We climbed Badaling section of the wall. There are multiple places you can climb in; supposedly this is an easier section. Our guide wisely paid for us to ride the tram up to the wall so we only had to climb down. The weather was much nicer for us today. It was sunny, probably around 80-85 degrees, and in places you could catch a nice breeze. There were a lot of people on the wall. The kids in Chi*a are out of school right now so there are many vacationing families. There are many steps on the wall, some of them quite large and steep. The incline sections of the wall were the most interesting. They literally were about 45 degrees up or down. We got some great pictures of us leaning forward or back as we climbed these incline sections. We walked on the wall for about 2 hours and then headed for lunch.
We had lunch in a suburb of Beijing with a much older, small town feel. We had dumplings (pot stickers that are boiled, not fried.) We had three different kinds: pork and chives; chicken and mushrooms; and tomato and egg. There were also many other dishes including snap peas cooked with butter and garlic, a yummy meat and potato dish, corn and pine nuts, a sweet and sour soup, similar to what we’d get in the U.S., and jasmine iced tea. We’re becoming quite the experts with our chopsticks as we haven’t used a fork out in a restaurant since we got here.
After lunch we visited the Summer Palace, the gardens of the emperors. This is a huge place filled with grass, trees, pavilions, pagodas, a Buddhist temple and a man-made lake. Supposedly the emperor (Qing dynasty I believe, a modern dynasty in Chi*ese history standards) really enjoyed the weather and geography of a town in a southern province. So, he decided to recreate it here in Beijing. There is a lake that people were boating around in pedal-powered boats, larger dragon boats that ferry people around the lake, and the 17 Arch Bridge, appropriately named for its 17 arches.
On our way to dinner, we drove by the Bird’s Nest and Swimming Cube from the 2008 Olympics. The Bird’s Nest was exciting to see up close. Its organic shape stands in stark contrast to the cube shape of the Cube next door. The Cube does have a bubble design on the outside paying homage, I guess, to the water inside.
We enjoyed our last meal out in Beijing. We had Peking Duck; a spicy sweet and sour pork dish; a noddle, egg, and vegetable dish; fried and steamed bread with a sweet icing dipping sauce; pot stickers-this time they were fried and were filled with spinach and onion; barbecued lamb on a stick; and jasmine tea. We quite like the jasmine hot tea here; the actual jasmine flowers are what is used to flavor the water. You can easily see them inside the tea kettle, though they are in a mesh so they don’t get in your cup. The tea is served with sugar cubes, smaller and more transparent than what we’re used to. Our whole group has certainly enjoyed all the meals out in Beijing. We would never have known where to go, or what to order if we were on our own. We also know that once we are in province we’ll probably be eating a lot of meals in our hotel room or simple items from a grocery store. The meals were a definite highlight.
Tomorrow we fly to Hefei. The other family with us will be traveling to Xian to get their daughter and meimei (little sister). We will be seeing them again, though, in Guangzhou. The next post will be from Hefei! Less than 2 days until we meet Lollipop!
The Badaling section of the Great Wall
Chi*ese Acrobats
Outside the dumpling restaurant, Me, Mom, the other family traveling with us, and our guide