Great Wall, Lunch and Squatty Potty

Saturday Night in China 6:pm

1. Jet leg has hit us hard today. We came back to our room today after a full day of touring and I went to straight to our "board" bed. It was only 5 p.m., but we had been up since 3:30 a.m. and had been out in the heat and walking and we were tired.

2. Cloisonne Factory. "Herbie" our guide there kept talking "Herbie is moving" "Here goes Herbie" all in third person, it was rather funny.

3. Great Wall of China. Beautiful. Hot. The steps are sometimes as steep as putting your knee to your waist and constant, it was way more of a workout then I would have guessed. The heat and sun combined with the exercise made me hand over the camera and bottled water to Kory and send him up the wall on his own. I was disappointed to not climb much more, but the heat made it feel unbearable. I wandered back down and people watched. Saw my first baby here wearing split pants. Had a great conversation with a man who is here on tour with us as the grandpa of a family adopting a little boy. Kory finally made his appearance and was so hot from his trip up the wall. He told me he almost lost his lunch when he walked near a squatty potty up on the wall. (He is not the type to gag easy either...) He made himself walk in to take pictures for all of you curious people at home. Stay tuned for that.....

4. After the Wall, we went out for a wonderful lunch as a group. It was a meal where we were seated around a table and there was a glass lazy susan that they loaded with food and we all had our choice of what to eat. It was so difficult to choose, it was all yummy. I had rice and a hot and spicy chicken, dumplings and other dishes.

5. After lunch, we did a bit of shopping. I don't really like to shop here in China. For instance, we were looking at Jade jewelry. The girl followed us all over and said, "you like? which one you want to try?" and made me feel like I couldn't even think. Kory ended up negotiating the price on a jade bracelet and we blasted out of there.

6. We saw the Birds Nest and the Water Cube from the Olympics.

7. Traffic is so awful here in Beijing. we were on the bus such a long time and it is a stop and go traffic jam the entire ride.(Over an hour today one way!)

8. We bough a nice piece of art for Hattie's room today. A painting of a Panda in soft colors that we thought would be fun for her room.

9. Ahh, back to bed for me. More later.