7/19 The Great Wall Mutianyu and the Bird's Nest

Mr. Yung meets us at 9am in the parking lot at the hotel. I ask him if he speaks English and he says a little. I thought we could practice our Mandarin on him, but Nick’s IPOD dies, so we really don’t know what to even say. The ride to the Great Wall is pretty long, so Mr.Yung and I talk a little. I find out that he lives in Beijing and has a 27 year old daughter. He is happy for me to have a boy and a girl, and this will not be the last time I hear how lucky I am to have a daughter and a son. I also learn that he is in the army and goes to Japan and Viet Nam. He tells me how often, but I do not understand. I try to ask him what it was like during the Olympics and he shows me the sign in the driving lane. He says that if you are going to the Olympics, you drive in that lane. The cameras watch and the police will fine you 200 yuen. The kids want to know how the police know it was you and Mr. Yung shows us all the cameras. There are cameras on poles, bridges, and buildings. Later on, he tells me how the Olympians did not have to pay for food or tours. It sounds like China wanted everyone to love the country.

Mr. Yung tells us that the location we are heading is not going to be crowded. Most visitors choose another location. We chose this because we wanted to slide down the Great Wall. He helps us buy tickets and we ride the lift up. The picture on the right is the track for the slide down.

It is another hot and humid day, and not very clear. Nick and Ella do not want to climb the stairs, but I tell them we won't go too far. Once they are far enough ahead of me, I have them stop for pictures. We ran into some other Westerners and I offered to take a picture of them. They returned the favor. Nick did not want anymore pictures and the man told him to do this for his mom, and called him "lad." Later we find out that they are from San Francisco, but not much more.

Nicholas very rarely lost his sense of humor. His silliness kept us in good spirits.

At the slide entrance, the sign said 10 years old to ride alone, but they would not let Nick ride by himself. A worker came and rode with Nick, I rode with Ella. We sat on seats with rollers and headed down. Ella controlled the brake. When we get to the bottom, the kids want to go again, but we headed for the restaurant for a lunch break instead.

We head back to Beijing and I ask Mr. Yung to take us to the Olympic area. It begins to rain (as he predicted) but he drops us off in a parking lot and directs us to the Bird's Nest. It is an amazing sight, even in the rain.

Nick finds a huge leaf and tries to keep dry under it.