Beijing+Day+2

Vanessa has started working on her post covering a fabulous trip to the Great Wall yesterday. We'll get that up as soon as we can, but we might be without internet connections for a while (we check out of our hotel this morning and take the overnight train to Xi'An tonight). In meantime, I have posted yesterday's photos to [|Shutterfly]. Check them out! Here's one shot of an exhausted but tough crew of Great Wall champions!

OK, Here's Vanessa's post, followed by Kevin's continuation of the day...

The morning started a little after nine thirty. Everyone was dressed in athletic clothes. We were rocking the sport shorts and light t-shirts and running shoes. With our big smiles and excitement we headed on to the bus. I was so excited to have the chance to see the Great Wall of China. The bus ride was approximately a 1 hour long, but probably shorter because our bus driver, Master Joe is good at passing cars and driving fast. It’s quite scaring actually. But we made it safe to the entrance outside of the Great Wall. When we came to the entrance, venders were attacking us. I didn’t want to buy anything until I actually climbed the Great Wall. Now I didn’t know there was a very high mountain to get to the Great Wall also I didn’t realize how hilly and steep it was. We had the choice to climb the mountain before the Great Wall, then climbing the Wall. Most of us wanted to save our energy so we took the ski lifts. But Katie, the over achiever, decided to take the stairs up the mountain to get up to the Wall.

Since we beat Katie up the mountain we started to walk the Wall. The Great Wall is massive. There are so many stairs that are uneven, and steep. We were walking for so long that we were walking in small groups. We hardly walked in one group especially since we never found Katie until the very end. We all were walking in different paces and we were sweating so much. The walk was a lot of fun, but very exhausting. There was one flight of stairs on the wall that was so steep and extremely high; we were scared, but excited to try it. Mr. Dunne, Kevin and Kristin were the first group to make it up the scary flight of stairs. Then Caitlyn, then Greg, then Carmelle. Then I (Vanessa) made it up that flight of stairs. It was so tiring, but so worth it. The view was incredible and even though I was so tired it was a good work out. Kathryn and Allie stayed at the bottom of the stairs and watched us risk our lives up those stairs. At this moment we hadn’t found Katie yet. After those who wanted to climb those stairs, climbed those stairs we all started heading back where we started. Then we met up with Katie and headed back together as a group. Instead of taking the ski lift down the mountain we took the toboggan. Basically, it’s a cart on slide and we took it all the way down. The toboggan was a great way to cool down from the intense workout and it was so much fun! Once we all made it down the mountain we all had an interest in buying the shirt that read “I CLIMBED THE GREAT WALL”. The walk was so worth it and the shirts. There was so many venders selling the same t-shirts, we had to find the right one to sell it for the cheapest. We all stayed close to Kevin as he used his Chinese skills to bargain the prices down.

After we got our shirts we headed back on the bus. Since we were walking longer than we were supposed to, we missed lunch. So we were tired and hungry. As soon as we jumped on the bus, we all fell asleep with the air conditioner flowing.

And from Kevin:

After we had eaten our lunch/dinner, we headed out to a local shopping area. It had not been part of our itinerary earlier, but we all definitely enjoyed this experience. When we arrived, we saw tons of little glass stall encased shops. We all split up into groups and headed off to find what we really wanted. Greg and I headed off to see what was being offered at all these shops. We were immersed in a world of cheap merchandise ranging from watches to iPads. The prices were overwhelmingly low and what made it even crazier was that every stall tried to sell you the same goods as the store right next door. This led to intense bargaining where the seller and buyer would negotiate back and forth until they came to a decision. With so many stores all trying to sell you the same things, the competition was high between each store as well.

There were so many items that I wanted to purchase either for myself or as gifts to those back in the states. The tons of cheap electronic goods overwhelmed us and we were scurrying from one stall to another trying to find the best price. After a lot of comparing and bargaining I eventually bought Monster Beats by Dre earphones, which in America would have cost me at least five times more. I also purchased a high quality green laser pointer at an excellent price. Greg bought a wooden fan and a green laser pointer too. There were still tons of things we wanted to buy, but our time here was up. As we met the rest of the group on the bus, we all were excited by our purchases that allowed us to get great deals on many things. Talking to the girls, I learned they picked up shirts, dresses, purses and other items all of course at really cheap prices. I also learned that there was more than one level and that there were actually multiple levels selling much more than electronics and watches. The girls said there were clothes, jerseys, hats, jewelry and all other kinds of assorted things. I then realized I had only scratched the surface of that amazing shopping area. Even with all those missed opportunities, our purchases still put us all in a great mood. By the end of all this, I believe that all of us learned to bargain while also getting great items.