the GREAT Wall

me on the wall!
Can you see the Olympic slogan behind me?

"This is a great wall and only a great people with a great past could have a great wall and such a great people with such a great wall will surely have a great future." -Richard Nixon

Okay, so I think I have to agree with Nixon. Although not quite so eloquently. (ha) The wall was stunning, everything I expected, just an amazing thing to be standing on/walking around. Unfortunately, getting there was a bit of a trial.

We arrived at Badaling around 10:30. (NOTE: on the way to Badaling, because it was so clear out, we saw the Bird's Nest/National Stadium for the first time! It was awesome, and in the true sense of the word--full of awe--it gave me goosebumps. I am posting one of those pics too, see below.)

Badaling is one of the most touristy places on the Great Wall, complete with a Starbucks, a tourist trap where Sprites cost (gasp!) full price (what we'd pay back home) and everything else is incredibly overpriced.

We got off the bus, popped to the loo (one of my new British friends has got that stuck in my head now) and headed up to the wall. The only problem was there was someone MORE IMPORTANT than us already on the wall--the President of Mexico! Security was crazy and we had to wait in this bizarre holding area for approximately 45 minutes. Oh, and it was 97 degrees. And there were Chinese women all around holding their umbrellas for shade and poking us repeatedly. Plus, it was a Saturday and the sky was crystal clear, so all the odds were against us.

At that point, I was standing there thinking "Holy crap I am at the freaking Great Wall and I just want to run up, take my picture, and be done. This is horrible!" Luckily my 'tude changed as soon as we got up on the wall and away from the mass of people.

We climbed up pretty far and took some great pictures. And, as usual, people took pictures of us, and in my friend Adrienne's case, with us! We also saw Felipe Calderon as he exited the wall. At one point I just stopped and leaned into one of the little crevices where thousands of years ago warriors shot arrows down at invaders, and just really took it all in...I'm IN CHINA. I'm ON THE GREAT WALL. WHOA.

Parts of the wall are pretty treacherous...it's a pretty steep climb at some points, and at others it's just a steady slope. On the way down I 'took a digger' but caught onto a pole. We saw a woman being carried down on a stretcher, not sure what happened to her.

After piling back on the bus, our tour guide Rock (yes his name is Rock--his American name anyway--lots of the Chinese that we meet tell us their name is Cookie or Pebble...we are trying to play matchmaker with Rock and Pebble but more on my Chinese grandmother matchmaking later.)

We began our descent out of Badaling only to be stopped by a minor traffic altercation. The bus in front of us (carrying students from Purdue and Queensland University in Australia) sideswiped a car and the car was stuck. Luckily, I pulled out my little flip camera and started shooting. It was hilarious. People who were not directly affected by the accident (and were sick of waiting in traffic I think) just got up and out of their cars and LEFT! There was one guy whose car wasn't even hit by the bus, but clearly the emotional stress of it all took it's toll and he got right in, gesturing and, I'm guessing, cursing. A few minutes later I saw another guy hand him a wad of cash and he got back in his car.

THEN, the car that had been hit was still sort of stuck on the bus. So 6 or 7 Chinese guys just PICKED IT UP!!! and moved it out of the way. Believe me, the video is priceless, I will post it soon.

After the eventful prelude to lunch it was time for lunch--we ate at a Friendship shop, which is shops the government sets up for foreign travelers in China. We saw how they make cloisenne vases and other items, it is very popular over here. And the work and attention to detail was pretty crazy. We ate another huge lunch and we were off to the Ming Tombs... more to come later!