by Real Traveler IUP Cook Honors College
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Day 4 and 5

From China- Deanna Belsky in Beijing, China on Oct 10 '09

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IUP Cook Honors College has visited no places in Beijing

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Ni Hao!

Since last night I was camping at the Great Wall, I didn't get to update this blog so I will talk about yesterday and today in this blog entry. Yesterday morning, a few of the group went to go see Mao and Tian An Men, which is a political center for the public in Beijing. The line to see Mao was too long so we skipped that portion and just went to see Tian An Men. It was really exciting and I got a few pictures. Then Phil wanted to get a picture mocking a guard so while Phil stood and saluted behind the Chinese guard, Shane snapped a picture. I just stood there watching to see what would happen so by the time all that took place the rest of the group along with Dr. Chandler was gone. We looked for them for a little while and then decided to just go back to the hostel since we couldn't find them. This was exciting because we had to take the subway back to the hostel and guess what, we found it! This may not be quite the accomplishment for other people, but me being so bad at directions was thrilled that I was able to find my way back in another country. I did have help from Phil and Shane so it wasn't all by myself but figuring out how to get back was fun. After we got back, we spent a little while having lunch, which I had pork and cabbage dumplings, which were delicious, then we were off to the Great Wall.

It was a three hour bus ride which we watched the movie "Slumdog millionaire" with Chinese subtitles. I couldn't hear the movie rather well so I read the subtitles and understood a lot of it! This was very exciting for me. Then we arrived at the Great Wall in which we camped there for the night. I cannot explain in words how amazing the Great Wall was. Everything was so beautiful! I tried to take pictures but they do not do it justice. I even tried to take videos, but it was not the same. I definetely understand why it is one of the seven wonders of the world. The mountains surrounding the Great Wall were so beautiful and everything was so serene. It was so perfect, and when we slept under the stars, there were no lights, no noise, just the stars. You could see so many of them. I wouldn't have traded that experience for anything. It was perfect.

Then we woke up in the morning to hike the Great Wall. I woke up a little before 5:00, just enough to see the sunrise. I got pictures of that too, but it just wasn't the same. Seeing the sun rise over the mountains was so cool. After that, we started our hike. The most we could do was travel six miles to a bridge that you couldn't cross which was Si Ma Tai. Then we needed to travel another six miles. Now when I was going to do this, I believed that it would be a piece of cake. I thought the Great Wall was just a level grounded stone structure that I would be able to walk 6 miles up and 6 miles back. I was so wrong... The Great Wall is a series of stairs, climbing portions that were once stairs that are now just rubble, hills, and dirt paths when the Great Wall was too bad to walk across which didn't happen very often. I walked the 6 miles, enjoying the scenery and taking pictures. Everything was beautiful. It was rough, but it wasn't too bad. Then we started travelling downhill on the Great Wall to get to Si Ma Tai. I couldn't even enjoy the downhill portion because I knew I had to go back uphill. We stood on the bridge and headed for the way back. That uphill part was so difficult to get up and then the rest was even worse. It was so tough to make it back and we had to stop a few times. Oh by the way, this was just me and Dr. Chandler. Everyone else in my group had stopped a while back and turned around because they were tired, and everyone else did not make it. So yes, I was the only IUP student to make it. Evan, who was Dr Chandler's son also made it but he wasn't an IUP student. Haha. It was a tough way back, that's all I have to say and I got sunburnt but it isn't that bad. And yes mom I did put sunscreen on three times, but you know how I burn. Anyway, after we made it back, we travelled on the bus for another three hours back home and now I'm here, after taking a very enjoyable shower of course. We are now going to a restaraunt that we had gone to the first night. So that should be nice.

I am so excited that I hiked the full twelve miles, I couldn't believe I did it. I'm really excited to say that I walked and camped on the Great Wall. I don't know that many people could say that. Everything was amazing. And what a workout. Haha Well I'll update tomorrow.

Zai Jian

Deanna

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