up taking one! I think everybody decided to go the the Summer Palace that day because it was seriously so packed.
I would say that the biggest attraction there was this huge duck. Hope was sooo excited to see the duck the whole time! It is over 10 meters high and is just a huge rubber ducky! I don't really know what the huge deal is but I guess it travels around the world and is only in Beijing until the end of this month. Other than it being really big and cute...it really has no purpose! However, that doesn't stop the Chinese people from swarming! There were thousands of people standing on the bridge in front of the duck in the water and then even more on the mainland. It was really insane. Yet, I do have to admit that it was cute and I enjoyed taking pictures with it! There were also many visitors there so Rose and I got to be in many peoples pictures! Celebrity status! It was a really fun day there and even though it was crowded, I would definitely recommend a visit there! Traveling to Beijing though on the National Holiday is really insane though. There is an unbelievable amount of people here! Come other times!
After we left the Summer Palace, we met back up with Jill and Tabitha. We all went out to dinner near Roses' apartment. We then went to the supermarket near her apartment to get some groceries and I got a really cute pair of North Face hiking boots. I am not sure if they are knock-offs (most likely they are though), but either way, they were super cute and less than 20 USD! It was a pretty long day and so we just departed after getting back! It was an early night, kinda, even though I still had a 40 minute subway ride home. I love riding the subway! But standing for that whole time really does get tiring. Well...I'll write about Friday soon...goodnight for now!
This has been a crazy week...I'm actually writing this on Friday....sorry! So...Thursday....hmm...what did I do on Thursday?! Oh yes...in the early afternoon, me, Rose and her colleague Hope went to the Summer Palace. Jill and Tabitha (her friends) wanted to go to the Forbidden City so they did that...which they actually never got into so that stinks for them! But we went to the Summer Palace and holy cow...it was packed!! We walked around the whole place for about 3 hours. We walked up the the Buddha Incense Temple which is where there is a huge statue of Buddha and you are supposed to pray in front of it. It was actually really awesome and had a beautiful view of the lake. The Summer Palace is where the emperor went during the summer...duh! It surrounds a huge and beautiful lake. There were hundreds of boats out on the lake but the lines were sooo long that we didn't end up taking one! I think everybody decided to go the the Summer Palace that day because it was seriously so packed.
I would say that the biggest attraction there was this huge duck. Hope was sooo excited to see the duck the whole time! It is over 10 meters high and is just a huge rubber ducky! I don't really know what the huge deal is but I guess it travels around the world and is only in Beijing until the end of this month. Other than it being really big and cute...it really has no purpose! However, that doesn't stop the Chinese people from swarming! There were thousands of people standing on the bridge in front of the duck in the water and then even more on the mainland. It was really insane. Yet, I do have to admit that it was cute and I enjoyed taking pictures with it! There were also many visitors there so Rose and I got to be in many peoples pictures! Celebrity status! It was a really fun day there and even though it was crowded, I would definitely recommend a visit there! Traveling to Beijing though on the National Holiday is really insane though. There is an unbelievable amount of people here! Come other times!
After we left the Summer Palace, we met back up with Jill and Tabitha. We all went out to dinner near Roses' apartment. We then went to the supermarket near her apartment to get some groceries and I got a really cute pair of North Face hiking boots. I am not sure if they are knock-offs (most likely they are though), but either way, they were super cute and less than 20 USD! It was a pretty long day and so we just departed after getting back! It was an early night, kinda, even though I still had a 40 minute subway ride home. I love riding the subway! But standing for that whole time really does get tiring. Well...I'll write about Friday soon...goodnight for now!
Friday, October 4
Hello! So Friday, we were supposed to go to the Great Wall but.....I didn't get up on time and we couldn't go. Oops!! Sorry girls!! Instead, we first went back to Olympic park so Jill could buy a hat that she really wanted. As we were all leaving, we found the cutest little animal doll things that were pretty cheap! I loved them! I think I will give them to the girls in the office as little gifts. After that, we decided to go back to the Pearl Market where we had gone the other day to do some more shopping. That is definitely the place to be. Aunt Julie and Mom...you'd go nuts there! It's a hagglers paradise! I'd like to say that I am getting pretty good at bargaining now. They always try to sell you things so over priced!! You just have to be patient with them and know what a good price is and then you'll get what you want. I got a new wallet, some X-mas gifts, and a few other small items. I love shopping there! Everything is sooo cheap and I'd say most of it is of average or above quality. We spent a good 2 hours walking around there and getting our good deals. It's definitely somewhere to go if you want a good deal!! The strangest thing is that we met a guy named Cal who is from Traverse City! He is working as an intern through his church (some big international one that I can't remember the name of) and is living here for 4 months. His Chinese was sooo good and put us all to shame! I didn't get to talk to him much but he seemed very nice and somebody that my friend Rose can talk to. We were trying to get her friends that live in Beijing since none of us do and are meeting people that we will probably not see again!
After the market, we went back to my hotel and everybody just kind of rested. We all fell asleep for at least a little while! It was really nice to have some down time and be able to relax!! After awhile, we went back out to Wangfujing street and found the bug alley! It was sooo grosss!! There were all kinds of nasty bugs on sticks, some of them were even alive still! It smelled pretty awful too! I think most people just walk around to look at the bugs and nasty stuff that people eat. There was a ton of normal food there too though. After walking around for awhile, we decided to try a starfish. It was really tough and chewy....most likely really old! They put a bunch of spices on it after frying it but it still wasn't that great. Just spicy and salty. We saw some Spanish guys that had one too and they let us have a taste of theirs...it was actually not bad! Theirs was actually crunchy and seemed fresher. Yeah, it's weird we ate a strangers food...but once you see a foreigner, we automatically flock to them!! We then got some normal food and shared that which was really good. We had some type of dumpling with meat inside and then a pancake looking things that had potatoes and some spices inside. When we tried to pay the guy for the food, he yelled at us and said our 100 Yuan note was fake and threatened to call the cops on us! It was scary at first but then we finally just paid him and went on our happy way. He was intense! It was really really good and makes me want to learn how to make all of these different things! I'm going to have to somehow set up a little kitchen area somewhere at school! We then parted ways and went back home because the next day is the Great Wall of China...YAY!!
P.S. I loaded a ton of pictures on my Facebook because it loads 100x faster, so feel free to check that out too! Plus there are more pictures that my friends took so you get more of a variety!
Hello! So Friday, we were supposed to go to the Great Wall but.....I didn't get up on time and we couldn't go. Oops!! Sorry girls!! Instead, we first went back to Olympic park so Jill could buy a hat that she really wanted. As we were all leaving, we found the cutest little animal doll things that were pretty cheap! I loved them! I think I will give them to the girls in the office as little gifts. After that, we decided to go back to the Pearl Market where we had gone the other day to do some more shopping. That is definitely the place to be. Aunt Julie and Mom...you'd go nuts there! It's a hagglers paradise! I'd like to say that I am getting pretty good at bargaining now. They always try to sell you things so over priced!! You just have to be patient with them and know what a good price is and then you'll get what you want. I got a new wallet, some X-mas gifts, and a few other small items. I love shopping there! Everything is sooo cheap and I'd say most of it is of average or above quality. We spent a good 2 hours walking around there and getting our good deals. It's definitely somewhere to go if you want a good deal!! The strangest thing is that we met a guy named Cal who is from Traverse City! He is working as an intern through his church (some big international one that I can't remember the name of) and is living here for 4 months. His Chinese was sooo good and put us all to shame! I didn't get to talk to him much but he seemed very nice and somebody that my friend Rose can talk to. We were trying to get her friends that live in Beijing since none of us do and are meeting people that we will probably not see again!
After the market, we went back to my hotel and everybody just kind of rested. We all fell asleep for at least a little while! It was really nice to have some down time and be able to relax!! After awhile, we went back out to Wangfujing street and found the bug alley! It was sooo grosss!! There were all kinds of nasty bugs on sticks, some of them were even alive still! It smelled pretty awful too! I think most people just walk around to look at the bugs and nasty stuff that people eat. There was a ton of normal food there too though. After walking around for awhile, we decided to try a starfish. It was really tough and chewy....most likely really old! They put a bunch of spices on it after frying it but it still wasn't that great. Just spicy and salty. We saw some Spanish guys that had one too and they let us have a taste of theirs...it was actually not bad! Theirs was actually crunchy and seemed fresher. Yeah, it's weird we ate a strangers food...but once you see a foreigner, we automatically flock to them!! We then got some normal food and shared that which was really good. We had some type of dumpling with meat inside and then a pancake looking things that had potatoes and some spices inside. When we tried to pay the guy for the food, he yelled at us and said our 100 Yuan note was fake and threatened to call the cops on us! It was scary at first but then we finally just paid him and went on our happy way. He was intense! It was really really good and makes me want to learn how to make all of these different things! I'm going to have to somehow set up a little kitchen area somewhere at school! We then parted ways and went back home because the next day is the Great Wall of China...YAY!!
P.S. I loaded a ton of pictures on my Facebook because it loads 100x faster, so feel free to check that out too! Plus there are more pictures that my friends took so you get more of a variety!
Saturday, October 5
We went to the Great Wall today!! OMG it was amazing!! We got to the bus station at about 7:45 and got right on a bus. There were some very nice French people who let us know when to get off. The bus worker kept yelling at us to get off but the French guy kept telling him no. He just wanted us to get off a few stops early so that we had to pay more to the taxi driver to get us to the actual entrance of the wall. The French guy was our lifesaver. Thank you again! When we got to the bus station, we had to take a local taxi driver to the actual site. We saw some Swedish guys that we had met earlier and decided that it would be good for the 4 young girls to go with 5 big Swedish guys...can never be too safe!! We found a driver that was very nice and took up right up. The van was only made for 8 passengers and...do the math...there were 9 of us. It was a squished ride, to say the least. The guys were all pretty big too so their legs could hardly even fit! It took about 25 minutes to get to the base and the guy was nice enough and waited for us to come back. We got our tickets (105 Yuan each) which included a cable car ride up and a luge ride down. We opted not to take the cable car up and just to walk. Soo...off we went. The climb was sooo hard!!! It was extremely steep and the steps were all uneven. Needless to say, I definitely stopped numerous times to catch my breath. I think my extremely mild cases as asthma started to kick in! Note to self...get your butt out and exercise more!!
However, although the climb was tough, we made it up and it was totally worth it! I'm not going to write much because the view really does speak for itself. We walked around the top of the wall for about 2 hours and just took so many pictures. I think I took about 150. Here is the link to my Facebook page so that you can see the pictures. It should work and if not, somebody just let me know. The pictures load soo much faster on there and it's not worth the hassle to do double the amount of work with loading pictures and such!
https://www.facebook.com/rebecca.simpson.9047
We rode the luge down and man, that was fun too! While in line, we met another group of people. The one guy who came to talk to us was named Corey and was from Toronto. Small world...I'm tellin ya!! They were super nice and rode down just after us. My camera had died and we weren't supposed to have them out anyways. However, I did sneak my phone out for a few pictures because the ride was soo awesome! I will upload them soon! After the luge ride down, we waited for the boys to come back since we had separated. We celebrated with a cold beer...it was the best beer I ever had!! We rode back to the bus stop and then pretty much everybody slept on the way back to Beijing. It was an awesome experience!
Disclaimer: Mom and Dad, if you go to the Great Wall, take the cable car up! Mom, your knees will snap like twigs up there!
Once we got back to the city, we parted ways from the boys and went to treat ourselves to some fancy Micky D's! Jill and Tabitha had to get back early because their flight left early in the morning. Rose and I had planned on meeting with one of her friends from school and then meeting up with Corey and his friends. Well, I left, got on the subway, realized I had gone the wrong way, tried to switch lines, the subway closed, tried to call Rose but my phone ran out of minutes and data, panicked, left the subway station, and then ended up taking a taxi back to the hotel. Thank goodness the taxi driver was younger and knew what station I was telling him to drop me off at!! I totally panicked! Turns out, Jill and Tabitha had gone with Rose to surprise me so that we could hang out one last time and I totally blew it! What a goof!! I was soooo mad at myself. And our other new friends were messaging me (the messaging works when I have WiFi at the hotel) and wondering where I was. GRRR I was frustrated! Oh well though, I guess it was just an ill planned night and not meant to be anyways! I just went to bed instead and had a great sleep!
Look at my Facebook for the pictures!! There's a ton!!
Sunday, October 6
Ahhh a lazy day...finally!! I literally just slept, watched movies, and uploaded pictures today. It's nice to have a day like this in order to collect yourself. My little holiday after the holiday. The only other thing I did today was go out and get some lunch, buy a few snacks for the train ride tomorrow, and pack my stuff up. I also checkout of my hotel room tonight so that I can just leave the keys in the room tomorrow and be on my merry way. It wasn't too much of a hassle trying to explain to the woman what I wanted to do. I was surprised! Successful day. I hope you all enjoyed my pictures and adventures in Beijing. I know I sure did! I met a ton of great new people and I am so excited to be able to travel and do more things with them! Back to reality tomorrow though. My train leaves at 9:20 am so I've gotta make sure I'm there in plenty of time! Time to get a good nights rest! Tootles!
We went to the Great Wall today!! OMG it was amazing!! We got to the bus station at about 7:45 and got right on a bus. There were some very nice French people who let us know when to get off. The bus worker kept yelling at us to get off but the French guy kept telling him no. He just wanted us to get off a few stops early so that we had to pay more to the taxi driver to get us to the actual entrance of the wall. The French guy was our lifesaver. Thank you again! When we got to the bus station, we had to take a local taxi driver to the actual site. We saw some Swedish guys that we had met earlier and decided that it would be good for the 4 young girls to go with 5 big Swedish guys...can never be too safe!! We found a driver that was very nice and took up right up. The van was only made for 8 passengers and...do the math...there were 9 of us. It was a squished ride, to say the least. The guys were all pretty big too so their legs could hardly even fit! It took about 25 minutes to get to the base and the guy was nice enough and waited for us to come back. We got our tickets (105 Yuan each) which included a cable car ride up and a luge ride down. We opted not to take the cable car up and just to walk. Soo...off we went. The climb was sooo hard!!! It was extremely steep and the steps were all uneven. Needless to say, I definitely stopped numerous times to catch my breath. I think my extremely mild cases as asthma started to kick in! Note to self...get your butt out and exercise more!!
However, although the climb was tough, we made it up and it was totally worth it! I'm not going to write much because the view really does speak for itself. We walked around the top of the wall for about 2 hours and just took so many pictures. I think I took about 150. Here is the link to my Facebook page so that you can see the pictures. It should work and if not, somebody just let me know. The pictures load soo much faster on there and it's not worth the hassle to do double the amount of work with loading pictures and such!
https://www.facebook.com/rebecca.simpson.9047
We rode the luge down and man, that was fun too! While in line, we met another group of people. The one guy who came to talk to us was named Corey and was from Toronto. Small world...I'm tellin ya!! They were super nice and rode down just after us. My camera had died and we weren't supposed to have them out anyways. However, I did sneak my phone out for a few pictures because the ride was soo awesome! I will upload them soon! After the luge ride down, we waited for the boys to come back since we had separated. We celebrated with a cold beer...it was the best beer I ever had!! We rode back to the bus stop and then pretty much everybody slept on the way back to Beijing. It was an awesome experience!
Disclaimer: Mom and Dad, if you go to the Great Wall, take the cable car up! Mom, your knees will snap like twigs up there!
Once we got back to the city, we parted ways from the boys and went to treat ourselves to some fancy Micky D's! Jill and Tabitha had to get back early because their flight left early in the morning. Rose and I had planned on meeting with one of her friends from school and then meeting up with Corey and his friends. Well, I left, got on the subway, realized I had gone the wrong way, tried to switch lines, the subway closed, tried to call Rose but my phone ran out of minutes and data, panicked, left the subway station, and then ended up taking a taxi back to the hotel. Thank goodness the taxi driver was younger and knew what station I was telling him to drop me off at!! I totally panicked! Turns out, Jill and Tabitha had gone with Rose to surprise me so that we could hang out one last time and I totally blew it! What a goof!! I was soooo mad at myself. And our other new friends were messaging me (the messaging works when I have WiFi at the hotel) and wondering where I was. GRRR I was frustrated! Oh well though, I guess it was just an ill planned night and not meant to be anyways! I just went to bed instead and had a great sleep!
Look at my Facebook for the pictures!! There's a ton!!
Sunday, October 6
Ahhh a lazy day...finally!! I literally just slept, watched movies, and uploaded pictures today. It's nice to have a day like this in order to collect yourself. My little holiday after the holiday. The only other thing I did today was go out and get some lunch, buy a few snacks for the train ride tomorrow, and pack my stuff up. I also checkout of my hotel room tonight so that I can just leave the keys in the room tomorrow and be on my merry way. It wasn't too much of a hassle trying to explain to the woman what I wanted to do. I was surprised! Successful day. I hope you all enjoyed my pictures and adventures in Beijing. I know I sure did! I met a ton of great new people and I am so excited to be able to travel and do more things with them! Back to reality tomorrow though. My train leaves at 9:20 am so I've gotta make sure I'm there in plenty of time! Time to get a good nights rest! Tootles!