Beijing part 1- Great Wall

   

The delegation spent two days in Beijing in the beginning of the trip.  We stayed in the Beijing Hotel, right in the middle of the city and in a fantastic location to sightsee and shop!  The hotel, before privatization, was a hotel used for the government and foriegn dignitaries.  We have visited many sights so far, and due to internet issues, I can't post my camera pictures yet so I will give the quick symposis of the trip so far.

The first full day in Beijing we visited the Great Wall first thing in the morning. The tour guide gave us the history of the wall and some stories about how hard it was to make the wall and how many lives were lost building it. I was very excited to walk up the wall as high as I could, and took Ms. Lin with me, which she was not happy with until we got to the top and had a remarkable view. There are 338 American delegates here in China, and we were all hiking up the wall smiling (and huffing and puffing at points) in amazement.

We spent about two hours at the wall, and I made it up one full side and halfway up the other side before we had to go.  My legs were shaking for about an hour but it was well worth it.