Beijing Part 3: The Return of the ILP teachers

Saturday was completely devoted to the Great Wall of China.  Although it was cool the first time I went, this trip was totally epic.  We dragged ourselves out of bed at 6 am and boarded a bus bound for the Jinshanling section of the wall. Three hours later, we arrived.

The party at the back of the bus

In Beijing, you can buy all kinds of t-shirts that say "I climbed the Great Wall" on them.  This had always perplexed me because I'd been to the Great Wall and there hadn't been a ton of climbing involved.  There were a lot of stairs, but not enough to justify the term "climbed." When we caught our fist glimpse of Jinshanling, I began to understand.

It was a mountainous area and much of the wall there had not been restored.  We all decided to ride the tram because the climb to the wall would've taken an extra 45 minutes.  We only had 3 1/2 hours to enjoy this ancient wonder and we were going to make the most of it. The tram ride was slow and rickety, but other than worrying about plunging to our deaths, it was an efficient way up the mountain.

Getting ready to exit the tram

Once on the wall, all we wanted to do was take pictures.  The view was breathtaking and the state of the wall showed just how old it was.

View of the wall

The "stairs"

Taking a quick breather

Inside one of the towers

But we couldn't stand around taking pictures forever: we had a mission to accomplish. We were trying to get to the five window tower near the old crumbling Simitai section.  The tour guide had cautioned us that only fast hikers can make it there and back in time to return with the bus. 

The climbing began.  Soren and I quickly fell behind the other girls.  There were three reasons for this: 1. We were taking lots of pictures 2. It was an intense and challenging hike and 3. Sickness plagued my respiratory system and cut my stamina in half.  But despite my coughing and shortness of breath, the hike was still exhilarating, beautiful, and 100% worth it.  Climbing on crumbly, uneven bits of stone is one of my favorite things to do ( I'm sure some of you recall the great rock adventure).  Soren was completely in his element.  He cruised along the ups and downs of the wall with ease.  If I hadn't been slowing him down, I'm sure he would've made it to the tower an hour or so before we did.

Many sections of stairs were this steep or steeper

Going up was hard, and going down was a little scary

The ILP girls on top of the wall

Each section of wall had its ups and downs

This was just beyond the 5 window tower.  WE MADE IT!

 This is Soren's epic wall picture.  (It took us like 20 tries to get it)

He's adorable

Soren managed to get my pic in one try.  The craziest thing about being on the wall was that it was my second time.  Who'd have thought I'd get to walk on the Great Wall of China...TWICE!

Once reaching the 5 window tower, we took a few photos and then began the trek back.  The climb back was almost as hard as the climb there.  When we finally reached the tram we were startled by the news that because the wind had picked up, the tram was closed.  Lunch would be starting in about 40 minutes and then the bus would be leaving.  Our growling stomachs urged us to sprint down the restored section of the wall and down the mountain.  We made it with time to spare and before we knew it, we were back on the bus.

Sunday we went to the Lama temple.  I didn't take many pictures since it's a place of worship for Buddhists.  It was a beautiful and interesting place.  Soren especially enjoyed it and got to live out a life long dream to roll the prayer scrolls.  The Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happinesses building contained an 26m tall (18m above the ground and 8m underneath) statue of the Maitrya Buddha carved from a single piece of White Sandalwood.  This statue was seriously huge.  It was like Ursula at the end of The Little Mermaid...only not as terrifying...and with less tentacles.  But yeah...it was big.

The Prayer Scrolls

We also spent some more time and money at the Pearl Market.  It was a delightful day.  The only problem was that my bug bites started acting up and I had gotten a bad cold sometime during the night (probably because of my shenanigans on the Great Wall).  Once our pockets were emptied, we headed to the train station.

None of us were looking forward to our 10 hour train ride since we thought we'd purchased seats.  But as it turned out, it was a semi-sleeper train.  Our compartment housed 6 people (7 once we brought Morgan in) and had four beds.  We averaged two people to a bed.  It wasn't the most comfortable arrangement, but before we knew it, we were back in Nanjing.

Maddie and Krista

Heather

Soren, Morgan, and Maddie (Jenna is on top)

Me and Soren.

And that was it!  We made it back, I started recuperating, and the teachers dug back into their lessons.  I think we were all glad to be back in our own beds.