GREAT WALL OF CHINA

Waking up to go to the Great Wall of China is what I assume it feels like to wake up on your wedding day. You are so excited you might pee but you are also so nervous that it wont be what you expect, or that you'll have a bad hair day, or that you will die on the way there! Luckily we were safe from all three. We decided to take a tour so this was going to be a whole day affair. With our backpacks full of snacks and water we met our most reliable tour guide Kathy with a K. First stop, Olympic Stadium (which was cool so I included a pic but we gotta get to the nitty gritty). Second stop, Jade Factory (which did you know there are different colors of jade besides green like black and purple and white it is insane how ornate and detailed jade sculptures can be?!) Third stop, Ming Tombs. I will elaborate. We went to the 13th Ming Emperor's tomb which is the only one you can actually go inside of. Being that it was Tomb Holiday in China (which is basically like memorial day weekend) it was fitting to go to an actual tomb. The grounds were beautiful and there was so much money placed on the emperor's tomb you could probably buy a mid-sized sedan.

Fourth stop, lunch. We went to a chinese family style restaurant near the entrance of the wall. During lunch we realized we have lost our manners in China and we eat like ravenous wolves whenever food is placed before us. But we didn't feel too bad because next stop was the GREAT WALL. We went to the Mutianyu section of the wall which is generally less touristy, but because of the holiday it was still pretty busy. On the ride up Rachel and I became graffiti artists and tagged our gang name on the lift. So rebellious, I know....

And then all of the sudden you are on the Great Wall of China and walking the kajillion steps to different towers and frantically taking pictures cause you only have two hours and sweating because you're lunging not because it's hot and hardly breathing because its beautiful and breathing hard because it's steep.

Look through the smog and you'll find the GW!

Rachel and I decided to hike further out and we found parts of the Wall that were more like ruins. And I basically had an asthma attack following her because she is a mountain goat and ran up the 3 ft stairs like they were ants to be squished. Being a semi cloudy/polluted day it was hard to capture exactly what the great wall is like. And I really wish words and crappy pictures were enough. But when they say great, know that means never ending and huge and steep and crooked and straight and wide and narrow and old and amazing and cool and awe-inspiring and just plain great.

Find the tiny tower on top of the mountain range and let it blow your mind. 

Just plain great was my whole day. We tobogganed down the great wall which was 1) so fun and 2) so comical because the workers try so hard to stop people from taking pictures and it's hopeless.

Great Wall checked off my bucket list just like that! I wish we could've had more time but it really was so yes, yes, yes, GREAT. The last stop on our tour was the Silk factory (which was cool because did you know they mass produce silk by putting 2 silk worms in each cocoon?! China!)

We got home tired but so happy. And to celebrate a few of us went to get Beijing's famous peking duck. It. melts. in. your. mouth. It. is. so. good. It. was. so. worth. all. of. my. money.

JUST PLAIN GREAT DAY!