Well the great wall was awesome!! We climbed and climbed and climbed. Luckily we had our other worldteach friends there. Mary claire and zach both helped us up the steep mountain. It made me think twice about the whole running the great wall marathon, whooo man its steep!!
The tour bus dropped us off and said be back in two hours. SO we got to climbing, I passed by a shop near the top that had a cat, we named him the great wall kitty , and then we ventured on. RIght before the first step my camera fell out of my hand and broke. I was devistated!! Then we walked up. its amazing to see how worn the steps really are, and high! some are 4 bricks high< So you really must watch your steps. We looked at our watch and noticed that it was about time to head down, but then we could see our bus, it was driving away!!!! Great!!! stuck at the great wall!!! Oh well the 4 of us decided to press on and just walk the whole thing until we could get off . We magically made it to the top and we looked at our watches and it was 2:00 oclock. I was smart and brought a bag of sunflower seeds, so we feasted on a lunch of sunflower seeds on top of one of the towers. We also met two chinese guys up there that were eatting beijing duck!! but didnt offer us any, what a great idea though, for all those of you who will go to the great wall again. dont forget to bring the duck picnic. We walked more and more, up and down. I had a bad cold, so I was heaving up the stairs. Whats worse is when old men pass you going up. Then you really feel awful. So as we made it down the next loop of the wall I decided to take my camera out and check on it. I fidgeted with it for a while and it magically started to work again!!! This is some camera, its been under the ocean twice, to the boundary waters, and now dropped on the great wall and survived!! ahhhhh so happyit works.
We finished up the wall and ate some great food, we really have had great dinners on all of our travels here, We even had mexican, ahhhh so good to have sour cream!! you dont even know.
We then went to the big markets, oh man I gotta tell you Joe is the best bargener ever!! He is awesome., He wanted to buy some boots and he wouldnt give this lady any more then he wanted to , when he left her he had two pairs of shoes for 1 low price the girl stood there with a frown! He is defietnly better at bargining then me. They started at like1 500 yuan and at last joe had her at 250 for two, so hilarious to watch. I also got some Versace sunglasses for 50 yuan, I think we are defiently coming back here before we leave china. You can also have silk suits made here!
We then hurried up and had subway for dinner. Subway!!! you heard me!!! I know I couldnt believe it either!!
We then took the over night train to xian.
Anyways I am trying my hardest to get over a cold. I swear I always seem to get sick when traveling. I guess its all the confinded spaces. There was a lady on the train that was sick and I knew right when I saw her that i was getting it!! The trains are really great here!! We get the sleepers and can sleep on the train. I have never slept better, Joe thinks its like sleeping in a coccoon. Defiently soothing, not bumpy at all. Well we are now in Xian. We saw the terracotta warriors which were amazing!! They are still digging in the area and finding things. Its so facinating to think that all this stuff was found in the last 20 years. Some farmer was digging a well and came across the area. We saw the city wall which still stands today, the bell tower and drum tower which were used to tell time and we visited a mosque. I thought the muslim quarter was really amazing. I never new that islam had a place in chinese culture, but its huge. In this mosque its so cool to see the two worlds merge together. The architecture is completly chinese, like a ming palace, but then the writting on the walls are all arabic. When we arrived we walked through the garden area in front of it and there were old chinese men with the islamic hats and long white beards alll talking together , really out of a kung fu movie. It also has my prize for the best smelling place in China. A mixture of insence and the soap that they must cleanse themselves with before prayer it takes away all the street smells of china, makes me think i am in my bathroom with smell good body wash!
The best part of tibet has been our guide, He is a friend of a friend of a friend from our town. Its crazy how far the relationships stretch here, but he has been with us threw it all, tells us where to go what bus to catch, it saves so much money and time, plus he's hilarious. His name is tony, and hes a student here in xian, his family lives up north, we just traveled there to have lunch. the best food ever!!! It was a hot pot, the dad just brought the stove top over and put it on the table , then we just ate right off it! putting whatever we wanted into the hot boiling water!
We also visited a hot spring in the hopes to go swimming in it, but its more of a museum then a place you can go to , to relax. We also saw a neolithic village today. That was really cool, they had many houses and skeletons all from that time period.
Tommorow morning we go to Tibet. We are going to take the train for 2 days, well its more like 1 day, 1 night and we arrive 8pm the next day. It should be really amazing because we can see all of the countryside, this train is new this year.