A few hours into the ride, and I was feeling better. Atleast, my stomach was. With the news of being on a train for 10 hours longer than I had originally been told, I wasn’t impressed. But how bad could it be? After fearing blood clots in the leg Amanda and David set off to find the “Restaurant car” on the train. They were gone only a short while.

“Well?” I asked “Should we go eat?” They looked at each other. “How about we wait. Save that for a later time.”

One hour. Two hours. Three hours. Each minute felt like an hour in itself. No where to stretch, no where to move. The day slowly turned into our first night. I was told I was the “Lucky” one. Having the “Only pillow” on board. I quickly reminded my fellow passengers that I was scoffed at for even wanting to bring such pillow! Also? I happened to be lucky because I was by the “Window” at least I could “lean on it.” Somehow, I then became the designated pillow. At one point Amanda leaned on me, and David on her. Talk about a heavy load! At another point I had a pile of legs on me while David attempted to stretch out and sleep. To little avail.

It was a long night, made longer by the fact that someone had turned the A/C off. At first we assumed that we were at a stop – they turned the A/C off when they stopped, but soon it became obvious. We were moving, but the air was not. The train grew eerily quiet. Now, it wasn’t that the A/C actually made the air cool, it simple made it breathable. But now that it was off, all that was left was hot, sticky, and stale air. With no promise of it ever coming back on!

The air was SO thick when the AC was turned off it was difficult to breath. Even at night the temperatures outside were at least 70! David took to the job of “Fanning.” It wasn’t much. But we were grateful for whatever “breeze” we could get.

Night turned to day, and still, there was no air. The train was absolutely silent. As if no one dared to speak, except the man who drove his “Food cart” up and down the crowed rows. Screaming something to the effect of “Allllaaaaeaeaeaaaaaaa” while collecting money and slopping some slop into styrofoam containers. We were hungry. But not THAT hungry. At least, not yet.

Then, a trickle of water. Turned into what seemed to be a flash flood on the train.

In china, it is an accepted fact that children don’t wear diapers. Their clothing is designed to accommodate this, meaning there are portions of the clothing missing, where diapers are absent. Because of this, the kids are free to go whenever they feel the need. And are often washed off in sinks. The sink, happened to be two seats up from us, and at one point during the hot night, a flood of brown muddy water started coming towards us. Because of the heat, people were desperate to stay cool – they were using the sinks so often that they plugged up, and water started coming over the dirty basins. Fearing the worse we attempted to get our bags off the floor. But there was no room to put them anywhere else, and eventually, we had to give up. And pray for the best.

The English /Chinese speaking man, who quickly became our friend, and was often referred to as our “Tour guide” (why we would take a tour on that train was lost on us!) informed us that someone had complained about being “Cold” and so they turned the A/C off. We offered our blanket, telling them to please turn the A/C on or we would surely die. Others felt the same way. With hours still to go, our own water supply quickly vanished, and the trains supply emptied quicker too, now that the A/C was off.

“How about we go to the restaurant.” I suggested to Amanda, hoping to keep her mind of the “Lack of water, and therefore we will all die” thoughts. She burst into tears. “THERE IS NO RESTAURANT ON HERE!” she sobbed. “WHAT!” I exclaimed. “What about the one you saw?” She sobbed some more. “There was only a table. WITH people ON it. And a window. Where the man makes that slop.” She confessed. A hole for a kitchen. A hole for a bathroom. Now. I was worried.

Once the water ran out, we came up with a plan. At most of the stops, there were carts, venders selling water and other random items. Before arriving at the stop however, we came up with a plan. We needed a strategy for no one to get left behind, the train left minutes after arriving, so it was a risk. But one Amanda was willing to take. Thankfully she made it off and back on, with some water, in the amount of time she was given.

6 long, hot, exhausting, and somewhat terrifying hours passed before they finally turned the A/C back on, and once again there was air that was somewhat breathable. Once again there was a subtle chatter. Even the babies started to cry again. Suddenly things didn’t seem so bad, at least we had air!

After sitting for over 12 hours, I suggested a walk. We decided that since we were hungry enough (and overly tired of the food they served: Pickled watermelon rinds, spicy tofu, and rice) we took our “Cup of noodles” to find some hot water. This proved to be a difficult task.

There were people laying in the aisles. Sitting on buckets. And some were even standing.

We later found out that what they had bought was considered a “Standing ticket” which meant that they sat wherever they could – in our seats when we weren’t there, on buckets they had brought, on laps, or even the floor – the muddy mess of a flood. At that point, we became thankful for our seats. No matter how hard and stiff they were. We had a seat. And for that moment, it was something. It was more than what some had.

The noodles we soon found out were nothing like we were used to. They were spicy. So spicy our noses burned. Cheap noodles, spices, and peppers were the main ingredients. And oil. Spicy, nasty oil.

We tripped over people, tried not to step on them, and made it back to our seats – where someone was sitting. It was then we realized why earlier people had gotten mad at us for being in THEIR seats! Seats were precious, and we felt almost privileged to have one. But they were not something to be taken lightly.

Even in the midst of everything, we were grateful for what we had. The small things, like a seat. And air!

But we still had over ½ our journey to finish.

It was a long ride. One we were happy to get off. When asked our thoughts at the end, David, Amanda and I all agreed it was probably one of the most haggard rides we had been on. Mom said she would do it again, and dad commented on the rolling green hills that he had seen. We exchanged a look. What hills? What green? What beautiful scenery? What would make THAT worth doing again?

Mom continued to say that she was glad we had done the ride. For most Chinese people, what we did was something that would be considered “Extravagant.” Most of them purchased the “Cheaper” tickets. The standing tickets. By the time we got off, there were people standing by our seats, leaning on them. There was barely room to stand up if we wanted, and when one of the people sitting across from us would get up – the ones sitting beside them would either lay down for a minute, or their seat was quickly snatched by a standing person. Sometimes the sitting passenger would allow this tired person to stay and other times they would poke them. We were glad to have gotten a seat (and somewhat scared to leave them!) Although at the time, we were just thankful to made it to our destination. Alive.

And thankful, for the small things that we take advantage of, everyday. Things that are considered “Normal” are not so normal in some places. And we were thankful to be given the opportunity, to not only take the trip (no matter how we took it!) and come out alive, and healthy.

Watch out China! Here we come!

After flying for almost twelve hours, spending a sleepless night in a Chinese airport, and finally making a connecting flight to Shanghi, Mom, Dad and I arrived at our destination.

I sighed relief. Finally. We were meeting with David and Amanda and together we would all be able to navigate our way, peacefully through China. After a brief meeting over water, and muffins, David and Amanda took us back to where they had been staying. Telling stories along the way. They had been in Shanghi for a few days already. They had mastered the streets of China, found good food – ice cream even! And had the next leg of our trip all worked out.

Or so we thought.

After a brief lunch, a shower, and a quick change of clothes we were off on our next adventure. Unaware that this was really, just the tip of the iceberg. The very start. If even! We attempted to purchase tickets – to no avail. It took six trips across a street, to an ATM, a few phone calls and a bunch of frustration to FINALLY get the money we needed. By this time we were running late, and in order to catch the subway to the train station we would need to hustle. And fast!

Down the streets we tried to run. Running isn’t something that comes easily when you have 6 bags and everything else that had been accumulated along the way. We arrived, finally, at the train station, and assuming it would be a nice relaxing train ride – we didn’t stress too much. We purchased a few “Cup of noodles” Chinese version for funnies – having been told that there was a “Restaurant cart” on the train, I wasn’t worried too much about what we would eat. Or drink. I was looking forward to a nice train ride through the country side of China. Catching up on lost times with Amanda, and maybe even getting some sleep. I patted my pillow. I was the only one who thought it would be a good idea to bring a pillow.

We saw the number of the train on the board, and suddenly, there were flocks of people pushing to get in line. We weren’t too concerned, we still had over an hour, but the sudden rush of people inspired us to get in line too! Just in case. As we made our way through the barricade and ‘security’ the people started rushing. Running even. Down the stairs to the platform. Even though it was the middle of the day, it seemed dark. We ran with the crowd fearing that we would somehow miss the train that wasn’t scheduled to depart for another 30 minutes. We ran to one car – wrong one. Down the platform we ran. Faster and faster until finally we reached the right car.

But when we tried to get on we were surrounded by a mob. All yelling something and shoving. HARD! We were worried about getting separated, and worried about getting on the train. There seemed to be no order, you push – you shove – you get on. We handed our tickets and tried to step through the narrow doors but every time we tried we would get shoved to the side by some loud person speaking Chinese; who was obviously in a hurry!

Finally, dad blocked the way. Shoving his bag against the hurried crowd and ordering us to “GO!” We all froze. “GO!” he yelled again. We shuffled on and soon were squeezed in between the narrow doors, and other people. It was worse than rush hour on a subway. People didn’t seem to understand the concept of “Haste makes waste” when shoving to get on!

We hurried down the rows. My first thought when we stepped on the train was a feeling of relief; glad that we had made it, and glad that this wasn’t the car we were going to be traveling on. A dark, dingy car, with low lighting, and a smell that lingered. We made our way down the cars, but each looked the same. People scattered here and there. Bags being tossed. Words being yelled. Eventually we made it to our seats – which is when the truth was discovered – we were in a car that was exactly the same as the one we had first gotten on. Dark, dingy, tight fitting, and smelly.

Our “seats” had someone sitting in them too, and after a squabble over “THAT’S OUR SEAT!” and a slight moment of panic, the man who would be sitting across from us for the next 36 hours explained to the people in their language that those were our seats. They got out. We sat down. In what we assumed to be, our seats.

No sooner had the train started off with a lunge and a lout whistle did I start to feel sick. My stomach felt like it had lurched off with the train. I felt light headed, and queasy. “Wheres the bathroom?” I asked, fearing the worse. Amanda and I went off in search. A few rows down there was a door – that opened…to a room with a hole in the ground. The smell that lingered through out the train was magnified a hundred times, and I felt even more ill then that I had before. There was a hole in the ground, and a tiny lever on the wall that when pulled opened the “Hatch” to the tracks. Because of the lurching of the train, and the size of the hole, there was “evidence” that hadn’t made it to the tracks. I turned around. Suddenly sitting in my seat didn’t sound so bad.

“26 hours” I muttered to myself. “One night. One day. And a little more.” I grabbed my pillow, and leaned against the window, drifting off to sleep, hoping to pass some time. Suddenly, I was awaken! Someone was jabbing their finger in me! I opened my eyes and looked around. Mom and dad stood in the row. Amanda glared angrily from her seat across the row and a Chinese woman was jabbing my neck yelling something in Chinese; angrily! I grabbed my pillow. “NO YOU CANT HAVE IT.” I yelled back. Amanda yelled something too. Soon there was yelling from every side. Turns out, I was in her seat. My seat was with David and Amanda and instead of taking that seat, she opt to waking me up, rudely, to kick me out.

I was mad. Amanda was mad. Everyone was mad. I shuffled seats, muttered something else and went back to sleep. What seemed like hours later, I woke again. Only minutes had passed. I looked around, taking in my surroundings for the first time since arriving on the train.

Knee to knee I sat. Staring directly into the face of three Chinese men. Who sat shoulder to shoulder across from us. A tiny table between us. Amanda and David were shoulder to shoulder with me. There was no room to stretch. No room to move. No room to turn without hitting someone either beside or across from you.

I turned, carefully to see mom and dad in the same situation.

Then I turned to Amanda. “25 hours?” I asked. She smiled, ever so cautiously.

{To be continued}

This is a continuation of ”Later that Night”

Possibly one of the most fascinating things about China in the summertime are the powerful, frequent lightning storms.

Now, of course, this is only fascinating if, lightning is your thing. For Christina and I, however, lightning is anything but. Growing up in Ketchikan Alaska, we’ve seen our share of powerful storms. They are so commonplace here that we hardly notice them anymore. Near hurricane type winds tear through Ketchikan every year, blowing branches off trees, and sending waves crashing into the sides of the roads. But none of this ever phases us much, its something we are used to. Lightning however, that is a different matter….

We’ve never really seen it up close and personal. Lightning, just doesn’t happen in Ketchikan -despite all off the storms that we see.

The only experience that Christina and I have had with lightning, is the occasional spotting of streaks of it in the distance when we are on a vacation to the lower 48. That and hearing the stories about lightning.

You never hear stories about lightning that just hit a place and then left without incident. No, the lightning stories that you hear about are always the tragic and scary tales. Every story involves someone getting hit or killed. And that, is one reason that we are afraid.

In China we had our share of lightning storms.

One night in Beijing while we were sleeping, tucked safely into our hostel rooms, a storm hit. *CRASH!*

We all heard it. Mom, Dad, and David were unfazed. Mom, because she slept through it, Dad because, he’d heard thunder before. And David, because he was used to lightning -they have lightning in England. Christina and I however, were SCARED!

The next day as we all talked about our nights, I asked Christina if she had heard the storm.

”YES” she said. ”I woke up to the sound of a CRASH and thought ‘I’ll take a picture of this storm’ so I looked out the window and as soon as I pulled the curtain there was another louder CRASH and everything lit up all I could see was white, so I freaked out and ran back to bed and grabbed the remote control and turned the AC on!!”

”WHY did you do that??” I asked ”You’re supposed to unplug everything in a storm, turn everything off not on”

”Well, it was hot so…I turned it on, but then I decided that the electricity might come through the AC so i threw the remote across the floor so it wouldn’t electrocute me!”

“NOT TO DO THAT!” I said, ”You lost the remote so you couldn’t even turn it off then? Let me tell you what I did, the smart thing, I woke up to the CRASH but I turned everything off, unplugged everything, and then hid under the blanket. That’s what you’re supposed to do in a lightning storm!”

Of course, not five minutes after my frantic adventure to unplug all things did the power go out, so it didn’t make a difference anyways, still I think I can be proud of doing the right thing, as I wasn’t electrocuted that night, and considered myself very lucky to have escaped without harm.

The people in China are unfazed by these storms. When we were outside and caught in one, we saw people just pulling out their umbrellas and walking along like there was no problem. Christina and I pulled ours out too, but carefully held onto it, afraid to hold it too tight, ”Just in case the lightning hits it” we thought, as though holding it loosely might help us! We also tried desperately to avoid stepping in puddles, howbeit without much success.

This all may sound rather superstitious, but we like to think that there are logical reasons for the things we do. Stepping in a puddle might cause the water to act as a conductor for the electricity and if the water is hit, we know that anyone standing in that water is going down! And we don’t want that!

Everything is more scary in a lightning storm, we came to realize. That’s probably why the scary movies always use lightning during the scenes with the villains, you can make a simple slightly scary monster, look absolutely terrifying by adding in a few streaks of lightning and a CRASH!!! You know those scenes where something scary is happening then there is a CRASH and the evil villain steps out? David says this is a technique that film makers use to create a scary mood -it really works too!

Earlier that stormy night, when we were headed back to our hostel, terrified because we were caught in the storm, we heard a crash. Lightning hit somewhere very close and a figure stepped out of the shadows. EEEEEEEE! We jumped! It was just a lady with an umbrella but somehow the crash combined with a figure emerging from the dark alley had terrified us.

There are probably two types of people in the world; those who don’t mind lightning, and those who are terrified of it. Thanks to the insane lightning storms of summertime China, the girls remain firmly in the scared camp, probably hiding there under a blanket,and hopefully with all of the electric appliances unplugged.

And until I start hearing happy stories, where lightning strikes and it’s actually a good thing, that’s where I am going to stay.

Disclaimer: We were much to scared to take pictures of the lightning storms, despite Christina’s brave attempt to snap a picture out of the window one night, so these pictures are some other people’s shots of lightning storms in Beijing. No credit of ours!

All week we had tried our very hardest to get to the Great Wall.

We had planned, and talked and prepared -all without success. Everyday there had been a new obstacle that prevented us from going. Now the last day was arriving, and some of us even started to contemplate not going!

There were so many options to consider; which route do we take? So many sections of the wall; which one do we go to? So many tours…should we take one? If so, which one? We talked to lots of people, did lots of research, looked high and low and finally, FINALLY decided on a section of the wall to visit. David and Dad even found a bus that took us straight to the Great Wall! We were happy about that, if we were to take a cab it would have been expensive and worse -we would have to be in two separate cabs, which we hadn’t really had good luck with.

On the day before our last day we had woken up early. 5am early. We rushed out of the hostel fast -too fast perhaps. None of us were really “with it.” We somehow managed to catch the subway and get off at the right stops though. And armed with Chinese directions on how to get where we needed to go we were confident. The bus we needed, bus 867, turned out to be a tricky little bus to catch! It only left once a day, at 8am sharp. As sharp as it gets in China.

We arrived in the general area of the bus station but as the time got closer and closer to the bus departure time – we realized we still had no idea where to go. We flagged a cab down – they looked at our directions and pointed off in the distance mumbling something in Chinese, and then they drove away. Apparently, we were so close – that it wasn’t worth their time to take us there! And so they drove off. Leaving us clueless. Frantically, we started walking faster and faster…

“Lady? Sir? Great Wall?”

Amanda and I whirled around. Someone speaking English? Surely she could help us! We were eager to accept any help and immediately shoved our paper at her asking for directions. We had approx ten minutes to find the bus stop, and board the bus. She looked at the paper. And shook her head. “No bus. I Take you!!!” It was then we realized our mistake. She was a tour guide for the Great Wall, and instead of helping… she followed us for a good twenty minutes repeating herself. “No bus. I take. Sir. Lady. I take. Great wall. I take. No bus.” We were annoyed, and frustrated. Asking any random person we could, showing our Chinese paper at them, but to no avail.

Soon it was 8’o’clock. We stood there watching different buses drive by. Clearly we were in the right area. We were close. But not close enough. By now we realized that we had missed our bus, and were no closer to the Great Wall than we had been days ago, despite all our efforts and even getting up early! We decided to find the bus stop anyways though, and give it one final attempt the following day.

After finding a few helpful people we found our way to a bus parking lot. A bus station it was called. It was hidden way down the street, and away from the main bus station in a place that we hadn’t thought to look before. Finally I spotted the number of the bus we needed, in tiny numbers in the far corner of a bigger sign. Success. Or was it?

The next morning we were up early again.

Just as we had the past few days. Thanks to our ordeal the previous day with the Summer Palace and being caught in the rain, none of us were feeling that well. Plus we were tired from having been up so early the previous days and going until late at night, with lots of incidents in between. We were all exhausted. None of us were really “Feeling” like going to the Great Wall. None of us that is, except Dad. He really REALLY wanted to see the wall, while the rest of us would have been happy to sleep the day away. But none the less, we reluctantly rolled out of bed, and left the hostel before 6am. The skies were heavy grey, and rain was threatening.

This time however, we knew where we were going. We must have appeared confident enough because no tour guides harassed us that morning. Or maybe it was too early for them? We made it to the bus stop, the correct one this time, with ten minutes to spare.

The bus arrived, we all piled on and we were off.

We didn’t have tickets, but assumed that we could buy them on the bus. At least we hoped we could! When the ticket lady approached us asking for tickets we told her “Great Wall.” She nodded and ripped us out a STACK of tickets. This was slightly worrisome to us, and we really had no idea if we were supposed to get off somewhere along the way and change buses, or what we were to do with our pile of tickets. But we decided to wait and see what would happen. On the ride we attempted to eat the breakfast we had brought with us. It consisted of horrible yogurt and cheerios. This of course, did not work well on a bus and it soon looked like what would happen if you had a bus load of three year olds – cheerios scattered everywhere, yogurt smeared on us. And to make matters worse, David started to feel sick.

The bus traveled for hours. All the way from Beijing to Mutianyu. It made a few stops along the way, almost as if it were a city bus we were riding, and finally it pulled into a big parking lot that looked slightly similar to the one where we had boarded. We assumed that was our stop? Or was it? There was no Great Wall in sight. “WHERE IS THIS WALL??” Someone muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. But no one answered. Nobody except David who stood up. “I’m getting off!” He didn’t look so well, in fact he looked ready to bolt. I looked around. It didn’t appear that there there was a rest stop, OR a wall in sight. I pictured David getting off, and us all getting separated. But before anyone could make a move, the bus lurched and off we went. Maybe they were changing drivers? Or not. We weren’t sure. But we were moving again. Towards the wall? Or not. No one was sure. But there wasnt much else we could do except ride it out.

After another 30 minutes or so, of long windy roads in a big bus that whipped the corners as fast as possible, we arrived at what appeared to be our destination. Signs indicated that we were at the “Great Wall” and arrows pointed in all different directions. In total the trip had taken about two and a half hours. Yay!! We were relieved!

We got off, scoped out the area, familiarized ourselves, and set off to find what we had came for: The Great Wall.

The only problem was… there were five people: Dad, Mom, David, Amanda and I – and we all had very different ideas of what this wall was, and HOW we were going to get up there!

Amanda, David and I had been told that there was a “Million stair hike” to the top of the wall, and none of us felt like that. But dad wanted to see the wall, and he was going to do whatever it took to see that wall. Others didn’t feel quite the same. Mom tried to reason among us.

We headed off the get tickets. Tickets for what exactly, we weren’t sure. Tickets in general. We stood at the counter, handed some money and were told to go “That way.” But that didn’t solve anything. We didn’t feel like hiking a million and one stairs. Someone had told us to take a ride to the top. And while Amanda, David and I tried to find this “Ride” Dad began to wonder and worry that we would NEVER see the wall itself. SO close, yet SO far.

Dad had somehow assumed that once you went through the “Gates” with the tickets he had purchased that we would be “At the wall” he could see it, touch it, hug it – whatever it was he had so desperately wanted to do with this wall. Dad didn’t understand why we weren’t on-board. “It’s RIGHT there” he kept saying. But we would have none of it, instead were looking for the “Ride.”

Mom and Dad took off up the hill. A hill which was so steep you almost had to walk up it sideways. It was raining and the hill was slippery. Venders lined both sides of the streets, desperately trying to sell us their trinkets and “I climbed to Great Wall” t-shirts. Amanda, David and I continued to slosh through the rain with our rain coats and umbrellas, looking and looking for the ticket booth for the “Ride” that we had been told of. Thanks to a few English speaking tourist who had been there before, we were finally able to find out that we weren’t, in fact, crazy. There was indeed a ride to the wall. The Great Wall was located at the very top of the mountain. There were, in fact, many different ways to get to the top – you could hike, which was a very treacherous miles long hike up the side of a mountain with many MANY many stairs. You could also take the “Ski lift” or the gondola. The tourists that we talked to recommended taking the gondola with the roof, considering it was a very wet rainy afternoon.

I ran back up the hill (as much as one can run up a hill like that!) to tell Mom and Dad about our discovery of the ride, and to get the money needed. I found them, then headed back down to buy the tickets. Then back up again to reconfirm our decision. All the while dad was wondering why we weren’t going through to see the wall, and why we were forking out money to take a wild ride through the trees.

I went back down the hill yet again to find David and Amanda -who were suppose to be getting tickets, then a bite for David to eat. But when I found them, they were in line for pancakes. Having been up and down the hill four times already, and soaking wet, I was not impressed.

I headed back up the hill for the last time, and informed Mom and Dad – who were very wet by this time – that Amanda and David were buying pancakes. Envisioning an hour wait while they dined on pancakes in a diner – Dad took off through the gates. A few minutes later, and David and Amanda found their way to the top of the hill.

At that point – no one was impressed. We were all soaked through, David was still feeling sick, Amanda was very worried about him, I was tired, and Dad was frustrated that we weren’t coming through to see the wall that was “Just around the corner” – or so he thought.

Eventually Amanda and David went off down the hill, I was determined to NOT WALK UP THAT HILL AGAIN, so I reasoned that we should just go see the wall, and get it done with. After all we were on a time limit, had come that far, paid that much – we might as well just get it over with.

Mom and I joined Dad on the other side of the gate where we discovered that the wall was NOT in fact “Just around the corner” but was, as we had feared, up the mountain -a gazillion and one stairs, OR, you could take a ride up the gondola, and get dumped out on-top the wall.

The wall was located WAY up on the top of the mountain. The wall itself, was probably only about 15 feet tall, but it stretched on FOREVER. And EVER. And EVER. It was then we were thankful for the ride up, and decided it would be worth it to get a ride down too!

It only took about 15 minutes before we, ok, I, was starting to feel guilty about going without David & Amanda. Mom hadn’t wanted to go to begin with and Dad, well, he was just happy to have finally SEEN the wall, and was ready to go back down whenever. So back we headed. We couldnt get down fast enough it seemed!

We were finally at the bottom of the wall, where we found a soggy Amanda and David. Everyone hugged, talked and finally, for the first time that day – communicated. We decided that communication was in fact, a good thing. And we purchased three more tickets – and this time, I took David and Amanda back up to see this “Great Wall.”

The wall that seemed to go ON and ON for EVER. It was wet and rainy, and somewhat foggy, but even in the fog – there was a unique beauty to it. The wall itself wasn’t that pretty, but standing that HIGH up in the mountains, looking down on all the green trees, it was probably one of the most beautiful places we had been in China.

Some people write their names on the wall, Amanda jumped up onto the edge of it, and got her picture taken – just so no one would be mistaken – she WAS there. ON the wall.

It was so foggy that at some points along the wall it seemed like you would just walk right off the edge!

I’m not sure there was an end to the wall.

Cheese!

Three wet ducks! We convinced someone to get our picture – just to document that we were all there -at the same time too

Three hours after arriving, we hopped back on the same bus that had taken us there. We may not have conquered the world, but we conquered the Great Wall – and that was good enough for us!

When we got back to the bus station in Beijing, in was hot and all sunshine and blue skies! A real contrast to the soaking wet rain that had been at the wall. I think we were probably the proudest when we made it back to where we had started at the end of our journey!! And finally, we could mark the “Great wall” off our list of things to see.

And considering what it had taken to get there, well, it just added to the experience. It had taken us five days to reach the wall! But finally, we had made it.

After arriving back from our scare at the Summer Palace, we changed clothes, showered and took a brief nap to recover from our adventure. A few hours later, stomachs rumbling, and the sun shining, we decided once again to give China the benefit of the doubt, and head out to get some dinner. After all – rain storms in China didn’t happen twice in one day. So out we went.

We headed down the street to a little authentic Chinese joint, where we ordered with the phrase book, and attempted to enjoy one of our last meals in China. We discussed our plans for after dinner. Right down the street was a store called “Wu-Mart” -which was the Chinese version of Walmart. We needed to get a suitcase, preferably one with wheels, and the other day we had seen one that looked to be good, and didn’t cost too much! Plus we needed a few other random items. We paid our bill, and headed for the door.

We peered out the door of the restaurant. It was, raining. Nice. We now had to make a decision: We could either walk back to the hostel now, and maybe escape most of the rain, or we could go to Wu-Mart, do our shopping and take a cab home. We opted for the second choice, we raced through the parking lot, across a street and into the store. We checked out luggage, picked up a few random items, browsed the cereal aisle, tipped over a laundry soap display, and debated over a few toothbrushes.

Suddenly – Dad wasn’t feeling good. He needed a bathroom. But where was it? Obviously everything was in Chinese, and there weren’t signs with arrows pointing the way. We asked a worker. “Bathroom?” She looked hopeless, but grabbed a random customer with a younger kid. The Chinese tend to teach their kids English as well as Chinese, so this was our best bet. “BATHROOM?” I asked the kid. “What?” He looked confused. I tried to think of a hand signal for bathroom. But none were fitting. I finally gave up and took off running through the store, most likely giving the impression that I was the one who needed a bathroom! I headed down a moving sidewalk escalator, a Wu Mart employee came running up to the edge, and peering down at me, he began yelling loudly in Chinese. He seemed very VERY angry about something, I think he was upset that I was standing on the wrong side of the escalator or something like that, but I couldn’t be sure. Finally I stepped off. I found a bathroom, found Dad, and gave him directions to get there – forgetting all about the “No toilet paper in bathrooms” standard that China has.

About ten minutes later, we ran into Mom – who looked frantic. She said that Dad had returned, having no paper, and needed some. Pronto. Unfortunately the Wu-Mart store had three levels, and we were all on a separate level. I rushed off to find David and Amanda – we needed to enlist in the help of David for this task, and we also needed to check out the groceries and get back to the hostel soon, considering Dad wasn’t feeling good now. David and Amanda headed off to the bathroom and dealt with the same treatment as I did on the escalator. Apparently the man was just as angry at them as he had been at me!

FINALLY though we had everyone and everything. We loaded our bags up, and headed for the door – and to our dismay it was now POURING rain. In fact, they were piling sand bags up in front of the door, and pushing water back out of the entrance! ”Oh well” we thought – we were planning to get a taxi anyways, so it shouldn’t be too big of a deal.

“Alright, heres the deal” I proposed an idea….

“I will take Mom and Dad out and get them in a taxi.” The idea was so that we all didn’t have to get wet. Since the taxis would only allow four people in at a time, we would put Mom and Dad in one, show the driver a picture of where we wanted to go, then David, Amanda and I would catch the next cab. It sounded simple enough.

But it was anything but simple. I grabbed the camera, that had the picture of the sign where we needed to go, and rushed out into the rain. I bolted from the doors, and across the parking lot, which is where I discovered I was standing in water that went over my ankles. I sloshed through, jumping and leaping trying to make it to the road. The water was an odd combination of warm, and cold. A brown muddy color. I finally reached the road, rain drops, falling HEAVY. I waved at a cab, who sped by. I waved another – he too sped past. I waved down atleast five cabs, and none of the stopped. Desperate, I ran to one that was dropped someone else off, I swung the door open and the man rudely waved me off, yelling something. I slammed the door and he sped off.

I ran to the next cab, who did the same thing, only this time, he picked up two other people and then drove away. By this time I was MAD. I looked behind me and saw Mom and Dad making their way through the swimming pool of a parking lot. I ran back to the store front. SOAKED. I burst in. David and Amanda stood looking on, while everyone else in the store stared and laughed. Someone tried to sell me an umbrella. Couldn’t they see I was already wet??

“NO ONE WILL STOP! THE CABS WILL NOT STOP!!!”

I yelled. This of course worked Amanda up, and she ran outside to join me in the rain for a shower. She chased a few cabs down herself before realizing the hard truth – the cabs were not going to stop for us.

By this time Dad had already grabbed the suitcase and headed off down the road. David attempted to buy some umbrellas and Mom took off after Dad.

We took off after them a few minutes later, only to discover one of the umbrellas – was broken! It wouldn’t stay open. I wedged it open, finally getting it to stay, but as we crossed a street, I spotted an angry looking Chinese man. He started shaking his fist while walking towards us. As we approached him, and he us, he took a swing at my umbrella muttering something to us as my umbrella collapsed. I turned around and thanked him, sarcastically while marching off, with the broken umbrella in tote.

About half way back, it got worse. With rain pelting down, suddenly there was a loud crash, and lightening started to streak across the sky. With three lightening rods ontop of our umbrellas we picked up the pace. Screaming and jumping at every bang. We had never heard thunder quite that loud before! Just to give you an idea on how loud it was, a few nights prior – in a thunder storm, there were car alarms going off. It wasn’t the little rolls of thunder we occasionally hear here in Ketchikan. These were loud BANGS! Followed by giant streaks of light going across the sky. It probably would have been something worth seeing if we weren’t stuck outside trying frantically to get back!

Just as we rounded the corner to our hostel, there was a loud BANG! And a woman came out from an alley. Scared silly, Amanda and I took off running.

It was then we decided that there would be no more puddle jumping. It was also when we realized that the hostel “Dryers” were useless to us -those laundry lines on-top of the roof would do us no good. Instead, we hung our clothes up inside on hangers and anything else we could find, slipped into the only dry clothes we had, and went to sleep for the night. Convinced we had probably seen the biggest storm in China’s history, and thankful that we had lived to tell about it!!

Our time was going fast in China!

We had lists of things we wanted to see, and days packed with too much to do. The Great Wall was on the top of our list, but every morning we had tried and tried to see it -without success, we wondered if we’d ever make it to the wall.

We weren’t very good at getting going early those days. We tried. Oh how we tried. Setting our alarms for unearthly hours, waking up and getting going. But never quite succeeding to make it to the bus that went to the wall.

The morning before we had tried, and ALMOST succeeded, but we missed the bus by ten minutes -thanks in part to the unhelpful cab drivers and signs being in Chinese. So this day, set on not ruining the next-to-last day, we decided to see another place on our “Top places to see before we leave china in two days” list: The Summer Palace.

It appeared to be fairly simple to get to. A bus here. A transfer there. A short jaunt. We all felt up to the challenge and headed off for the train station. In hopes of catching the next train to this Summer Palace, still unsure of what, exactly, was there.

Summer in a Palace perhaps?

A supposed “easy” hike was actually a hike up the side of a big hill that included climbing over boulder rocks that were ½ our size. All along the way there were venders selling popsicles or cold water. We watched a few minutes and got the hang of it – they were selling popsicles for 1 yuan each. That wasn’t bad we thought and headed off to buy 5. The lady tried telling us that they were 2 yuan each – considering we looked like easy targets. But we held firm to our word, and got our 5 popsicles for 5 yuan.

When we arrived at the top, it appeared to be a big mess of repeated buildings, and people. -as well as statues and other assorted idols.

Finally, near the end of our walk around the Summer Palace… there was a huge staircase that looked like it lead straight up the side of a mountain, it seemed to lead to an elaborate building that looked like a temple or a palace of some kind. Seeing so many stairs looked a bit daunting, but we wanted to go up into the building and see what was inside. So up we decided to go! One staircase led to another and another and slowly but surly we made our way up to the very top.

Once at the top of the “Mountain” we looked out and saw…well…not much. It was hazy. From the heat. It looked like a layer of fog, but it was HOT fog! And it was almost impossible to move in it. Eventually we decided that we would head back down. Down the mountain, down and back to our hostel – making it an easy, early evening.

Just as we started to head down we felt a rain drop. And then soon after, another. Big fat rain drops started to fall! Faster and faster…and soon the rain drops were turning into rain! Now, were used to the rain, living in Ketchikan, but this was unlike anything we had ever experienced. Everyone else seemed to be waiting, and since we had been caught in a rain storm on a previous day and waited it out, we didn’t think much of this. We too stood under a tree – waiting.

But it kept raining. HARDER too! We started to worry…about getting stranded on the top of a mountain! Then the sky darkened and we heard rumbles of loud thunder. Amanda was scared of bring stranded on the mountain during a lightning storm, and I started envisioning mud slides, hauling loads of people down the side of the mountain in a river of water and mud. In my mind it looked scary! Soon we decided to make the plunge and RUN for it down the side of the mountain. So off we went -RUNNING! Well, running as fast as we could that is -with rain POURING down!

The rocks were slippery, and the dirt had turned to mud…but not only that, the ground that we were walking on soon turned into a river! A river of muddy, dirty water that went up to our ankles! A RUSHING river, I should say! As we carefully tried to make our way down the side of the mountain, we sloshed through the rivers, yelling for each other to “BE CAREFUL!” We could barely hear each other over the roar of the water and rain.

Then we had a problem – we didn’t know how to get off! We were heading down but we weren’t sure which way was the exit to the park! We kept stopping and asking random people “Exit?” and they would point, or laugh! They all had raincoats and umbrellas -but we didn’t and we were SOAKED. We were in shorts and t-shirts, none of us were prepared for a rain storm! Suddenly all the venders who had been selling popsicles were now selling umbrellas and ponchos! They kept trying to get us to buy them, raincoats weren’t going to do us any good by that time though, as we were as soaked as we could be, so we just laughed with them, and continued on our way down the mountain.

We only got lost once, and by the time we all made it to the bottom, the road was flooded. Flooded with water that went above our ankles. Water EVERYWHERE. We had never seen something like this before, we are used to the water running off the roads – not accumulating!!!

We eventually made it to the train station, bought our tickets (with soggy money) and got on the train. Other passengers looked at us snickered to themselves. We smiled. We had survived! Sure we were SOAKED from head to toe and then some, but we had made it down the muddy river mountain, and we were still alive! We rode the train to our stop, and got up – leaving behind muddy puddles in our seats!!

When we got off the train we were in for a surprise, it was dry and hot out. It didn’t even appear that there was a single drop of rain! We stood in the hot fry weather and looked very out of place. It looked like we had all decided to take random showers with our clothes on and then had forgotten to dry off!!

On the way back I decided to take a peek at our things in the bag -the cell phone was in bad shape – soaking wet and flashing random things on its screen. As we rode the elevator to the top someone mentioned taking the battery out and letting it dry. And so I did, right then and there, and just as we stepped off – I dropped the battery down the ONE crack between the elevator and the ground. Of course, there was no way to retrieve it.

Thankfully all the other electronics were ok, and aside from being wet and soggy and having no way to dry our clothes, we were ok!! Though Po was soaked, shaggy, and had turned a shade of red from his Kimono getting wet!

It was fun, but much more fun when it was over!

So much for an “Easy” day!

No trip to Beijing is complete without a trip to Summer Palace, just beware that flash floods can happen at any time!!!

A crazy little drink that consisted of watermelon chunks, sunflower seeds, jello strips, funny little candies and any flavor you could imagine!

It seems the one thing people are most interested in is about THE FOOD! “How was the food?” “What did you eat?” “Was it good?” “Was it awesome?”

It is 100% different than the Americans version of Chinese food. Everything.

The first thing we immediately noticed I think was the orange juice – we thought we had ordered orange juice, but instead received a very warm cup of something orange. Even the cold stuff, with the same brand names as here in America was just…different. Off. Some liked it, some didn’t. I was on the didn’t ban wagon.

Warm Orange juice with a spam sandwich anyone?

On the train ride we ate probably the worse food of our lives. It came in an rickety old cart, was served over rice and was spicy pickled watermelon rinds, tofu and some version of meat. It was tangy, sour, and awful all at once.

Dont let the picture fool you – This would be in the “Not so good food” category!

On the airplane we were treated to what appeared to be either “Pickled” “Rotten” or “Duck” eggs, celery bits, and rice soup.

Duck egg? Rotten egg? You decide and color me confused!

Once we arrived to our destination, we were treated to some of the MOST amazing meals EVER! The food was GREAT we discovered – when we had someone there helping to translate the menu! It was however, rather difficult to know what to order when you didn’t know what you were reading!

For the first week we were actually on the ground in China (and not traveling about) we “had” a wonderful slew of people who spoke Chinese, and as a result ate some of the best Chinese food ever! Thanks everyone!!

Some of the BEST food EVER was found here!!!

The first week we were there we were treated to hands down, the BEST Chinese food, EVER! There were so many different things we tried that week, some old favorites like kung pao chicken were made better than ever! We also tried other things we never would have thought would even be good! Things like quail egg, egg plant (or aubergine, as David would say) and tofu were surprisingly delicious when cooked right! I think one of everyone’s favorite were the “Szechuan Fries”

YUM! YUM! YUM!!!

The markets were generally outdoors – vegetables, meat, and spices were all sold along the streets.

With good food under our belts we set off for a week alone in Beijing. It was only after we tried to “Rough it out by ourselves” did things quickly turn the other direction, and we ended up with some pretty disturbing meals!!

Once when ordering by pictures – dad ordered us a healthy portion of…something. Most likely it was liver. But others had other opinions. Either way, it was avoided by all chopsticks!

The plane ride back to Beijing had some version of chicken and rice serviced with bread – the Chinese are very fond of stuffing their bread with random things. You never know what will come inside. Either some form of meat paste, or “Jelly.” I never was a fan of the surprises inside!!

Look! A familiar sign

After a few days of “Roughing it” in Beijing by ourselves – which basically meant eating McDonalds, and whatever else we could find that “looked” ok to eat (yogurt, stuffed breads, etc.) we stumbled upon a restaurant that was amazing. After a long day in the heat with little to eat, we wandered down the road until we found a restaurant in English, that was most likely put there just for us.

Anyone who knows us knows that we love two foods best of all – Pizza and Ice cream!

Proving that even in china it IS possible to find cake and ice cream!!

Big pizza served a buffet of American styled foods and also some Chinese dishes. We were probably a little to happy with this find. Fresh watermelon, limitless pizza and ice cream, chicken, fruit, and perhaps best of all – Salad greens!!

Yummy!!

We also sampled bakery goods – more stuffed breads, and what was suppose to be yogurt.

David, with the help of a friend, was being instructed on how to order a “Bun.” It looked like a lump of raw bread dough! Of course, it had something in the middle!!

We tried to start our mornings out with breakfast – something that David was a custom to doing, and something that was needed for our long days out. The only problem was trying to find suitable breakfast foods. We ended up with a box of Chinese cheerios, and oatmeal. Both of which were just a bit off! Amanda was of the belief that the oatmeal tasted like “Normal” while I wasn’t convinced. The little “Red bean” which she said wasn’t actually IN there, seemed to ruin it! I grew to hate this little red bean, that made random appearances on more than one food!

There were also “Bowl o’ noodles” which were big. Similar to our “Cup of noodles” only…not. They were Chinese, and the flavors were hot, hotter, and hottest. Spicy oils with extra peppers gave you not only a bad taste in your mouth, but a headache to boot!

Also it seemed that since it was SO hot and muggy during the day – eating didn’t really seem the thing to do. We did however, consume a lot of ice cream and popsicles – which we were thankful for!!

Good-bye Popsicle

We were thankfully, spared from some of the things that the people do, however, seem to enjoy. Such as chicken feet. Boiled, fried, or cooked. Served from a bag, or a box. They seemed to be quite the hit.

We may not have known how to order our favorite dishes at a restaurant – but we sure knew how to find the candy!!

You remember this little pup? The one who wasn’t going to get any bigger? The one that was just a cute little itty ball of fur that loved to snuggle and couldn’t climb the stairs and was going to be the perfect traveling dog?

Yea. Her.

She doubled her weight. She now weighs 20 (plus?) pounds. She outgrew her collar. Has learned how to climb up stairs, and down them too – as opposed to just falling down them. Shes become a little terror on four legs, and has a mouth full of sharp teeth.

That dog is a smart one she is. They say labs are smart, and you can really see the smarts in her eyes. Something a lot of our dogs seemed to miss out on. When smarts were being handed out – our 10 plus past dogs were in line for food. But yoshi? She was the first in line. Jumping all around begging, for smarts. That dog is clever too.

When we stopped at home to put her in her crate the other day, I opened the back door to let her out of the car. She wouldn’t move. She stayed on her seat. Giving me the saddest, most sweet puppy dog eyes she could muster – and she ALMOST succeeded in what she was going for. Those eyes, man, they give a whole new meaning to puppy dog eyes. When I carry her to her crate, and she knows whats happening she wiggles, and squirms and whines a little…and of course, she turns into the sweetest thing you’ve ever seen. Snuggling, and kissing you like you were the best thing since bananas – yes – she loves bananas.

She runs like the wind, and is almost potty trained. That smart little thing. She knows now that if she runs to the door – shes guaranteed a walk. Or at least some fresh air. Which she also loves. So now it’s a guessing game. Does Yoshi REALLY have to go potty? Or does she just want outside? She usually wins, however. Were still working on the word “Come” although she knows what it means – she doesn’t always listen. Or follow through.

She understands “No” and she knows her name – she absolutely LOVES people to talk about her. Although she still isn’t sure if she likes people fully. Shes a little…gun shy. Thanks to Slim. Who absolutely HATES most people.