Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Day 5: The Great Wall of China

On the fifth day we were scheduled to go to the Great Wall of China with our guide Lily. Unfortunately Elyse woke of sick. She threw up for the first time in her life (Megan got to witness this). Poor girl. She didn't really eat breakfast and then in the van she threw up again. Nothing makes you feel more like a mom than catching your daughters throw-up in your hands...

Luckily we had extra clothes so we were able to change her. She felt a little better once she got new clothes, but she continued to feel sick for the next couple days.

On the way to the wall we passed farms that grew all sorts of fruit and corn. Lily grew up on a farm like the ones we passed.

When we arrived at the wall we took the cheater way up the mountain and rode the gondola. (Most people do this).

It was pretty amazing once we got to the top. Here are just a few of the pictures we took:





I know Elyse would probably not appreciate this picture on the blog, but I thought it was kind of funny. Elyse said she needed to pee so we got out the travel potty. So Elyse sat on the potty on the Great Wall of China. Not many people can say that :)
After awhile of wandering on the wall we headed back while Megan continued on. Elyse was not feeling well and it was hard for me to climb down the stairs with Anastasia strapped to the front of me (I couldn't see my feet very well).
After we rode the gondola down we had to walk passed all the people selling souvenirs. It was the same stuff over and over again. Toward the end we gave in and got a t-shirt fr Elyse and Toby got a Mao watch (which he had been wanting since Tiananmen square). Toby talked the guy down from 180 RMB (a laughable amount since the watch would only last a couple of days anyway) to 40 RMB (about $5) which I think was generous. It turns out the watch lasted a week :)
We then met up with our driver and head out to lunch. It was very good!
Poor girl fell asleep during lunch.

It is still hard to believe that we were on the Great Wall! It was the day before my 33rd birthday and a day I will never forget.

3 comments:

Melanie said...

Love the pctures! It's truly breathtaking and I would love to go back someday.

Grandma Schmidt said...

Amazing - it really exists!

Aunt Pat said...

Poor Elyse...bad timing to get sick...but you will have great stories to tell her about her experience ..Brave parents!!