Mar 30, 2011 We woke up with the sun at about 6:25 am. Some people sprung out of their sleeping bags, which I dont understand. Meredith and I stayed in our warm little bag as long as we could, then reluctantly climbed out and started to pack up. We were supposed to be going on a 4-mile hike on the wall that morning, but with my state of being I knew it wasnt going to be possible. Molly and Jenna felt the same way so we decided to take the bus to the end point and avoid dying on the Great Wall. We climbed down the side and put our sleeping bags on the truck then headed to the bus. What we soon found out is that we would not be driving right away to the end point, but instead we were going to hang around the parking lot all morning. We got on the bus thinking it would be warmer, but pretty soon we figured out that wasnt the case. By then, the bus driver had locked us inside and walked away. Molly was freaking out, pounding on the windows and the doors trying to get his attention to let us out. It was pretty funny, Jenna and I were just cracking up. We were eventually let off and we got out into the sun and figured out that it was warmer there. We all pretty much fell asleep until some of the other girls who had also not hiked came up and started cracking up. We were all three still wearing our panda hats, all bundled up, and passed out on the pavement. Apparently we looked like dead pandas. At 9 am we all got on the bus and headed to the end point to meet up with the hikers. They climbed on the bus and Kelly (the tiniest person youve ever met, very in shape and not as hung over) told me that her legs were shaking from the hike. That kind of reassured us that we made the right decision, I really think I might have died. We all went to sleep for the 2-hour ride to Beijing and then we visited the Olympic stadium. It was really cool seeing it after watching it on TV. One thing I really started to notice about Beijing is how smoggy and gray things are. Its not even just the construction or the air, its the people too. They dress in very muted colors- the remnants of communism and the presence of socialism is still very evident in the society. After the stadium we had lunch at another local restaurant, which was another foodless meal for me. Then we headed to yet another market- the pearl market. This ended up being a great stop, I got 6 pairs of pearl earrings and 5 necklaces for about 30 US dollars. And some other stuff of course. McDs? Yes, now 5 times in China. Then we went to a Kung Fu show. It was SO COOL. It was a play called the story of Kung Fu, and the actors were more like acrobats. They were doing all these crazy stunts and lots of cool kung fu moves. We really enjoyed it. Then we ate dinner, which was McDs (6 times), and then headed to the train station. That night we would be sleeping on a sleeper train, which I was really excited about. The train station was nicer than many airports Ive been to, and we only had to wait about 20 minutes before we boarded. I had my huge backpack on my back, another backpack completely filled with souvenirs on my front and my purse, I looked like a total packrat. Meredith and I were in the same compartment, and when we got there we found out we were with a Chinese couple. They were pretty quiet and we didnt really talk that much, but it was fine. I thought that Meredith had told me they didnt speak English so I was just talking about them, then she put her head over the side of the top bunk and told me to shut up because they spoke English. Whoops. After that they turned off the lights so we read for a bit and then went to sleep. I slept really well, surprisingly, and when we woke up at 7:15 we were in Shanghai!
