We’d observed how many things had modernized and improved in Beijing, but it was clear that one thing has suffered: the air. It was really dirty. The government has made some attempts to make it (and the traffic congestion!) better – for instance, on certain days, cars with certain license numbers aren’t allowed on the road. However, when our guide explained all the exceptions – like vehicles being used for business purposes can drive every day – it seemed like there were huge gaps in that plan.
Given what we’d seen the previous days, we didn’t have high
hopes for a beautiful blue-sky day on our trip to the Great Wall – but that’s what
we got! It was almost hot outside, but
the humidity was really low and there was a breeze (I was actually chilly at
times!). Our guide took us to the Mutianyu portion of the Wall, an area that is
a bit less traveled.
We went up by ski lift:
Then there it was - the Wall, up close:
It just goes on and on (it's 7,000 km in all); it is so hard to imagine the building of the Great Wall –
all by hand and no power equipment!
We all wore our K-State gear (the Staleys are also K-Staters)
and did the K-S-U pose on the Wall. Vivie
thought it was hilarious and loved our K-State gear (I see a K-State t-shirt in
her future!). It also caught the
attention of some Mizzou grads also visiting the Wall.
After lots of exploring, Dave, Tim, Kayla, and I then went
on a little excursion off the beaten track – an un-restored area that is
theoretically closed to tourists.
We made our way back down on our favorite form of transportation – the toboggan:
In the little shopping area at the bottom, Lydia used her Mandarin skills to negotiate (they actually learn how to negotiate in her Chinese class!) the purchase of this hat:
Our energy was restored by eating sandwiches from Subway (yes,
the sandwich place!) and then made our way to the next sites on our agenda –
the Great Wall wasn’t really our grand finale!
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