We had our first packed breakfast today. Since Beijing traffic is pretty bad during peak hour, we left especially early so we wouldn't be caught up in it on our way to the main highlight of the day - the Great Wall (万里长城). Breakfast included this...mystery meat. Which looked nice at first, until you actually opened it and smelt it. You didn't really wanna take a bite after that.
The bus ride to the Great Wall was supposedly rather long, so everyone decided to take an early morning nap. Well, almost everyone...
This is Tina. She likes big hugs.
This is Monica.
This is Amanda. Also known as Wong Side-Hair
This is Sirui. He looks like this most of the time.
This is Kristina. She doesn't sleep with her mouth open, unfortunately.
This is Meghan. After much deliberation we decided that she was not a tomboy
This is Eva. Pro-gamer from NY. Winner of least flattering photo award goes to me.
This is Kenny. Can come up with the best facial expression of incredulity.
This is Walter. Like most Canadians, he loves Canada. A lot.
This is Frances. Sleepy Frances. Has an alter-ego, Sexy Frances.
I couldn't get any more in, because the bus was about to arrive and Eric had begun to wake people up on the mic.
As most of you (should) know, the Great Wall is not one continuous stretch of wall. It's broken up into sections. The section we scaled was called the Badaling (八达岭) section. And so, after the obligatory group photo at the beginning of the Great Wall, we were off.
The section at Badaling goes left and right. We were told that the left was the easier and more scenic route. The right was the harder route. Sophie told me there was a saying that, 'you're not a real man until you've climbed the Great Wall'. Time to become one then.
So we decided to take the right route. There were considerably more people on this side of the Wall. The right route consisted of eight watchtowers. You can see the first three in the picture above.
Decided to take it easy at first, take it all in. Decided to have a bit of fun with the camera. Don't look down.
Reached the first tower and almost laughed out loud at this.
After passing the first tower, I decided it'd be fun to sprint up the Wall. For a bit of exercise. Cause we really hadn't done any on this trip. Sixteen minutes. That's how long it took me to get to the fourth tower, and half way up the right-side. I broke a sweat getting there, and towards the latter stages of that first stint, I was out of breath. It's not easy running up this thing.
It's pretty cool up there. And pretty high up there. Took a few photos while I waited for the rest of the gang to arrive.
I mean, this is pretty steep.
Very interesting to note that while the Great Wall is a pretty strenuous climb, lots of young children, barely older than about five of six were scaling it with their parents. Also interesting to note that lots of elderly people also scaled the Great Wall alongside family members. Personally, I was very impressed. Just goes to show anyone should be able to climb the Great Wall.
Reaching the final tower on the right route took a little longer than I thought. I had Sirui, Tina, Kristina and Chunping as running mates but I think I lost a few of them amongst the crowds. Because there were so many people climbing the Wall that day, some narrow spots, especially the entry to the final section of wall was pretty much one person entry at a time. Chinese people aren't afraid to push. I was. But with only half an hour to make it to the end and make it back to our bus, I felt I didn't have a choice. I needed to reach the end. I pushed. I shoved. I broke out of the tunnel and ran. I was tired, hot and sweaty, but I made it up to the end in another 21 minutes.
And it was sweet. Tina was right behind me the whole way. Can't ask for a better running mate. Soon, Kristina, Sirui and Chunping made it up to the end as well. Get ready for the gunshow!
We only had 20 minutes to make it back down, so there's nothing we could've done but sprinted it. Sirui kept pace with me on the way down, and it was an absolute blast. Running down the Wall involved carefully running back down steep steps, weaving through the casually walking public, jumping over bumps on Wall, and swinging precariously over the Wall itself (don't ask). It was so much more fun than it sounds, and was easily the highlight of the entire trip for me. We made it back in just over 20 minutes, and found the rest of the group enjoying icecreams (as you would). Sirui and I wanted to get medallions which said 'I conquered the Great Wall' in Chinese, but it was a ridiculous 120 yuan (20 AUD/USD). So we would be medallion-less. But we had conquered it.
The rest of the day was markedly less interesting. We visited the two premier universities in China, Peking University and Tsinghua University for campus tours. To briefly conclude:
1. Chinese universities are humungous. Daresay bigger than any university.
2. Chinese universities have lots of grass and trees. Some of then even have pagodas and lakes.
3. Chinese universities still use squat toilets.
This is the original Tsinghua teaching hall.
And then we went to see the Olympic venue in Peking University where the table tennis will be played. Still not quite finished yet.
Two clowns having a bit of fun.
This is the Peking University library. It is huge.
Our final activity for today was our first 'group discussion'. Our group was divided into four smaller groups and were each given half an hour to create a presentation answering a question given to each mini-group.
Teacher Connie and teacher Sophie!
The group led by Sirui put on the most entertaining group presentation I've seen in awhile. And as luck would have it, the idea that that group had come up with would be rather useful in the near future.
Got back to the hotel rather late that night. Sleep was in order after a long, tiring day.
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