Wonder of the World #2

The Great Wall- it was cloudy today!
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We had a wonderful day in Beijing today. Early this morning we jumped into our dodge caravan with a man who spoke no word of english and headed off to a Jade factory. We didn't know we were going there, but it was cool and the jade was stunning, it is just too bad that we can't afford jade. We then proceeded to the planned events of the day. We started off at the Ming Tombs, which were not as exciting as we had expected them to be, but were thilled once we got back into the van and headed to the Great Wall. The wall was absolutely stunning and we had to keep reminded ourselves that we were actually there. We started up, and made it quite far up the wall. It was pretty impressive how our legs held up and how high we made it. After our experience of climbing the stairs at the Wat in Thailand, we were apprehensive, but it wasn't that bad, and a little exercise never hurt anyone.

The section of the wall that we went to had 2 different routes to climb, the east and the west. The East Wall looked pretty easy and not overly steep, but we headed to the west wall. We were all bundled up and starting up the many many stairs. The view from the wall is stunning, you are surrounded by mountains and when standing on the West Wall, you can see the East Wall running up the side of the other mountain. We ended the day with a purchase of matching sweatshirts that say "I climbed the Great Wall".

Well, that's it for now, we just wanted to keep you posted and put up some pictures.