4th of July on the Great Wall!
So, I arrived in Beijing late at night and my cousin, Casey, had sent a driver to pick me up:) This was great except that he got a little lost and luckily had her phone number to call. I could hear her voice on the end other talking calmly and then the driver yelling and screaming back at her. She told me later he wasn't angry, this was just the way some Chinese people talk on the phone! Kind of like in Italy, you will hear people screaming at someone on the phone, like they are about to murder that person, and then when you ask what is wrong, they say they were just inviting their brother over for lunch. Go figure:) Because I arrived after midnight, the gate to my cousin's apt building was locked. So we literally had to throw my suitcases over the fence and then climb over ourselves! The best is that as we were climbing over my cousin mentioned that this was nothing compared to climbing in high heels and a skirt after a night out. As she said this two girls arrived in just those outfits. Thank God I thought to wear comfortable traveling clothes! You never know what kind of situation you might come up against:) Ironically, the gate was locked but once we got to the actual apt. building, the front door was open. Wouldn't it make more sense to leave the gate open but have the door locked? Whatever... Casey's apt. was really cute and I was so tired I just crashed pretty soon after arriving.
Casey only had the next day fully off so she wanted to show me a less touristy part of the Great Wall. Even though I was jet lagged and it was nearly 100 degrees, we decided to go! We hired a driver and drove about 2 and 1/2 hours from Beijing to hike on less touristy and jaw-dropping part of the wall. We started at the entrance, walked up to the top, and then hiked to the first point where you can walk down again - many towers later!:) It was SO steep and the steps were broken It was a great first day, although I was completely exhausted afterward! Doing the three-hour hike on the super steep Great Wall in the sweltering 95 degree heat was so hard; I didn't think I was going to make it! All the other tourists were coming up on the cable car and just walking a little bit to get the views. But Casey said that we would miss a large part of the hike if we did that, so we did the 3 hour hike to the next possible place to walk back down back to the road! The only people we saw by the end were 75-year Chinese locals who hike this every day to sell water and drinks!! And once in a while a hearty German couple:) But we did finally make it and Casey was right, it was truly amazing!! It was super steep with broken steps half the time, and one of the hardest things I have done in years, but still, my cousin was right, it was truly amazing!!!
Could this be any steeper!??
At the end of the day, we headed out to the top of the Hyatt for a grandiose view of Beijing and then we went to eat the famous and fabulous peking Duck. Here is Casey explaining the proper way to go about eating it:)
Bon appetit!
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