Sunday June 28 - The Great Wall - Mutianyu

This morning we drove about 2 hours to The Great Wall at Mutianyu. The climb up the steep and long steps to the Wall seemed like the million steps to Heaven. Three quarters of the way up there were speakers playing music. Was this the "Welcome to Heaven" signature tune? Finally, after much huffing and puffing were were once again back up on the Wall and all the splendid views it offers. This section of the Wall was much more modern and fixed up ....and touristy.... probably because we are just outside Beijing. Yesterday it seemed as if we were in the middle of nowhere, except for the vendors at the beginning. Today the vendors were stationd on the Wall and there were tons and tons of tourists, both Asian and Western. We only walked two or three gates, which was easier than yesterday, and then we turned off to take the Toboggen down. This was fun and much easier and quicker than walking! The Toboggen is a little sled which hurtles down the mountain side in a metal shute. You have a leaver in the middle which is both the brake and accelerator - forward for the accelerator, and back for the brake - and your legs go on either side. You lean into the turns like a bike racer. I am very cautious but, still couldn't get much speed out of it; on some of the steeper parts I had the brake on but mostly it was quite mangaeable. A second time down would have been perfect because you would know what to expect and could really let it go. After the Wall, we drove till 12:36; had lunch; then drove for 3 hours to our hotel in Qingdengling, the Qing Feng Hotel, probably the cleanest hotel on the trip. Shortly after we arrived Mike knocked at our door and told us they were going over to the square outside the tombs where they had found a nice spot to sit and have a beer, so we joined them shortly after and enjoyed the sunset, the historic site, the ponies, the goats and the goat herder, and just the ambience it all created. I came back for a shower, then went to dinner in the hotel restaurant with Su Mei and the rest of the group quickly joined us. Dinner was excellent and then it was time for bed.