Day 2 by Bryan

Here's another post written by Bryan:

Day 2 is over but not quite in the books, so here goes.

The Marriott still has the same amazing breakfast, so no need to dilly dally with all of that again. (any way it will just make my wife more angry with me)

Day 2 was huge, big, phenomenal, and dare I say great, yes it was great, why, because this was the day dad and I made the fantastic climb all the way up to the Great Wall of China. We visited a section different from my first two trips here; this section is called the Mutianyu section and seems to be out in the middle of nowhere. The other two sections of the wall I have had the pleasure of climbing were pretty much right along the interstate while this one consisted of driving along a two lane road for at least an hour passing small houses, farm land, more houses, a store or two, a long stretch of nothing and then more houses and farms. The drive out was actually very nice, I thoroughly enjoy getting to see the non tourist side of China so I spent a lot of the time snapping pictures out the bus window during the drive. Once there the families were given the option of paying 50 RMB to take the cable car to the wall or walking up for free, dad and I decided to walk it. Now here I use the phrase “walk” VERY loosely as this was no stroll through a park, quite the opposite, it was a climb up steep stairs which were so numerous it would be like trying to count the stars. I have to give my dad some major props, he held in and after five or six breathers we were both standing on top of the Great Wall of China. I still get an amazing feeling standing atop a structure that was built 2000 years ago and holds so much history; I only hope my kids are as amazed as I still am when it’s their turn to visit.

Unfortunately, the day was extremely overcast so the views from the wall were a little disappointing, but the wall itself didn’t let us down in the slightest. Not many choose to climb so there were only about 20 to 30 other people on the section of wall we were on, so it almost felt like our own little private little tour. The guard towers on the Mutianyu section are numbered, the cable car take you to tower 15, the climb splits so you can go to tower 10 or 8, and dad and I took the road less traveled to number 8. The first time I climbed up into one of the towers I learned, quite painfully, that there is a low ceiling in the stair well (my head crashing into it can be heard on my home movie), so this climb had me a lot more aware. Again due to the overcast skies the view was lacking, but from what I could see my imagination filled in a beautiful view that will stretch across the horizon for miles and miles.

Coming back down is always a lot easier than climbing, and dad again was fantastic, and never once wished for a ride in the cable car. He said it was a good thing for his heart and wanted to tell and show everyone that he climbed up to a manmade structure that can be seen from space, he has climbed up the Great Wall of China.

Back at the bottom the venders that hardly said a word during our passing them during ore trip up now starting trying to hock their wears on us almost forcefully. (this is really no big surprise if you’ve been to China before but I’m not sure dad was expecting it to this degree) We did stop at the first store and bought some shirts that said “I climbed the Great Wall” because I mean we were there, we climbed the wall, and now we can say “been there, done that, got the t-shirt” and actually mean it. Having a sack with shirts already purchased and the nice little phrase “boo yao” got us the rest of the way down with little hassel. In the midst of all the vendors is a small opening to the right and that was where our group went and had a wonderful lunch right at the base of the mountain.

After lunch we drove past the Olympic arena in order for a photo opportunity out the bus window, but just as we were getting close the rain began coming down in buckets. We all took photos but the rain kept any of them from being any good, it sure made me glad that we went there the day before. As we made our way past the water cube our guide told us that it would probably be crowded as it was the first anniversary of the start of the Olympic competition and that’s when it hit me, dad and I were here on the first anniversary of the opening ceremony. It took me a minute to let all of that set in and I really had wished I realized it when we were here yesterday as I think it would have made it that much more impressive.

After the failed photo op at the water cube we were now off to take part in a tea ceremony. Running in from the rain we all took our places around a large table and watched as a wonderful young lady told us all about the art of drinking tea. We sampled five or six different types of tea, pure being one of them again, and I think dad found two or three that he would be willing to take home and drink again. We didn’t buy anything at the tea house but we all got a kick from the Chenglish written on the sign over the door on the way out “Be careful, don’t be slip, please”. You gotta love direct literal translation.

Dinner this even was across the street from the hotel and once again didn’t disappoint in the slightest. The most memorable portion of the meal was the desert, it was sweet potato slices covered is some type of crunchy shell that was a little sticky but held in the heat of the potato being cooked. I think everyone agreed that they could have brought out another helping of those.

After the climb up the wall and a great dinner I had to fight to stay up long enough to talk to my wife and kids before falling asleep probably before my head hit the pillow, hopefully day 3 will be a little less of a workout.