China, Day 11: Great Wall, Jade and Acrobats!

We started the day by learning about jade. The girls were amazed by all the intricate carvings. I bought a pair of purple jade earrings and we bought a happy family jade ball similar to the one below. It is carved from one piece of jade. Our ball has four layers and they move independently. They represent generations of a happy family. As Jia said, "They are sure good at their job of selling you stuff." Yes, they are.

After that, we climbed the Great Wall! The Great Wall is over 5,000 miles long and is visible from space. The first section was built in 200 B.C. It was built entirely by hand and is also called the Longest Cemetery in the World because of all the deaths that resulted from making it. The section we climbed was 600 years old and most of it is still original.

It was very hot out, but thankfully not rainy (as had been predicted) as it would have been slippery. Our guides said that most tour groups go on Monday so they chose Tuesday, and the place was nearly empty!

There were two choices for climbing: the hard steep route with better views and the easier route. We did the hard route and part of the easy route. The hard route was hard because it was so very steep and pretty much all stairs without any place for breaks or shade. It was also hard because the heights of the steps were very uneven. Both girls did an amazing job especially given that they are half our sizes. The other downside of the steep route is that you needed to hang onto the railing, but the railing was burning hot from the sun. But we hung on anyway! I'm not afraid of heights, but we were all shaking by how steep the steps were. And our legs were certainly shaking at the end.

 

 

 

 

We bought some cheap t-shirts to prove we did it.

We then enjoyed a fantastic lunch. We walked by a woman making cloisonné on the way there.

After a short rest, we went to an acrobat show. It was in the theater below. It was unassuming on the outside and huge and regal on the inside. We've found this type of thing to be the case repeatedly in Taiwan and China where unassuming or even run down buildings house beautiful restaurants, for example.

We got some popcorn before the show. It was like kettle corn! Delicious. We learned that children start training for the show from the age of 6 up. Performers were ages 6 to 24.

The show was insane. There were no safety nets. It was literally a death-defying, edge of the seat, nail-biting experience. At one point, there were shouts of "No More!" There were many times I could not watch and Willa had to sit on Joe's lap for the act involving eight motorcycles racing and flipping around inside a small sphere. It was terrifying and amazing all at once. Truly a phenomenal show.

We drove by the Olympic Bird's Nest and Water Cube after the show.

Tomorrow we are off to Xi'an!