Camp Out in China

The day began rather quickly. Simply waking up and doing the menial 

tasks of the morning was normal. Then I transferred all of the 

things from the bag I packed the night before to my backpack. It 

would be for the Great Wall and I figured it would be more 

comfortable than a shoulder bag. 
 
We met Judy Du near the front desk. Judy was our tour guide. She was 

cute and her English was great. We always love when we can joke with 

them because then we know we can communicate well enough. Our driver 

was also nice and he taught us some Chinese while Judy went into the 

next hostel to get four other people who would be joining us. They 

took longer than we did since we were excited and practically ready 

the night before. Then we picked up one more guy from a hotel. 

Surprisingly, all five of our new friends are from Australia. I 

appreciate their accents and friendly personalities. The four from 

the hostel are actually two couples: Brett and Zoey, Adrian and 

Jasmine. Aaron is here because his girlfriend's grandparents live in 

China. I assume she is staying with them and he is just doing all 

kinds of sightseeing.

Judy Du our tour guide

Ash, zoey, jasmine, adrian, Aaron

Our first stop was the emperors' burial place for the Ming dynasty. 

There were lots of statues and the animals represent something 

different that a country needs. The lion is power. Transportation 

was the camels' meaning and peace was the elephants'. There were two 

Chinese mythical creatures that stood for protection at night not 

only the day. 
 
We only saw one tomb out of 13 or 16. At first we were going to see 

Ding Ling's but it was too busy so we saw the third emperor's. His 

name sounds like Judy. That is all I can remember. It was 

interesting to learn more about the history of China and the culture. 

By the end of that, we were starving. We did not get lunch until 

14:30. It was a superb meal though. It was at a pretty nice 

restaurant. Green beans, broccoli, eggplant, peanuts, and rice is 

what I ate. I felt completely stuffed. As a little bit of dessert 

there was also a little pastry and a sweet sauce to dip it in. It 

was a little bit like a donut. Then we were off for a 2 hour ride to 

the Great Wall. 
 
The moment we could see the wall, we were astonished. It is long and 

massive. Just like the pictures. Millions of steps are all along the 

wall. We stopped to use the restroom and to get a drink. Then we 

climbed up to a lovely area to watch the sunset. What a gorgeous 

view!! I think I took 30 or more pictures of just that sunset and 

area. The steps are old and have odd differences is sizes. I sat 

back and watched the beauty of the Earth. Our group took pictures of 

each other and had a nice time. I could not help but wish there were 

some other people here that I love so they could experience it with 

me. I felt a little alone as I walked back down for dinner. 
 

Amazing!!!!

At dinner, which was at someone's little home/shop, we gorged 

ourselves on dumplings, cauliflower, cucumbers, egg, and some other 

dishes. The people putting this together gave us each a flashlight. 

They were ones you can pump to recharge. They made loud noises 

though as one recharged them. Mr. Wong is a pretty cool guy. He only 

learned some English from the people who come here. I think his 

favorite word is beer. Which the Australians had a few of those. I 

am surprised at how Aaron could get them down. He had at least four. 

Anyway, he seemed to handle it well. Mr.Wong hiked with us up some 

more steps to the tower we would stay in. We all got a sleeping bag 

and two small pads. Ashley,Kim, and I found a good corner. We could 

see all of the stars. It was gorgeous. I felt like I had not seen 

them in years. Pollution, clouds, and the fact that I am usually 

inside and not paying attention to the sky at the school plays a 

role in that. It really was beautiful. We were camping on the Great 

Wall.