track back blog

2nd July, 2004
I woke up with sore shoulders and thighs. It was the long walk in the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace yesterday. It was rainning and thundering unusually hard in Beijing. SInce we went to the anciet emperor's places and these grounds were made of quartzite, so everywhere we walked through was slippery. My friend said we had to use extra strength to walk so our thighs were sore today. lol

i carried the sun cream all the time with me,maybe to feel secure lol but actually i dont use it again after the first apply in morning.

The tour guide took us to a tea shop, my cousin bought 200g of 2 kinds. I didnt intend to buy any because i dont usually make tea at home.But i still taunt the lady by bargaining. i wanted to see how much she could lower the price. It's fun.
she said "customers must buy 100g at least."
I said "i only want to buy 50g."
she said "the tea can last for years."
I said "HK people dont have time to make tea."
then she allowed me to buy 50g at $100.
Then i said "it should be $90, 100g is at $180 only."
she said "i will give you a handful more like this."
i said, "could u give me a handful more."
she did.
i said, "could u give one handful more for the last time, please."
and she did. So at last i bought 80g at $100. hehe

This is one of the fun things u can do in China. I would have been kicked out of the shop if i was in other countries being like this. :D

Then we was taken to the Jade shop. There were full of different tourists.The jades and stone chops are at least twice as expensive than other shops (ithink). It must be a tour-guide-comission-making-shop.ie, the tour guide will get commission from their tourists if they buy anything from these shops.So bored were we 3 of us that we went back to the couch and took a nap.

After the lunch, we were finally taken to the great wall!It took one and half an hour drive to get there. we got in through the newest re-contructed gateway.Althought its said to be the newest, the stairs were rugged.One step is about one cereal box high.The steps near 2 sides of the walls were curved down, can imagine how many people have walked on. It was harder than we expected before coz the steps were higher and stepper, the roads are more slippery and the sun was brighter than we sawthe shoes by hands. Some carrying their babies in posters.Some tourists was walking on bare feet, holding . Some holding umbrellas...etc. the tour guide didnt arrange enough time for us to walk,we went up for an hour and went down. If i went to beijing again some day, i would walk the great wall for at least 3 hours. The views was so beautiful up on the mountains: fresh air, blue sky,360degree green mountains,the great wall, the anciet archtecture and the feeling. People who have learned about history must have a thrilling feeling. Thousands of wars happened on this piece of land since 1000 years ago, lots of gores, dead bodies and changing of kings happned.It was a forbbided land for normal people but now we were walking on this piece of complicated land.

Another tourist said hello to me.its such a warm feeling.We were both foreigners on this land.