Chairman Mao stated that only real men climb the Great Wall of China. We did that on Sunday. Some climbed further than others but length does not seem to be a factor. When Jerrica and Zack came down - their legs were visibly shaking. It was good tour day. It started with rain but it affected us very little.
We saw Jade factories and learned about Jade - real and fake. If I give you Jade it will probably be fake so be prepared for that! The medals for the Olympic Games and Paralympic games are from Chinese Jade. The gold medal has Jadeite which is the best quality Jade and the hardest - only diamonds can cut it. The other medals have green jade but still high quality. Supposedly this is the first time the medals have been something other than just metal.
We also went to a cloisonne factory. Very intricate work which was invented by the Chinese a long time ago. It is enamel on Copper - vases, bracelets, whatever can be made with copper.
We ate at a real Chinese restaurant - family style - while the food looked a little unusual, it all tasted wonderful. The funniest looking thing had many "legs" on it - it was deep fried and breaded so I thought I could try that at least once. It was some kind of fish because I hit a few bones but it was very tasty. I think everyone tried at least one.
There was a Swedish couple and their 2 year old with us. She was darling and very well behaved. The Chinese all loved her and kept wanting to take pictures. It was fun to watch,
We visited the Ming Tombs. 13 emperors from the Ming dynasty were buried here. The tombs are like huge rooms with all the stuff an Emperor would need for his next life and then it is filled in with dirt. So the Tomb we saw just looked like a lovely hill with grass, trees, flowers. Very restful.
The Great Wall was impressive. What made it impressive is the amount of work that went into building this wall. We saw maybe 1/100th of it and we were overwhelmed. The section we thought we could climb didn't look steep but it was very steep. The Chinese tourists climbed this wall with sandals, flip flops and dress shoes. I had my Nike Hikes and my legs were aching about half way up. I almost turned around but dog gone it, if those Chinese tourists who were older than me, wearing shoes with no support could do it, I could, too! And this before I knew if I climbed it, I would be considered a real man. The Swedish man carried his little girl on his shoulders up and made it further than I did. There are various watch towers along the walls - I made it past 2 - Zack and Jerrica made it past 3 more and then they quit and had to come back down - thus wobbly legs - Jerrica's knees looked like Jello they were wiggling so much.
After the Great Wall we came back to Beijing and went to a Tibetan Hospital. Our guide told us there was a special Olympic demonstration of Chinese medicine. We would be given a foot massage for a tip of about 20 Yuan ($3) and a Chinese doctor would feel our pulse and tell us what ailed us and how to fix it. I was good with the foot massage. My feet were aching. The room we went to was out of a 1950's movie set. The room had couches with the close looped upholstery with embroidered clothes covering the back of them. Six of us got our feet massaged. We were told what herbs to take after sharing our personal history with everyone in the room - weird. None of us fell for the herbal remedies - we tipped our masseuses and went on our way.
Our final stop of the day was to a tea house. We got to taste 4 different teas and learn how to drink them. One tea tastes better if you slurp it. One is better if you "eat" the liquid. Our hostess did a good job with this, so Jerrica and I fell for the tea spiel - bought too much but one is an investment. It gets better with age so if I don't drink all of it and my kids have to clean out my house when I get old and infirm - look for the label, if it says "investment" try to sell it back to the Chinese and pay for my nursing home care!
We came back and crashed. Munched on a few things for dinner - we should be losing weight with all the walking we are doing and lack of recognizable food.
This morning, Zack, Jerrica, and I went to the supermarket to stock up again. This time we noticed more English translations under the Chinese labels. I am more appreciative of the second language thing now. We bought breakfast at the "deli", kind of a thin crepe with an egg in the middle, then some other stuff thrown in. It was tasty. As we were leaving we ran into some Canadians. They were here for wheelchair basketball. They were staying at the Best Western. We asked them if they had found any good restaurants. The breakfast buffet at the hotel is good and the rest of the food has not been a good experience for them. Jerrica knows how to cook this Chinese food so we have had some good food. The Canadians asked us where we were from - I said Wyoming. One of them had worked on an oil rig there. He said it was pretty desolate and he hoped to never to go back. A rough country with rough people - he told a story of how a replacement crew came roaring in on motorcycles and guns, scaring him to death. I told him it was probably my son-in-law and not to worry, he's a pastor now. That got a chuckle out him.
So today we are laying low and recouping. Dave caught a taxi over and hung out with us for about 4 hours. We might have enough energy to do something tonight - maybe a game. Tomorrow will be a big day - Dave says he has actually trained for the 50 butterfly. If he makes finals, I am making an appeal to stay on the green all day.
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