Sight-seeing Day 2

Let me start out by saying that if I lived in ancient China as a man, I don't think I'd make it very long at my present level of physical endurance.

We started out the day by spending four hours at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. It was incredible. I took a cable car to the number 14 post and walked to about the 20th post, walked back to 14 and took a cable car back to the bottom, and that was plenty of exercise for me. I cannot imagine having to make the bricks and carry that up the mountain, or having to carry the stone up the mountain. Talk about hard labor - with animals and carts it would be an easier job, but not by much. The terrain is very rugged but the scenery is gorgeous. This section of the mountains is very tall, slightly rocky, and very "sharp" - not like the Adirondacks or the Appalachians, which are the mountain ranges I'm used to. I also can't imagine being a soldier stationed at the Great Wall and moving around it all day - there are many uneven stairs, and you are constantly switching between walking up and walking down.

Being on the Great Wall was not only historically and architecturally fascinating but the people were just as interesting as they were at Tiananmen Square yesterday. People from all over the world were walking along the wall, and again, some people were taking pictures of us. At one point, my roommate Laura and I were sitting and waiting for some others from our group, and a family started posing their children between us for a picture, then eventually the whole family got in the picture. I was able to get them to take a picture with my camera, which I'll share tomorrow, when I get my pictures onto the computer and all sorted out :)

Our next stop was the Olympic park. We didn't walk around much, we only stopped long enough to take some pictures. Again, at one point I caught a family trying to take a picture with me in the background, smiled at them, and they came over to pose with me. The Bird's Nest Stadium was HUGE, and made from steel. It was definitely an interesting piece of art, as was "the bubble", which houses the pool area. It really does look like a square bubble.

My favorite part of the day, again, was the late afternoon activity. We went to the hutong area, near Houhai, to see the drum tower, and actually got to see a performance. 5 drummers, about 5 minutes, and it was fascinating to hear the beats they created and to watch how they beat the drums with their sticks. Afterwards, we walked across to the bell tower which is nearby and stopped by the teahouse at the base for a tea ceremony. We tried 5 kinds of tea: Ginseng Oolong, Jasmine, Pu' Er, Litchi Black, and Fruit Tea. My favorites were the Ginseng Oolong, which was naturally sweet, and the fruit tea, which was also sweet but a little sour and had a lot of flavor.

After the tea ceremony we took a rickshaw ride through the hutong, stopping at the house of a lady who would show us how to make dumplings. We had a delicious homemade dinner there, which of course included dumplings. I have to say that since being in Beijing, I have had several dishes with cucumber in them, and I think that in the U.S. we are not open-minded enough in how we use that wonderful vegetable. It really is ok to cook cucumbers, they don't have to be served cold or pickled in order for them to be enjoyable. Tonight they were shaved and paired with chicken (a hot dish), and we also found them in thinly sliced rectangles with pork meatballs (also a hot dish). The story of our host was the best part of the evening. During the Qing dynasty, her family was employed by the emperor, making those snuff bottles that are hand-painted on the inside. The family was very rich, of course, and had a large living area with 17 rooms. However, when the cultural revolution occurred, her grandparents, parents, and herself were not allowed to paint, just like the other cultural arts were forbidden. They also had all but one room taken away from them, so some of the family had to move elsewhere. However, after 10 years ban on the arts was lifted, so she started to paint again to preserve the culture. Because she never married (and thus, never had children), she has passed on her skill to her niece, who participated in the Olympic festivities by painting for the athletes. This niece is now starting to teach her 5-year-old son how to paint these bottles. And oh my goodness are they beautiful!! They are very detailed, very pretty, and there are so many wonderful designs! I bought a small bottle for the equivalent of $20, and it is very detailed, very beautiful, and so much better than anything I could get on the street.

After a rickshaw ride back to the bus, we headed back to the University, where most of us have collapsed from the long day.

Until tomorrow!!