The Great Wall

      Today we are off to the Great Wall!  This will be my 4th time and the kids 2nd time.  Tao has been looking into how we should get there for the past few months.  5 years ago we took the train there and it was supper easy and convenient.  This time the stop we took is under construction and he didn’t know where we could get on it.  We debated a tour bus, hiring a driver for the day or borrowing a family members car.  In the end the same cousin we visited with at Tiantan would drive us, but it was the day his license is not allowed with in the 4th ring or rather with in the city.  So we took “uber” out to the 5th ring and then we drove packed in like sardines 4 in the back of his car for almost 2 hours.  

         After parking we used the public toilet before getting on to the shuttle bus.  As I was standing in  line, a rude person walked right in front of me.  Which I know is very typical from past experiences, but I think they are trying to correct that as a whole because they put a lot of ques up for waiting all over the place.

          Another cousin(girl) and her child age 6 met us there too.  We have our tickets and we are climbing the north side of the wall.  The weather is sunny and hot, we’ve got a larger party to occupy everyone.  Some of the legs between towers are quite scary.  The wall rises higher on one side than the other.  Think it’s so steep you are practically doubled over so the short side at knee height doesn’t appear so bad.  But stop and stand up and look out that side.  Woah, instantly I feel off balance.  I wouldn’t even walk next to it.  Only the middle.  And if I had to stop I’d sit down.  The high side was about shoulder height with jutted lookout windows and was where you walk down by it since you are upright.  The floor of the wall ranged from steps from a few inches to a foot in height with no consistency.  Plus add to that all the wear over time and usage that the steps were worn and sloped.  Other times it was a flat surface at a steep incline.  Ethan and the guys decided to take the passage down at the 4th tower.   

         The rest of us continued on.  Aidan was a mountain goat, we’d find him waiting at the next tower.  We stopped at tower 7 for water and icicle pops before heading to the highest tower to the North the 8th.  After that the rest of the towers slope down the mountain.  We kept getting calls from below on when we were coming down.  So we took the passage down.  Thank God because I did not want to retrace my footsteps down the wall!  The down passage is at the base of the Great Wall and was made later with tourists in mind as the steps are consistent, the slopes not as steep and several stops with information and lookouts.  I’ve never went down the passage down on my previous trips to the Great Wall, but it’s a real time saver, plus you get to see some other stuff you wouldn’t see hidden under the trees.  You could even cheat and go up the passage down and walk up into every tower.

          The parking lot was getting sparse by the time we made it back to the car, we’d spent several hours there.  Tao drove back with his cousin and her daughter and me and the boys drove back with the cousin who drove us.  We were all going to meet for dinner at Big Pizza, a pizza buffet place.  It was nice I got to practice my Japanese, as this cousin used to live in Japan.  Yeah!

          It was so nice the kids had a cousin their own age, she was so adorable and they all got along well.  At dinner my in-laws also met us there.  I did have a few pieces of pizza, because it’s pizza and you have to try it.  But it was eh, most didn’t have sauce.  So I just stuck with the rest of the choices like cumin crusted lamb on a stick(love it!), something called new product(didn’t even try it), cherry tomatoes right next to the chocolate fountain(left that for the kids).  But it was the most delightful day, my best visit to the Great Wall and got some time getting to know family.  Bonus we were all so tired we slept till 7A.M.