Going to the Great Wall!

April 15, 2012

We drove out of Beijing and stopped at a jade factory.  There was a man sitting behind a glass wall making jade “happiness family balls”.  A “happiness family ball” is a jade ball inside a jade ball inside a jade ball. The ball represents the family with the mother (phoenix) and the father (dragon) surrounding and protecting the children and children’s children.

 

I wanted to buy a stone (jade) turtle. Noni said it was too expensive so we bought absolutely nothing.  Instead we had soda and waited for the other people who were buying expensive jade jewelry. Later we thought we should have bought a “happiness family ball” but it was too late.

Now, we drove a long way to the Great Wall of China! When we got near the wall we still had to wait as our bus tried to get closer. 

We still had to walk a long way and it smelled like bus “smog”.   There it was.  The Great Wall of China!

 We climbed up the gate to the path.  We took a picture to show us standing on the wall.

David, our guide, wanted me to go to the top of the wall with him.  I said, “Sure” and we headed down the path.  You can see me because I was wearing a bright blue shirt. 

As we went up the path David said, “Let’s go higher on the wall.”  So, we climbed, and climbed, and climbed, and climbed, and climbed, and climbed.  Once in a while we stopped and David took a picture on the wall.

Finally, we reached the top of the wall.

We were tired. We came back down the wall running!  Ya Ya thinks coming down is harder than going up. She is wrong!

 

When I got to the bottom of the Wall, Noni and Pop Pop bought me an ice cream and a Great Wall medal to celebrate.

The t-shirt says, “I have climbed up the Great Wall”!

While we waited for everyone to come down off of the wall I had a grape soda to cool off.