October 18th : Last Day of Vacation!

Hey everyone,
So this is it. Our 30th full day of travel. Our last full day, if you don't count tomorrows long haul home - I'm on the fence about whether it counts too.

 Anyway, we woke bright and early, to the amazing view of the river and the sound of birds. We had a late check out and breakfast at the hotel. This hotel wins "best shower", "most comfortable bed" and "greatest view" FYI. I took another shower before we left and washed my hair, TWICE! Hahaha.

Today's plan: A cooking class in Yangshuo at a local restaurant called Cloud 9. Our chef/teacher was Jenny. The class contained a family of 4 from somewhere (we never figured out their accent) and two British couples and Mark and I. Our first stop was the fresh food market.

Amazing selection of vegetables and fruit (dried and fresh), noodles, herbs and spices and tofu products.And fish. Don't ask me why fish and seafood is kept with fruit and vegetables and not in the live meat market next door.

The live meat market; A place where one might expect to find animals that are commonly eaten. The Chinese seem to prefer to buy it live and then kill/prepare it at home. I think it's a cost thing, but could be wrong. In any case, I didn't go in. Those Swiss guys had mentioned that a visit to the live meat market would result in me seeing cats and dogs in cages like all the other meat. Not my thing. I had no intention of seeing something I knew I'd want to unsee almost immediately.

In class we started out making dumplings, then while the they were steaming, moved on to the other dishes. I went vegetarian today, Mark remained omnivorous.

Mark became teachers pet, although sometimes with her accent, it was hard to tell if she was saying "teacher's pet" or "teacher's pest". LOL
We giggled our way through dumpling assembly and for once Mark's handiwork was not better than mine. YES! The teacher even pulled one out of the steamer and "helped" it look better. Hahaha

The class had a great time and when all was said and done, we had plenty of food for lunch and it was actually good.

It was then time for a stroll through town before Jason took us to the airport and we had to say goodbye.

Look what I found: Another wishing tree!

We flew back to Beijing that evening and with the kindness of strangers, made it to our airport hotel later that night. October 19th was the day we left China, crossed 11 time zones and made it safely back to the USA.

Fancy new airplane has tinted windows rather than shades. 

Seriously tired as we dragged our suitcases through the neighborhood at 1:30 am, happy to be home, to look up through clear skies and see stars looking back. Huh... haven't seen a sky like that since we were in Mongolia!

Mark's last comment as we neared home?  "Now we can plan our next trip."

October 11th : The Great Wall of China

Geez, sometimes words just cannot adequately describe experiences. You really do have to see it to believe it. For me, that category is quite small; The Grand Canyon took my breath away, the bones of Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic will fascinate (and weird me out) for the rest of my life... and The Great Wall of China will probably draw me back again at some point too. Why? Because when something has been on your bucket list for so long, there is a tendency to build it up in your mind and therefore make "meeting expectations" almost impossible. In this case, in my expectations were exceeded.

We drove almost 3 hours out of Beijing to hike a section of the wall at Jinshanling. The road less traveled is often a road worth taking. If I saw another 6 people at a time I would call that moment on the Wall, crowded. Mark doesn't count as one of those people because about this time in our travels, it was becoming apparent I couldn't imagine the trip without him and if he wasn't close by, it was a strange feeling. He referred to it as "starting to grow together" and actually, that rang true for me.

Perhaps it was the 1 km walk to get up to the wall, perhaps it the time it takes to drive there and back when you are stuffing as much "Beijing vacation" into your time here, or maybe, just maybe this section is physically challenging enough in itself to keep out the droves of people that flock to and overcrowd the section of Great Wall that most people cram into their busy itineraries near Beijing.

In any case, we had the best experience a person could ask for!

The sun shined brightly and the temperature was warm and wonderful. The wall, in all its former glory, ancient secrets and obvious hard labor IS a sight to behold.

It rises and falls with the steep ridges it was built on. Every so often an open or closed tower breaks up a tall, thick and wide stone wall that was the difference between Mongolians invading China and China keeping them out.

Of course these days that Mongolia-China border is has moved and both sides of the Great Wall at Jinshanling are Chinese, but none-the-less, it's not hard to see how effective this 1200 year old wall was at protecting the people.

As for us; We were wholly unprepared for the exertion that would be required to walk the 4 km distance (15 towers) along the wall. The steps were counted by the hundreds... each one far from uniform and sometimes a foot or a foot and a half high. Those were the fond memories I clung to when the next section was fricken' smooth with a 45 degree grade! Scrambling on hands and feeling my overpriced sneakers sliding backwards, I felt for the first time this trip, that hiking boots might have been more appropriate - the kind that Spiderman might wear, obviously.

Without further ado, I give you a selection of Great Wall photos:

Three and a half hours and 1000 pictures later, Mark and I emerged to our waiting Julia. We learned that she expected us about an hour earlier and there was some anxiety in her voice as she explained that she hoped the Gubei Water Town would still thrill us, as the light was fading fast.

What is Gubei Water Town?  I had the same question.
Some ancient villages were built around water near the Great Wall. Gubei is man made version. Each business, hotel and home in the style it would have been, back in the day. I thought it was a very cute cross between that Pirates of the Carribean section at Disneyworld and Venice, Italy.

The streets are paved in large stones. They are narrow and winding. Dark wood buildings with colorful lanterns welcome tourists to restaurants or stores. Street vendors sell food on sticks, freshly squeezed juices, bites of Chinese goodness. The whole place is built around a kind of lake... pond? Canals and softly moving rivers seem to come from every direction and reflect the character, vibrancy and charm of a small town of yesteryear. Like Venice, one wrong turn over an exaggeratedly arched bridge and you'll be lost forever! But on the bright side... You'd be lost here.

Towering over Gubei Watertown are those hills made famous by the wall they support. Our visit here was two-fold. The watertown itself is a sight to behold, but it sits below the only section of the The Great Wall that is lit at night and we also came here to experience a night tour of the wall.

Julia walked us patiently though Gubei Watertown, stopping to by us snacks and point out things of interest. One the far side, we reached the cable car. Hallelujah!!! No walking up to the Wall for us again tonight. We rode a cable car to just below the wall and walked a short distance. The view to the Watertown below and the lights on the wall above us made for a pretty magical excursion.

A Chinese tradition perhaps? The idea is to buy a little red wood thing, write your wish/prayer on it, then hang it on the nearest tree or fence rail up here, overlooking Gubei and beneath the Wall. It had to be said and Julia was not shy about being the one to say it: "Dallice, you need to buy 75 of these red things and write your bucket list wishes on them. We'll wait."  LOL. 

For the first time in days, Mark and I were not staying in a really nice hotel that night. We had declined to stay at the 5* resort in favor of a home stay with a local family just outside the water town. Think of it like Airbnb... Arranged by our tour company - thank goodness. China Highlights has a strong belief in helping the local communities and people in the areas we visit as tourists. Arriving late to their home, we were greeted with tea and smiles. Our room was tiny but comfortable with private shower. 'Tis true we were both surprised at the firmness of the bed (comparing it with some of our Mongolian experiences it wasn't so bad) but I have never slept better, if truth be told. The real downside to homestays is not the people or the comfort of the bed, but the smoking. It's only a slight exaggeration to say that all Chinese men smoke. Each to their own but I'd prefer cleaner air and with only a certain supply of clothes, I'd also prefer my clothes didn't smell like smoke before I wore the heck out of them too.

The hard bed, the hot shower, the challenging hike and lots of sunshine? Perhaps. But I believe a long, wonderful day is the real secret to the coma that I fell into that night.