The Great Wall and final day in BeijingNov 16, 2005
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The Great Wall is really an amazing site. We visited the Mu Tian Yu area of the wall, which is about an hour and a half northeast of Beijing in a region called Huai Rou. The drive up to this section of the wall took us through rural areas that are slowly being developed for tourists coming to the Great Wall.
On the way to the wall, I learned that while the US has a population one fourth the size of China...China only has 1/10 the amount of arable land that the US has!! That means that China is feeding 4 times the people with only 1/10 of the land capable of growing crops. Crazy!!!
Anyway, we spent a good amount of time climbing the Wall and taking in the magnificent views from the high points. It is amazing to think about what the Mongols and Manchu had to do in order to try and scale the mountains to even reach the wall, let alone try and overtake and cross it. And even more amazing to think about what it must have taken to build a wall that stretches approximately 4,163 miles from the east to the west of China (and through the mountains, deserts, grasslands and plateaus).
Tuesday, Lisa and I ventured off from Ed after a dumpling soup breakfast - the second day in a row. We bravely tried to return to our favorite local lunch place in Ed's Hutong, but had to leave after realizing that we forgot our phrasebook and therefore, had no option for ordering from the picture-less Chinese-only menu.
After we finally found a place to eat, we went to purchase our train tickets for a night train to Xi'an, where we will see the Terracotta Warriors...and truly test our abilities to navigate China on our own (YIKES!!!).
