Thursday/Friday, October 22, 23

On Thursday we flew to Beijing. The flight went well and we went outside to get a taxi to get us to the hotel. That was the beginning of our Beijing adventures. As Brian and Holli were showing the driver the name and address of the hotel, the taxi driver stated that he could not see that well. The response from Holli was, "Our driver can't see well; ok, everybody in the van." Well, we made it and we settled into our hotel suite. That evening we walked the short distance from our hotel to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. At the Square, we watched the fountain displays and large screens that showed scenes from a recent celebration.

The next day we were off to the Great Wall with our Chinese tour guide, Peter. It's about an hour ride to the Great Wall and we stopped first for lunch at a local restaurant for some regional Chinese cuisine. It was outstanding. After lunch, we headed for the Badaling section of the Great Wall. In the interest of time and preserving energy so as to be able to actually climb/walk the Wall, we took a cable car up the mountain. The view was magnificent on the trip up but it could not compare with what we saw when we actually climbed onto the Great Wall. We climbed and walked up steep ridges for at least two miles along the top of the Wall. Every time you climbed a different part, you thought it just couldn't get any more beautiful or magnificent but you were wrong. It is beyond description, the history, the beauty of the surroundings, the architecture - all of it. Awe inspiring just doesn't describe it well enough.

Of course, it wasn't all about history. Along the way, local people were selling refreshments, including beer. It proved to be too much of a temptation to resist raising a toast on the Great Wall for a few of our members and we imbibed. Yes, it was worth it. However, no one had to be carried off the Wall. Instead, the very brave (?) opted to forgo the cable car ride back down the mountain and took the two mile toboggan ride. Two senior members of our entourage who shall remain nameless (initials EG and MS) had to be warned by the officials to slow down as they flew past the officials yelling "woo-hoo".

At last, thinking that our adventure was over, it was time to leave. We started the trek back to Beijing in our tour van. We almost made it. We got to Beijing and through a toll booth when a few of us noticed that the van wasn't quite making the appropriate noises. Of course, we were in the far left lane in rush hour traffic when the van just plain died. In true Chinese fashion, everyone just kept moving around us until finally one good samaritan stopped in his car that was about the size of a Smart Car. After repeated attempts to restart the van, it became obvious that we would not get going again. At that point, our good samaritan pulls something from out of his car which we assumed were jumper cables. Holli just laughed and said, "Oh no, they don't have jumper cables here. I know what this is; I've seen this before." To our utter amazement and entertainment, out comes the rope which he proceeded to tie to the front of the 12 passenger van. As we are laughing, he begins to tow us across five car lanes and two bike lanes of bumper to bumper traffic - up a hill.

Did we panic? Heck no. However, Holli was a bit stressed at the possibility of missing our free happy hour at the hotel and became our "clock watcher".

Crisis averted - right? No way. Now the problem of bathroom needs reared its ugly face. It was a foot race to the nearest hotel lobby restroom. The ending will remain a mystery to all of you.

Finally, a new van arrives, picks us up at the hotel lobby and we are off to our hotel. To the girls credit, they did not keep saying "when are we going to get there?"

Yes, we made it in time for happy hour.