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Our room at the hostel was perfect because we all were in one room with 3 bunk beds and we even had our own bathroom. The shower was gross, but it did the job. I?m convinced that our pillows were stuffed with bricks. They definitely were 10 times better than our tater tot ones in Cameron Highlands, but they were not the best. Hey, we can?t complain, though, because our accommodations were great for only $8/person per night.Â
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We woke up at 7am so we could eat breakfast and then leave the hostel to explore some of the touristy areas of Beijing before leaving for the Great Wall. The people at the hostel were great because they let us store our packs behind the desk after we checked out so we didn?t have to carry them with us everywhere before we left.Â
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We decided to walk to Tiananmen Square, which was about a 20 minute walk from our hostel. Tiananmen Square is the world?s LARGEST public square! It was littered with Chinese tour groups, which was funny because the tour guides carry big flags and the people in the tour wear matching bright colored hats. We saw the official 2008 Olympic Countdown on one of the buildings across from Tiananmen Square. 477 days until Opening Ceremonies! Beijing is going to be even more of a zoo during the Olympics ? I can?t imagine how crazy it?s going to be! It?s definitely a great city to have the Olympics in, though. There?s great shopping, cheap food, and lots to see and do! The only problem with the Olympics being there is the pollution ? it can?t be healthy for athletes to compete with that much air pollution???? Anyways, we made our way to the Gate of Heavenly Peace, which is a gate that leads into the Forbidden City. This gate is the one with the huge portrait of Chairman Mao on the front. Yes, we all got pictures with Chairman Mao! Jason and Ellie got pictures of themselves eating Mao, and Becky got one of her licking Mao. Mine wasn?t quite as classy, I was just doing the peace sign. Sporting the peace sign has been my trademark pose in Vietnam and China because Asians seem to always do that when they pose for pictures. I figure I might as well fit in with everyone else?or just look like a big dumb tourist!
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Instead of going straight into the Forbidden City, we decided to stop first to see the Zhong Shan Park Tulip Show. The red and yellow tulips were beautiful. We also saw cherry blossoms blooming and they smelled so good! The park was very pretty and relaxing. There were some traditional buildings and pavilions scattered throughout it. We saw groups of women that looked like they were taking dance lessons right in the middle of the park! That was pretty cool. There was also a group of people singing ? perhaps they were a choir? Deeper in the park, we found a walkway with Chinese men who were playing these traditional instruments that were almost like violins ? bow and all ? except they rested in their laps and the sound was extremely twangy and screechy! Becky and I found a flower display in the design of the Olympics logo, so we both got pictures in front of it! After that, we found a little ice cream shop where we bought ice cream popsicles for less than $0.30 each! Since Malaysia, we?ve been seeing popsicles/ice cream all over the place! The most popular brand is Nestle. I wasn?t expecting to see Nestle frozen treats all over Asia! I guess they enjoy their sweets just like us Americans do. After seeing the park, we decided to head back to the hostel and grab some lunch because we didn?t think we had enough time to see Forbidden City before we were picked up to go to the Great Wall.Â
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When we got back to our hostel, I checked my email?The guy I made arrangements with for the Great Wall had emailed me the day before (we had already left the ship by then) and told me that he wanted us to meet the bus at another hotel where some other SAS people were staying. I was so flustered because it was about 1:25 and we were still at our hostel!!!! Luckily the cab ride to the hotel was short, and I was able to get a hold of Christoph ahead of time and give him the heads up that we were going to be a little late.Â
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The drive to the Wall took about 2 hours or so, and all 13 of us slept almost the entire way there! We arrived just before sunset. When we got there, we took about a 20 minute hike up to catch our first glimpse of the great wall and take a few pictures before it got too dark. It was pretty hazy out, but even so, the wall was absolutely magnificent! That sounds cheesy, but OH. MY. GOD. ? it?s the Great Wall of China! I couldn?t believe I was there on the wall. Going to China and seeing the Great Wall is something every kid jokes around about, but how many people actually get to do it?! I absolutely LOVE the Great Wall. There?s about 650km of the Great Wall within a fairly close distance of Beijing. We went to Jinshanling, a section of the wall that?s fairly remote and pretty much completely untouched. It was the real deal, not one of the super-touristy and completely renovated sections! We saw a couple other random people milling around a little bit, but we were pretty much the only ones there.Â
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We climbed down and enjoyed a long, delicious, traditional Chinese dinner outside. The weather was absolutely perfect ? cool and crisp! Finally! Before we ate, we all did a little retail damage in a little shop that sold Great Wall paraphernalia. I bought 2 t-shirts. Both have drawings of the Great Wall and have ?A man isn?t a hero until he climbs the Great Wall? written in Chinese characters. One of the shirts says ?I climbed the Great Wall? and the other says ?I slept on the Great Wall.?  Our meal consisted of many vegetable/meat dishes and then rice and dumplings towards the end. All of the food was served family-style, and we dished out our portions into little bowls that we ate out of. I enjoyed eating out of little bowls with chopsticks rather than eating off large plates with actual silverware. The food that we ate was NOTHING like Chinese food at home! I was expecting not to enjoy the food because I knew it wasn?t going to be like the lo mien, chicken and broccoli, and pork fried rice that I love eating at home. Obviously, I was pleasantly surprised! Some of the things we ate were garlic and pork, green peppers and beef, snap peas, egg and tomato, dumplings, and white rice. All of the veggie/meat dishes are so good because they?re not greasy and they?re smothered in light, tasty sauces.Â
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I have to make a note about the bathroom facilities that were in this little one street village that we ate at. Not only were they squatters, but they were like ancient squatters and they were pretty much communal! There were stone walls about 3ft high separating the ?stalls.? The squatters were literally holes in the ground ? no plumbing at all! We?re now all officially pros at going to the bathroom in squatter toilets, that?s for sure! Once we finished our meal, we hiked for about 30 minutes up to the place on the Wall that we would be sleeping at.  It was quite a hike considering we basically climbed steep stairs for 30 minutes straight ? let me also remind you that our tummies were filled to their full capacity!
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Being up on the Wall at night was a little bit eerie, but SOOOOOOOOO cool! We could have slept in one of the watch towers, but we all agreed that we wanted to sleep under the stars. Each of us had 2 sleeping bags, a pillow, and a mat. When we first got up there, we could only see about 5 stars in the sky. By about 1 or 2am, you could see nearly EVERY star in the sky!!! It was ALMOST as many stars as I saw on my safari during the night of the lunar eclipse. I couldn?t believe it ? it was breathtaking! It got pretty cold in the middle of the night because the wind picked up. Sleeping on the Great Wall is probably the COOLEST thing I?ve ever done so far in my life! It was even more exciting because a lot of people don?t do it since it?s highly illegal to sleep on the wall unless you have a guide. Our bathroom facilities up on the wall were quite interesting. We were supposed to do our business in the woods right beside the wall. Yep, so I have basically peed ON THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. Ha!Â
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Here?s a little food for thought about the Great Wall: It?s a structure that has grown and shrank with the rise and fall of many dynasties. The Wall extends about 4,000km from the East China Sea to central Asia. The construction techniques vary between different sections of the wall ? we actually noticed this! Some of the archery holes were fancy and had scalloped edges, while others were plain old squares. The wall served as a defense mechanism for the Chinese people ? it particularly was used to protect them from Mongol invasions. Sections built during the Ming Dynasty rise 26 feet off of the ground and have a base that?s 30ft wide. In 1984, Deng Xiaoping started a movement to renovate the Wall because it has become a great national patriotic symbol. He used the slogan ?Love China, Restore the Great Wall.? FYI ? Chinese people say, ?If you haven?t seen the Great Wall, you haven?t seen China.? Also?the Great Wall is the only manmade structure that can be seen with the naked eye from outer space!
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