Beijing -Day 2

Beijing day 2

We woke up again bright and early this morning and had breakfast at the hotel restaurant. By 8:30 we were off for our 1.5 hr trip north to visit the Great Wall.

We arrived at the JuYong Pass area of the Great Wall which was completed during the reign of the Ming Dynasty in 1368.  We were given an hour and a half to explore on our own.  Looking up from the entry we were not convinced that we would be able to climb all the way to the top in the time allowed.  So we got right to it. It was by crowded and the stairways are fairly narrow and steps unevenly warn.  Though tiring, the climbing was the least difficult part of it (living on deck 2 and only using the stairs for the past month paid off on that part) navigating the worn steps and crowds of people were the worst part. We made it to the second highest part of this portion of wall before Ty got too frustrated with all the people and we decided to climb back down.  It took us about an hour round trip and we had another half hour to browse the market shops at the bottom wall entrance.  We browsed around grabbed a Great Wall magnet then search out some ice cream.  I think on this trip so far I have eaten more ice cream then in the last two years combined!

We departed the Great Wall and headed back to Beijing for a local lunch before heading to Beijing airport for our flight to Xi'an.

As on our last flight we had a meal sized "snack" on our flight.  Today's snack consisted of a ham and tartar sauce sandwich on a Panini flat roll, Chinese chicken, vegetables and rice entrée, crackers and pickled some-kind-of-Chinese-veggie, and apple juice.  Though we just ate, Ty thoroughly enjoyed both of our snacks.

When we arrived in Xi'an it was already past 7pm and we were bussed directly to our hotel for the next two evenings, the Hilton Xi'an.  This hotel was still very modern by American standards, but also had a more traditional décor which was very nice. While our group was getting all of the paperwork for checking settled, they sent us to eat diner in the Hotel buffet restaurant.  We were all very tired from a 2nd straight day of travel and touring and after diner went up to our rooms to bed.

Beijing was a nice city to visit.  It is not as exciting as Shanghai, but the historical and archeological wonders here are amazing.  There are no real skyscrapers as they wanted to build out instead of up.  The traffic was busy with pedestrians, bikes, mopeds, motorcycles, cars and busses. There are no real traffic laws which are obeyed.   During our time here the smog was not existent and skies were blue. The people were very friendly and our guide has been very informative regarding the places we are visiting as well as answering questions regarding life and living in China.