The Great Wall at Badaling, China

It was a sunny, slightly windy day with temperatures in the 30's as we headed to The Great Wall section located at Badaling, China. After a brief stop at a jade factory and making some small purchases, our group headed on to The Wall. Badaling is a very popular section of The Wall and is the highest section in all of China. We began our climb. It is so steep at times with uneven steps (in both height and from being worn down). As we climbed higher and higher we were actually very warm. Since both Joe and I are so competitive we tried to keep up with our younger counterparts. At times it was just me telling myself to keep going one step at a time, one more step, one more step. I made it to tower 6 and with lots of encouragement, Joe went on to tower 8 which is as high and as far as you can go from this point. The good news is how high we climbed and the success one feels, the bad news is that one has to climb down. The descent took its toll on our already spent legs. We were very happy to finally reach level ground and drag ourselves to the bus. It (The Wall) can't be described. There are no words sufficient. We climbed and descended for over 2 hours. We were so lucky to be there in winter with less people, so we could really take our time and enjoy the experience.

Everyone was ready for lunch. It was at a dinner theater, great food, shared as a group. We were all so proud of ourselves, still reveling in the thrill of where we had just been and what we had done.

Next stop, The Hutongs on Beijing. Our group piled into pedicabs two by two for our tour through the 200 - 300 year old Tang Dynasty Hutongs. In 1949 there were 1300 of these Hutongs, and now there are only 31 remaining. Those remaining are protected. We were in a key part of them near the Forbidden City. These are courtyard style homes built off of narrow alleyways. Beijing is one of the last know places where these exist. Many have been torn down and there is now an effort to save those remaining. We stopped along the way beside a frozen waterway where many people were out playing on the frozen water. They were walking, skating, and gliding across the ice on what looked likes chairs on skis. It was very cold, but what surprised me were how many people love to be outdoors. Exercise is a huge part of Chinese life. We were fortunate enough to be invited into a Hutong. A retired archaeologist and his wife allowed us into their "home" which one enters from the inner courtyard. It has a kitchen, livingroom/lounge area and one bedroom. Off this same courtyard are three other doors where his two sons and their wives live (each have a kitchen, small living area and bedroom) and the third door (windows and doors covered in lace) belongs to the only grandchild, a 16 year old girl. We were able to ask questions and look around the main quarters. No cars for this family, it is the standard Hutong family with 7 bicycles for 7 people. We had a wonderful conversation through an interpreter, our local,local guide named "Victor". Back into the pedicabs for our remaining trip through the Hutongs.

We stopped at an indoor Chinese souvenir market for bargain shopping before heading to a late dinner at a "green" restaurant which we found out was a famous Muslin restaurant serving vegetarian food. All items were either made from tofu, or vegetables even made to look and taste like things like fish and chicken. Very good food, family style. My favorite was a large fish made from mashed potatoes.

A few of us had watched a Samantha Brown segment on TV where she had gotten a massage at her hotel. A massage sounded pretty good to us and our spent muscles from the morning climb. Jerry, our Beijing local guide, was pleased to arrange massages for us. Around 8:00 there was a knock on our doors and we ended our day with an accupressure massage complete with foot soak in hot tea. Ow, ooh, oh, ow but it felt SO GOOD.