Beijing...Day 4

Maggie stayed in last night, but Michelle, Kisha, and I decided to go out. Mind you, it was already about 2:30 am when we left the hotel. We went to a club in the area of town where all the Korean students are. The club was called Propaganda and it really reminded me of MJQ. The music was pretty good so we tore up the dance floor. There were more foreigners there than Chinese people! We met a really nice South African guy who told us a short story in Zulu, Xhosa, or something. Whatever it was, it was AMAZING!!! There was a bunch of clicks that he made while making consonant sounds…IMPOSSIBLE! We left the club at like 5:30 am and the sun was already on its way up. When we got back to the hotel at about 6 am, Maggie was awake and standing near the door when we opened it. Why? The tour company had just called and they were going to be downstairs in 20 minutes!!! I took the quickest shower ever! What happened to the 8 am pickup? The guide was “nice enough” to stop at a shop so that we could get something to eat. However, he was really stopping to pick someone else up. We slept most of the way to the Great Wall. Before we got there, we made a 40-minute stop at a jade factory for a rushed 5-minute tour followed by encouragement to spend the remaining 35 minutes in the gift store, which was 3 times the size of the “museum.” I learned two things. The way to distinguish high quality jade is to knock two pieces together. The higher pitched the sound, the lower the quality, and all jade is cloudy. We passed what were the beginnings of a Disney Land. For some reason, the funding was stopped so they stopped building. It was in the middle of nowhere and looked pitiful.

Next, we went to the Badaling section of the Great Wall. We had 2 hours to loiter or walk around at our leisure. There was some issue with incoming traffic so we had to walk 1 kilometer to the entrance! Luckily, that was not included in the 2 hours. Then, we took this bootleg go-carty/train thingy up to the 4th guard post so that we could walk up to the 8th guard post. THERE WERE SO MANY PEOPLE and it was HOT!!! Mao Zedong made it to the 8th and he said that you aren’t a hero unless you do. Our tour guide “Tony” said, “If you come to Beijing without seeing the Great Wo-ooh (I like the way he pronounced wall), it will become a great pity in your life.” With lots of huffing, puffing, pausing, and potential for shin splints in the near future, we finally made it to the 8th post. Before getting back on the bootleg go-carty/train thingy, Michelle experienced a little cookie tossage. At the bottom, I bought an “I climbed the Great Wall” t-shirt. For “lunch”, we stopped at a traditional Chinese medicine center. I put lunch in quotations because it was already after 3 pm and folks were starving. Thanks to sleep deprivation, I didn’t have much of an appetite, which was probably a good thing because “Tony” informed us that they had put some “medicine” in the soup. UH UH! After lunch, we were given another 5-minute tour. Then we were led into a room where doctors put three fingers our wrists, asked our ages, looked at our tongues, diagnosed us with different things, wrote a prescription, and sent us out into the “pharmacy” (store) to buy the overpriced “medicine.” I did the “consultation” for the heck of it and the doctor said, “You’re healthy.” The whole time I was thinking, “HEY YOU! SMARTY PANTS. What about this heartburn and indigestion?! HUH?! WHAT ABOUT THAT?! HUH?!?!”

After that, we stopped at the Ming tombs. We were all exhausted and all I remember from the Ming tombs was that the emperor liked funky hats, he had 60 concubines and killed them all because none of them got pregnant, and a “fountain” (more like a whole in the ground) was built in their honor. Um, it is pretty obvious why none of them had babies. What in the world did he think was the reason…people are crazy! Everyone on the tour was so nice. “Tony” referred to us as the United Nations because there were people from the U.S., Poland, England, France, Taiwan, German, Indonesia, and perhaps some other places. There were about 20 of us, and everyone was so friendly. We made it back to the hotel an hour later than they said and in just enough time for Kisha to shower, pack up her stuff, and head to the train station. I asked her if she wanted me to go with her, but she said no so I walked her out and gave her cab fare. I’m so glad that I was able to see her. It’s been almost 2 years! She was a major reason why our time in China was sooooo EXCITING!!!

For dinner, Michelle, Maggie, and I ate at a Korean restaurant that we had pass a few times. It was pretty good. We had bibimbap and kimbap. The bibimbap was good, but instead of using beef in the kimbap, they used some stanky tasting sausage! YUCK! So, I picked it out. Then, we went back to the massage place. All three of us were asleep before they were even done! At the hotel, we all fell asleep as soon as our heads hit our pillows.