Zhoumo!!

Saturday, June 28. A very eventful day.

Woke up early to see the Great Wall of China. After 3 hours on the bus, we finally arrived in a whole new different China. It was from modern buildings and smog, to trees, mountains and farms and small rural villages. How cute. The white haze that enveloped the low skies made the landscape picture perfect. After we parked, it was still a climb up to the foot of the mountain, and from their it was stairs and rocks and bugs up the mountain. Changcheng then was finally before our eyes. One of the Great Wonders of the World. Who would've thunk it. I was soooo excited in the beginning, but the actual trek along the path of the Great Wall was a bit anti-climatic. It was actually quite exhausting, dangerous, and more exhausting. After 2 hours of walking and climbing and panting, I truly understood the meaning of "my legs just gave way out from under me." But the scenery was gorgeous. The actual Wonder was also impressive, the Chinese were very smart. Imagining the labor of the Chinese thousands of years ago......wow, I can't really imagine it. Anyways, it was difficult but also good exercise and a great experience. A chance to truly appreciate history and be in awe of the world's greatest treasures. 

On the trip home, I mostly slept most of the way. I think the majority of people were the same.

After the Great Wall, it was time to enjoy our first weekend in Beijing. And where better else to go than Sanlitunr? So we went and had fun. I didn't like the first part of the trip where we got tripped up in mostly a touristy, way too expensive foreigner's area where one person had to pay 30 kuai for a small bottle of Chinese beer, but otherwise, we had fun. Went to Bar Blu (another foreigner's area, but didn't stay too long) then to Club Mix. Though the cover fee was a bit expensive, it was still fun. The atmosphere, the structure, and the hot sweaty overcrowdedness of the place kinda reminded me of Korea's NB (yet another club). Actually, they were extremely similar except that Mix was a lot bigger with two (maybe more) floors and four rooms. The music was pretty good but I didn't like the fact that many 40-something year old men were there...Otherwise, my friends and I had fun. We ended up coming back around 3 in the morning. People are already making plans to go next weekend. Aiya~~~!!