Since I didn't have much time to post while I was in China, I'll share a few stories with you after the fact. Here is one: Tuesday (Aug 8) was a very busy day for our team. We met in the hotel lobby at 7:30 AM to board the bus to the Great Wall. (About an hour-and-a-half drive from our hotel.) My roommate, Sherrie, and I had filled out the card to order a room service breakfast, and hung it outside the door the night before (per instructions on the card). Unfortunately, the hotel staff did not collect our card, so there was no breakfast for us. Sherrie had enough time to eat in the restaurant, but I was running late so I grabbed an energy bar on my way out the door. (I knew I brought all those things for a reason!) We got to the Great Wall, which is pretty great and big, took a group picture, and had about an hour to explore on our own. Erik gave us the challenge of making it to the highest tower (that we could see) and back down within the time constraint. Sherrie, Brian and I decided to go for it. You can barely see our goal in the upper right corner of this picture: (it was very hazy that morning)
We made haste, pushing up the steep slopes, weaving in and out of all the people, climbing the steps two at a time, waiting on the crowds through the narrow passageways.
It was hard. But, we made it!! At the top we were rewarded by wall-to-wall people crammed in a very small area, hawkers selling their goods, and.... a camel?!? What?! Yes, I petted a live camel on the Great Wall of China. It was one of those tourist things where you could pay to sit on it and have your picture taken. Go figure...
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