the great wall

Yes, today was the Great Wall. We hired our bus from yesterday, minus Miss Beijing, for which we were extremely thankful, and went to it. Unfortunately, we went to the part closest to Beijing, which meant there were people everywhere. The cane hat again proved it's worth, this time as an umbrella! Though, my head was really dry, the rest of me was soaked!

Also unfortunately, it was a rainy day. So the photos are a little cloudy, but the mist added to the mystique somewhat, I thought. It looked like something straight out of Lord of the Rings. Welcome to Middle Earth. I walked until the watch tower you can see in the pic below, the only one I saw with a roof on it. Probably for some wussy general. We had three hours to walk and so I turned back after an hour and a half. But boy was I tired on the return. 

Here's why I was so tired. This was insanely steep! And no stairs! Well, there were some, but only on the extra steep bits. But it felt like you could slip at any moment. There were kids sprinting down this as fast as they could, but gees, I thought they were going to stack it. 

After about three hours, my legs were very, very tired. I figured if I tried to walk fast I'd get past all the tourists and there would be fewer people. I was right, but it also meant I had to walk back! Very, very steep!
Tonight had dinner with 11 people, including Justin, who I have titled Captain Buddy. He's a guy who has been showing us around Beijing and came to dinner tonight. He's really nice, but when I started talking politics (again) he asked me why I always want to talk politics and government. Paul Scott (lecturer) who was at dinner reckons he's here to keep an eye on us and that I've been black listed! I don't know if that's true, but he said I don't understand Chinese way of thinking (re: Tibet, Taiwan). That's probably true, so I guess it's good to be respectful of that. But he's a really nice guy. Scottie, Justin and I were just doing vodka shots in Scottie's room, so it was really good to have a  more intimate setting to talk politics and government.

Tomorrow is the first day of training for our actual work over here, so I'd better go to bed!