Day 3 - Great Wall!

Today we did something I have always dreamed of doing, but honestly never thought I would accomplish.  We climbed the great wall. 

The day started off with us meeting our guide at 8:30.  We drove around Beijing for a while and drove around Tianman Square.  Because we had visited the orphanage the day before we were not able to go on an actual guided tour for this, which was totally fine by us.  We also stopped at a bridge and Adam and I were able to take a few pictures of the Observation Tower and Birds Nest, both of which were constructed for and used during the Olympics, which were hosted in 2008.  Our guide shared that the huge structure is seldom used because it is too expensive.  It really was just built for the Olympics.  Beijing is now one of three possible cities in the running for hosting the summer Olympics in six years. 

Then we drove almost two hours to the Great Wall.  There was a lot of traffic (big surprise), so it took a long time to get there.  George showed us two possible paths to climb.  One was not very steep and an easier climb.  The other practically went straight up and had a great view, but was steep.  The Chinese believe that if you make this climb you are considered a hero.  Who doesn't want hero status?  It took us over an hour of climbing to reach the top (the wall keeps going, but this was the peek).  We walked about ten minute intervals, then took a water break to prevent a heart attack.  No talking, just focused on breathing.  We passed through three forts before reaching the big one at the top.  The steps were the same width, but their heights varied by how steep the hill was.  This made it difficult to gauge going up, especially going down.  It was hard to tell how high to lift your foot, so lots of concentration was needed, especially for this lady who has broken her toe three times walking into objects. 

As we climbed we kept thinking about the men who built this wall.  Can you imagine having to work on that wall?  Climbing with no railing carrying heavy stones?  I can't!  It was fun passing the locals as we climbed.  We got lots of smiles.  I couldn't tell if they were being friendly or laughing at the heavy Americans red in the face trying to make the climb.  Nobody passed us though, so we were pretty proud of ourselves :) 

After the long drive back to the hotel we took a little break and ate some snacks we had brought.  Then came a fun night out at an Acrobatic Show.  It was AMAZING.  I don't think I could even describe some of the things these people did.  Men did cartwheels and jumped backwards through hula hoops, girls, did bridges on top of others in a pyramid, one girl rode a bike with about ten or eleven girls holding on with only one hand each, and I think there were eight bikes doing stunts in one of those balls all at once.  It was fun, and we enjoyed the time together knowing that pretty soon our lives were going to be very busy and not about us anymore.