Thursday, April 06, 2006
Twenty-fourth Post Ever...
Well now...more about China??? Good, cause it's more interesting than my life at the moment, all we're doing is school....and eating, and sleeping, and more school..except I'm going for a sleepover tommorow..that's exciting! Anyways..more about China...Our Third Day!
Our third day in China was mostly spent at the great wall...we left the hotel at seven am (China time) and it took two hours in a car to get to where we wanted to go...and then once we got there, we had to hike for like five minutes up to the ticket gate, and then we bought tickets for the cable car, and for on the wall, and then we hiked another ten minutes up to where the cable car left. The cable car was between five and seven minutes long (by the way, we rode in the same cable car that President Clinton rode in, way back when in 1998) and then we got to this place where we had to walk up about twenty stairs and onto a platform. In the summer the platform had tables on it and they had a sort of mini resteraunt thingy going on, but we were there a couple days too early. Anyways, then you go up some MORE stairs into the actual wall. Then the amazing-ness started. The wall is like...two people's arms-length+ across, and about 4000 km long, I think.
We only walked a tiny little section of it, I think about seven turrets, but it was still breath-taking. We could see for miles!!! And there were turrets that you could see, all the way across the WHOLE mountian range! That is one great wall! And to think that people had to build this, without cranes, or computer planning or ANYTHING!!!
It's absolutely mind-boggling. And at the end, we had to climb up 405 stairs to reach the last turret that we could walk on, after that the wall just crumbled again(becuase you can't restore the whole thing!) Anyways, when we finally got back down to the platform, we took the trolley back down and walked past some street vendors selling all kinds of souveniers. We bought three different tee-shirts, one for me, one for Coli, and one for Dad, mom bought like eight sets of Chinese chop-sticks and dad bought a hat. And then came the two hour car ride home! It was really nice to sit after climbing at least 500 un-even, broken down, steep stairs. When we finally got back to the hotel, we decided to go to KFC for lunch. And then we walked down to the silk market, the one that was like a 25 minute walk away! (you can see how we were so tired after we got home, we walked ALOT!) Nicole bought a little gift for one of her friends, and we got our last name on a silk hanging-thing in calligraphy. I don't remember where we went for supper, probably McDonald's though. And yeah, we went back to the hotel again, watched a movie and went to bed.
So yeah, it was really cool seeing the Great Wall, and now my life's goal is to see the seven wonders of the world...not sure what they are exactly but like the Taj Mahal, and the Pyramids, and the Colesseum and stuff like that....
Anyways, I'll post the next day later, I'll see you guys!
~xoxoxoxo~
PS: if you want more pictures go here!
Amanda at 3:41 PM
2 Comments
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at 8:39 PM
Claire Colvin said... Amanda, I am REALLY enjoying reading your posts! It feels like being there -- well almost. You can tell that you had an amazing time. I hope I can see it for myself one day, but until then I'll just keep reading.
Great writing!
Great photos!
Great posting!
Great balls of fire!
~ Auntie Claire-
at 10:06 AM
Darcy and Sharon said...
Great posting Amanda! I'll stay tuned for the rest of the play-by-play.