The Great Wall to Xi'an

Great Wall
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The saying goes "You haven't been to China if you haven't been to the Great Wall". Well, now we have officially been to China.  We did a two day trek of the Great Wall and it was absolutely breathtaking!  It is kind of like the first time you see the Eiffel Tower or the Sydney Harbor Bridge - you can't believe that you are really there and not looking a picture in a book.

We had a local guide who took us along the wall the first day.  It was very remote and non touristy as we were the only ones around for miles - just us and corn fields as far as the eye could see.  That first night we arrived at a little guest house.  The guest house was little nasty - not up to mom's high standards that is for sure!!  But we chalked it up to a once in a lifetime experience and a promise that next time we would upgrade on the hotels.  The second day was the ultimate stairmaster - 1.5 hours straight up but amazing to be hiking on something that is still in tact after 600 years.

Mom and Jan on the Great Wall
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After the Wall we caught an overnight train to walled city of Xi'an to see the ever famous Terracotta Warriors.  The warriors were neat - most of them are broken and still buried underground with archeologists working 3 months to put one warrior back together again.  There history is interesting though. They were built for the first Emperor of China over 2000 years ago.  He ordered all of his concubines (that didn't bear him a son) and all of the skilled laborers that build his tomb and all of his soldiers to be buried alive with him when he died.  Of course if all the warriors were buried then no one would be left to protect the land so a replica of each real warrior was made out of terracotta to be buried with him - no two alike.  So much for the fate of the concubines and skilled labors.

Tour Group on the Wall
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Now we are preparing ourself for another overnight train to Shanghai were we hear the shopping is some of the best!

Hope everyone is well and will try to update the blog when I can as internet and phone calls seem to be difficult to make over here.