"I feel like an old person." -Julie Stiens 4/14/2013

**So I may get in trouble for this one but given I'm the only English speaking person in the district I think I have a better chance than most to talk my way out of it.**

This weekend Julie and I went to the Juyongguan Pass which is a section of the Great Wall about 40km outside of downtown Beijing.  As with most of our trips I scout out how to get there and then we improvise. According to the great folks at travelchinaguide.com it was an easy ride up Line 13 on the Beijing Metro and then catch Changping bus no. 68 to the Wall.  Piece of cake, right?  Well upon getting off Line 13 (yes it was the correct stop) we were immediately the target of several taxi drivers.  There is nothing like trying to get your barrings and having several men asking you questions in some hybrid of English and Mandarin. 

After a quick scan of the area and no sight of the bus stop we needed an executive decision was made and the haggling began.  We walked away from the first driver and were quickly run down by a second offering 3/4 the price of the first.  That was good enough for us and a quick dart across four lanes of traffic and through the median and we were in the car and on the road.  After riding in the car - I would say taxi but I think that would be a lie, it was probably just a guy with a car would wanted to make some extra money, you gotta love the entrepreneurial spirit - for about a half hour we were feeling better and better about our price.  It turns out we were still about 30km from our destination, not bad for $25.

We got dropped off and didn't exactly know where we were supposed to go, as usual, but several nice people pointed us to the road and then to the right.  From the looks on their faces I was almost positive we didn't have that far of a walk in front of us.  Well, I was right.  It was just 200 hundred yards up the road to our hotel.  We got to reception and it wasn't yet 11, I thought there was no way they'd let us into our room.  Trying to explain that we were arriving too early to check-in may have been a bit advanced for the front desk staff or it could've been we were they only guests checking that day because we were quickly whisked to our room. 

After we got in the room and got settled we decided to try out the restaurant before tackling the Wall.  We walked down to the restaurant and it was about 11:30 but there were no lights on and all the chairs were leaned up against the tables.  This was the first time I got that what did you get me into look.  First time this trip that is, in general I get it pretty regularly. We circled back to reception and were able to communicate well enough to get one of the staff to accompany us down to the restaurant. They set-up two chairs and grabbed a waiter for us and then brought us the menu in Mandarin with no pictures.  Another minute, another challenge.  No problem, we know several dishes in Mandarin and even with our pathetic pronunciation we still manged to get a good meal. 

After lunch we head to the wall:

It was steep.  These pictures don't do it justice.

Okay, maybe this picture does it some justice.

and this one.

and this one.

 

We finally made it to the top!  There a few moments when some of us were a little unsure of whether we would get there or not but view was definitely worth it.  So was the $5, year old beer.  I'm not sure how they get all the merchandise up there but I wouldn't do it very often either.

Well that covers most of Saturday and I have to run so I'll be back with the rest before too long.

-Ryan