Primus Family "Taste of Asia" Tour: July 1: The great wall of China

Lucy continued to push our limits in order to show us as much of her country as possible. Today we left the house at 6:30 a.m. I'm really grateful that our body clocks are still all screwed up. The kids have been great so far. A few grumbles, but mostly they have eaten the food, taken in the sights, and have become very comfortable with our host. Did I mention that she is staying in the house with us? It was a little unsettling when she told us that she would stay with us, but it turned out to just add more to the experience.

So, the drive to the Great Wall took about two hours. the traffic was only moderate, so we made good time. The day was overcast and it was drizzling a little, so there were really very few people at the wall today. (Relatively speaking - Lucy says that on sunny days, you can barely walk because of the crowds.)

From the parking area, you walk up a pretty steep wide path with souvenir booths lining the sides. Like so many of our tourist attractions, there was a Subway, a pizza place, and Baskin Robbins ice cream. As you walk up the path, the vendors call out "Hey Lady! I got t-shirt good price! You wanna some chopsticks?" We walked up the path, and then took a gondola to the top of the wall.In this area, the wall is pretty high up in the hills. In the winter it gets a lot of snow, but in the summer it is a green and lush forest. With all the mist, it was like being in the rain forest.

It is rally hard to believe that soldiers manned the watch towers and walked the wall in all sorts of weather. Parts of it are very steep and smooth. The construction is phenomenal. All the stones fit together well, there are spaces for lookouts, and also for guns/arrows. There are built in drainage slots on the steps.

It was misty, so we couldn't see the postcard like long stretches of the wall going on forever. Rather, it looked like the wall just disappeared into the mist. You can almost envision yourself inside a game of "Temple Run"

After the wall, we came home, and Lucy cooked us a home-made special noodle dish. I then took Baxter, Miriam, and Quincy down town to see the dancers Thankfully, Miriam got a picture of some of them.