It was rise and shine at 5AM again. Thanks to Emery, Mr. Icanonlysleepinfivehourblocks. On that note, I think I'm going to start keeping these entries short because I'm exhausted each day's activities.

Breakfast was at (surprise, surprise) Jinshan restaurant. We usually have a choice of a Chinese (zhongfan) breakfast or a Western (xifan) breakfast at these hotels. Emery and I usually go with the Chinese one because hey, while in China, do as the Chinese do right? It was usually cheaper and we thought it'd be better than the standard continental junk that we have all the time anyway. In this case, both breakfasts at this restaurant was horrendous. It was actually laughable; we were supposed to have congee but instead we were served this bland cornmeal "soup," hardened mantou, and a small dish of shredded, equally tasteless tofu. Half of our friends ordered the xifan breakfast and basically what the restaurant served was a dish of three pieces of toast (one for each person), a dishes of thinly sliced spam, plain cucumbers and tomatoes, an egg, and a plate for each condiment: butter, jam, and pepper and salt. It was like they picked out every ingredient that they figured was "Western," put it on a plate, and presto! Instant Western breakfast. Needless to say, none of us ate much that morning.

Jenny gave us a rough idea of what our climb would be like that day by her wavy arm gestures. We noticed some other guests at the Jinshan restaurant were carrying in walking sticks and ski poles and laughed internally, thinking that some were just overzealous. When we actually began trekking, a few of us were already wheezing after the twelfth step. It was also windier than the day before so occasionally we had to stop and brace ourselves.

The Jinshanling section of the Great Wall is 10.5 km long with about 67 towers. The initial section of the wall has been restored to original condition, but the condition of the wall deteriorates towards its natural state as it approaches the Simatai section. Emery told me the first time he climbed the Great Wall, he thought that going through 10 towers was a great feat, and this was on a less steep and repaired portion of the Wall. Today, we were going to pass through 30 towers.

It started off very much like the first day of climbing then it got steeper very quickly. Most of the steps were too narrow to climb facing forward but as we advanced, some were simply missing; sandstorms had eroded some away and left a layer of slippery pebbles.

Gaggles of weathered peasant women loitered around most of the towers with backpacks of souvenirs, eager to help a foreigner in need. They held on to our hands and helped pull us through the steepest parts of the Wall, leading us through dirtroad shortcuts whenever it was possible. They made small talk and flattered us to death for "xiao kuai" and when we refused to buy or tip, we were no longer "piao liang." After two hours of slipping and tripping on the Wall, our throats were dry, our skin was cracking, and our legs felt like rubber so we gave in and let them rip us off.

I saved myself from walking the rest of the Wall by strapping myself in and going down this fun zipline called the Flying Fox. It looked very intimidating at first since the harness looked like a rock climbing one. I thought I'd just roll upside down and fall out of it and splash down, down below into the Mandarin Duck Lake. But another group member kindly volunteered to do it at the same time so I agreed to go along with it. The Flying Fox turned out to be not scary at all and actually relaxing, in spite of my fear of heights. It may have lasted 3 seconds to land on the ground but it felt like a whole minute. The water was sparkling and the huge mounds of earth along the Wall almost fooled me into thinking I was flying down Tiger Leaping Gorge.

We took a boat to reach the road where the rest of the group was waiting to have lunch at another local restaurant (forgot the name). Most everyone ordered dumplings. Emery ordered donkey meat--just to try it--and I ordered yangzhou fried rice and a kele/cola. After lunch, we rode 3 hours back to King Joy's Hotel in Beijing, singing songs and conducting therapy sessions and other silly stuff just to pass time.

Emery and I were assigned a better room when we got back. It was on the 3rd floor. It had a bigger bed, better lights, a mounted TV, glass shower doors, and hotter water (or was I imagining things?). Maybe it was just the 6th floor that was so crappy.

After chilling out in our room for a bit, we took a cab to the Wang Fu Jing Shopping Plaza and went around the mall there. Their food court--or Food Forum--was absolutely amazing. They have a good number of mid-range Japanese restaurants, a high-end Sichuan and Thai restaurant, several yogurt joints, and a bakery. Emery and I went to our first teahouse hangout in Chamate and ordered ourselves some steamed broccoli in creamy crab sauce and fried squid, hot almond milk tea, and red bean shaved ice. Oh my god. My stomach is growling again as I recollect all this. It was the first quality meal we had since in China.



We only had enough time to eat that night and our legs were starting to give out from this morning's exercise so we went back to the hotel and passed out.

Shared Expenses
Jinshan hotel breakfast 10Y each
1st two "helpers" on the Wall 100Y each
2nd two 50Y and 100Y
two water bottles at 5Y each
Flying Fox 40Y
lunch at nondescript restaurant 93Y
cab fare to Wang Fu Jing 40Y
cab fare back 15Y
Bread Talk bakery 50Y
dinner at Chamate 108Y
nail clipper from Ole supermarket 35Y

total = 761Y approx. $112US