Beijing: Great Wall Stroll

10-19
Today I got up early to take a trip with the hostel to the Great Wall.  They were taking us to a more remote portion of the wall that tends to not draw so many tourists.  It was a 2 hour drive from Beijing that put majority of the passengers on our mini bus to sleep.  I had saved a few Bao Zi's from the previous night to feed myself and was lured into devouring them before we had arrived.  It's so hard to resist when they are so good.

 So the wall was really cool. I just took a tour from the hostel--really convenient since it was like a 2 hour drive. We got to hike 3 Km on it, which passed by 21 towers.  I walked with Pieter and occasionally with a guy from Argentina who was wearing a barn coat and liked to keep his hands in his pockets.

The only funny thing I can mention about the great wall was that there were lots of older people hiking in groups, decked out like a hiker santa claus with gear.  They were funny because they looked so hiker serious, yet the wall was really an easy stroll.  I asked one of them how far they were doing, and she said, emphatically, "50 Kms in 50 days".   They were on day two, and so far, were not bored with it.  For me, that would be too much, but they were trucking along, as fast as paint dries. 

We were the first from our group to make it to the last tower.  The lady who was guiding our tour had ridden with the van to the end and said we were too fast.  We thought we took plenty of time, but we knew we were in for a wait.  There was a guy up there selling beer which sounded kind of good.

Pieter and I went back to the phone book restaraunt for dinner.  I really just wanted vegetables, so I got some hot and sour soup and some bock choy with chestnuts.  Pieter ordered the rice bucket.  The bucket really made that dish.