Day 2

The second day was probably our favorite. We woke up early to meet our guide and driver by 7am. We headed out to the Great Wall, the Mutianyu section. It’s about 50 miles north of Beijing. After a speedy ride with our insane driver we made it. It was worth the drive because it is much less touristy than the section closest to the city. I wanted to skip the cable car and climb the 1,000 steps up for the good view, but Chris talked me into taking the cable car up and I’m glad we did. We did plenty of walking once up on the wall. You can tell from the pictures that it’s not exactly flat. We wanted to hike on but some areas are restricted where the wall hasn’t been restored yet. It was a wonderful time of year to visit. It was in the 70s and the trees were just started to turn for the fall.

After a few hours of exploring around we got some locally grown peaches, apples, and roasted chestnuts for a snack on our way to the Ming Tombs. Our driver got even crazier as the day went on. I literally had to watch out the side window and pretend like I didn’t think we were about to get in a fiery crash. They made us stop at “The world’s largest jade factory!” aka “a tourist trap!” for an informational tour and lunch. We have already seen this song and dance in Guilin, China with the “silk factory”, "pearl factory”, and “art museum”. Can you imagine a museum where everything just happens to be for sale?! We hurried through their spiel and on to a below average Chinese lunch. Then it was on to the Ming Tombs. We learned a lot here, but it wasn’t as exciting as the Great Wall. After an hour or so we decided to head back to the city. I’m glad we made it back alive. When our guide told us that tips were appreciated and wanted our opinion about the driver Chris let him have it. Let’s just say they didn’t get a tip from us.

After showers and a rest we ended the day with dinner at a popular restaurant Da Dong. This was our second night of Peking duck. This place had a leaner and slightly different take which was fun to try. We ordered some fried rice and peas to go with our duck. To our surprise we were served 1 spoon full of peas each with a shot of peppermint liqueur. I have included pictures in the slide show. Interesting!