Today was one of the most anticipated days of our tour. We are headed to The Great Wall of China! We went to the Juyongguan section of the wall, which is one of the best-preserved (and most visited) sections of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The many sections of wall, built over several centuries, cover 13,000 miles as it protected the northern border of the Chinese Empire. The section we visited is around 600 years old. While it appears that invaders could top the wall using ladders, the important part to recall is that their horses could not! Invaders without horses were not as scary apparently.
While visiting the wall is certainly bucket-worthy, we were envisioning taking a nice stroll across the top, acting like we were taunting hopeful invaders, “Stop, or we will fart in your general direction!” Or maybe, “Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!” Nope. Approximately 1,363,847 uphill steps later, Dave had (almost) made it to the 12th Tower. Kathy had abandoned him at the 9th Tower. Nowhere in our tour company’s brochures did it mention burning quadriceps or lung-searing climbs. It’s as if the ancient Chinese had never heard of mobility-impairments or accessibility! When did they invent gondolas anyway?? Well, regardless of our physical limitations, sitting and looking out over the vast forests from atop one of the most famous man-made objects in the world was amazing.
Then, came the descent. Ugh! Going up is definitely hard on the lungs; going down is hard on the joints. Dave was following a couple of Chinese ladies going down who were taking their time. This provided Dave with a good cover story for why he was taking his time. And, when they plopped down on the steps to take a break, Dave did likewise – much to their amusement. Dave spied a helipad way down below and wondered what it would take for him to need that. We both made it up and down fully intact, although we knew it would be a night for “vitamin i” (aka, ibuprofen).
Next stop was a visit to a jade exhibition. The creations were definitely impressive, but we were glad we purchased our jade Buddha figurine in Hong Kong after seeing the prices here! Last on our itinerary for today was a visit to the Olympic Park, and its famous Bird’s Nest Stadium. As usual, the park was enormous and intended to impress. Fortunately, it was not packed with crowds for a change.
Back at the hotel four of us decided to try our luck at a Chinese restaurant across the street. (Aren’t all restaurants in China technically “Chinese restaurants”?) We were ushered into a booth and given menus with no English writing, but at least it had pictures. With Google Translate assisting us, we passed on things like chicken feet and goose lips. Kathy looked for something that did not require life-saving interventions. Dave’s attempt at charades to ensure this did not quite land appropriately we don’t think. But, Kathy did get some kind of chicken dish and Dave got sweet and sour pork. Dave’s dinner was fabulous, while Kathy shared her chicken wings chopped up and thrown into a salad bowl with Sue, our new friend from England. We’re not sure if Simon, also British, ever determined what his dish was. But, these are the kinds of things that make international travel so much fun. We had a grand old time and did not die.