The Great Wall of China Pt. 2

Waking up at the farmhouse this morning was wonderful, mostly because of the amazing breakfast provided. We had everything from millet, bananas, and eggs to bread, salad, and green tea. Well fueled, we headed from the farmhouse up to the mountains. The wall was very close to where we stayed and we were on the wild wall in no time.

I am not certain that I could call the first part we hiked a wall because there was really only wall on one side and it didn’t extend beyond the height of the top of the cliff. No matter, we walked for four hours in total. Eventually there really was a wall, and it was certainly wild. We didn’t visit any sections of tourist wall today which I didn’t mind. The view of what we think were Austrian Pines was incredible, as they covered hill upon hill upon hill. As much as it pains me to admit, the smog also made it look even prettier, as each layer of hills became more and more shrouded. It felt amazing to be able to hear the crunch of rocks under my feet and see the mountains. It almost felt like being at home except I got to see the Great Wall of China too.

One of the noteworthy towers we hiked to include one that was bombed by the Japanese during World War II. This tower was the General’s tower when the wall was in use because it offers an amazing and full view of all of the surrounding area. This way the general could command his soldiers on both sides of him on the wall and see both the enemy and the Chinese side of the wall. We also stopped at a tower called 24 Windows Tower. From here we had to turn around because the Chinese arm

y has private access to the wall for military use. There was also a bunker not too far away.

After hiking off of the wall we found a huge obstacle course like park, which we of course played on for a bit. There were swings, balance beams, nets, ladders, pegs to walk on, a rope wall, and so so much more. After playtime we headed down to our car for a long drive/nap back into Beijing for lunch.

We ate at a hot pot restaurant, which if you remember from my “Beijing” blog is a meal where you dip vegetables, egg, meats, noodles, tofu of all kinds, and even bread into boiling broth water. We had a split pot with spicy broth for meat on one side and mushroom broth for veggies on the other. We gorged ourselves on tons of different options dipped in sesame sauce, along with a special kind of cake, which was actually just a heavy, layered bread. Stuffed, we left the restaurant and drove the rest of the way to Beijing South Railway Station.

On the drive over we were able to see the Bird’s Nest 2008 Olympic Games Stadium and the Olympic swimming area, or Water Cube. Seeing the Bird’s Nest felt like fulfilling an unknown life wish for me because I remember drawing the stadium on a card when I was six year old, never thinking I would actually see it. Today, after seeing it I realize I drew it all wrong, partly because I was six and have no artistic abilities, but also because I never really understood just how clean yet crazy it looks. I am glad to have seen it, even if it was jut a drive by.

After being dropped off at the train station we waited 2 hours until our train came. In those hours I wrote most of this blog, but could’t post it because my VPN couldn’t access the wifi in the train station to get around blocks from the Chinese government. Once we boarded, we took a 12 hour train ride back to Shanghai in train cars equipped with bunk beds. Our cabin we almost to tight to turn around in so I changed and crawled straight into bed. The Hannah’s bed in our cabin went to a nice Chinese man, but I was out before I could really say hello.

Health Update: My eye infection is mostly gone in one eye and not far behind in the other. my cough is getting a bit worse but overall I am improving a bit