Thursday, July 7, 2011

China: Saturday

On Saturday we finally got smart and joined a tour group. Instead of only doing 1 site like most other days we saw 5 sites! It was no surprise when we got back to the hotel totally beat from so much touring. However, it was awesome and I loved it.
Our first stop was the Great Wall. We went to the most popular site, Badaling, and there were tons of people but it turned out alright. Apparently Chinese aren't that into hiking so it was very crowded to get up to the nearest tower but then the crowds quickly dispersed as we walked past that.
The Great Wall either has very uneven steps (a step can be anywhere from 1 to 3 bricks apart and there isn't an obvious pattern) or a sharp slope. Although we did 'hike' the Wall we didn't get very far because you always had to watch your step.
The crowds leading up to the tower.
Can you find Scott? He loved taking pictures with Chinese as much as they loved taking pictures with him.
Almost no crowds after the tower.

We went to a jade factory for lunch and they can make beautiful things. Cutting jade is not taught in schools, it is passed down through families.This is a typical workstation.
The object that's being worked on is a jade ball that symbolizes family. It has two smaller balls inside that symbolize 2 following generations. All 3 balls are cut from the same piece and you cannot separate them. I really liked these pieces; they must be so difficult to make since you have to make the smaller balls after making the larger one.

We toured the Ming Tombs where 13 very important people are buried. They opened one tomb but the stuff decayed rapidly after so they're waiting for better technology before opening more.

Tea tasting. We didn't try any but it was fun to watch the art of tea time.

Our last stop was a silk factory and it was neat. This machine was still going to unravel the cocoons. These tours really wear you down because by the time we got here it was hard NOT to buy a silk quilt. I mean, it's such a great deal! Luckily we held our sanity and came out empty handed.

What a day! The boys went out again but Scott and I just hung out at the hotel tonight. We were so tired from the day and Scott was coming down with a cold. Around 9pm we wanted to order some pizza from a local place so we went down to the desk for help. The girl first picked up the phone to call them, said a few things, and then hung up to tell us that the place was open. We took some time to explain the concept of delivery and after a while she called back only to find out that the hotel was too far for delivery. Dang it! During the conversation a Pizza Hut was mentioned so we decided to have them deliver, we'd give in to American food as long as we got something for dinner. Once we settled on Pizza Hut she pulled out a map and told us how to walk there. Seriously?! Perhaps she thought that we really did want to go outside in our pajamas. We weren't exactly dressed up... We finally just ordered room service. It was a rough ending and I was so glad to finally be going home. Poor Scott!

3 comments:

  1. That's so cool about the Jade ball, Evan's dad got one from China and I never knew that it meant anything. Did you guys get one?

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  2. What did the Chinese people love so much about Scott? I mean, he's super awesome and all, but what was it? Just the novelty of a tall white guy in a sea of Asians? Just wondering...

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  3. I didn't even know you had a blog. And you're in China? What the what?

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