China Day 2

I have two bits of exciting news! First, this site is totally blocked in China. I can post no problem (obviously), but viewing the site always comes up empty. It would be more exciting if I was the only blog blocked here – I’m somehow angering the government with my outrageously heroic adventures – but it turns out that all .blogspot sites don’t exist. Someday I’ll be that underground rebel.

Second bit of news – I’m no longer losing the celebrity photo contest! I would say I’m winning (someday… rebel – oo, without a cause!), but I think I’m in second.

Yes, Wednesday was the day where we went to the Great Wall of China. And I scored 7 pictures. Before I get into that, though, I have to go through the day in chronological order. I get way too confused otherwise (it took us nearly 5 min to figure out what day it was today and what day it was when we went to the Wall. “I think today’s Thursday” “My computer says it’s Wednesday” “Your computer’s still on MN time” “…” “We should call someone” “They don’t speak English” “Hey, that would be kind of fun” - The things I do for you all.)

Anyway, the day started out with us taking a little trip to a local Coke Factory (“make sure you say Coca-Cola factory” – Allie). At this Coke Factory (I mean, c’mon – would you really think that?) we had probably the shortest guided tour ever. You know how in those discovery channel documentaries they go through each step of the filling and bottling process – to the point where they can actually fill up the hour long program? This…wasn’t quite like that. There were 3 big windows, one that showed the bottling of Sprite bottles, another for Coke bottles, and another for Sprite cans.

“These are our three main lines that fill Sprite and Coke bottles, and the one on the end does Sprite cans. Go look.”

Right. We were able to figure what each step sort of did (“the bottles are upside-down! Those must be empty. Oh! Now they’re flipped up again and filled with pop! Oh! Bottle Caps!”) And that was kind of it for the tour. We wandered around a little and kept walking by the Coke polar bear that’d say something in Chinese when you moved near it. We got a free pop, so it was completely worth it. Glass bottles, even.

After some little things that are so not worthy of this blog, we made it to the main event – The Great Wall of China. Before I go on, I just have to, uh, you know…

7 Wonders of the World
> Stone Hedge
> Colosseum
>Tajmahal Hall
>Porcelian Tower of Nanjing
> Hagia Sophia
>Leaning Tower of Pisa
> Great Wall of China

Ah, yes, much better. We pulled into the parking lot of one of the more famous public sections. I have no idea why this made me so happy, but you know when you visit someplace and you always take a picture with the sign? They totally do that too! I had to jump in there also; this was just too good to pass up. I have no idea if it actually said “Great Wall of China” but tourist kept taking turns, so, well what else would it say?

Once we made it on the wall, we took off on the section that looked like it went up the highest. For some reason, when I pictured the Wall, I never really though about how steep it was. I kind of figured it was relatively flat with some bumps here and there. Oh no, it was steep. By the time we got up through a few towers, we were all breathing hard a sweating like mad. We took a short break and admired all of the tiny Chinese women who were walking up in STILETTOS. At least us and a group of older british tourist had a laugh (“Did you see those? Even in my prime I would have snapped an ankle”).

The way down, of course, is always harder. We ended up sliding down on a railing for a small section. Yeah, don’t ask. Worked great though, and we ended up getting a lot of compliments ;) To end the evening there, we were supposed to meet up in the lobby-like area. We made it all the way back down before being blocked off right before meeting the rest of the group. Our tour guide kept waving us in, but I didn’t think these 6 soldiers would appreciate us barging through their formation. Apparently a group of Czech Republic leaders were visiting and they were supposed to pass with no crowd. We were shoed into a coffee shop while their cars drove up and the guards brought them to wherever they needed to be.

Hey, now that I think about it – I sort of got in trouble with the government again! Sweet!

Jetlag adventure of day:
Turning on the shower without realizing the shower head was facing out into the bathroom. Sprayed my whole back and soak my t-shirt. And the floor, and the towels, and the…