Beijing Day Two.

Tuesday 28th August 2012

Our second day in the smoggy capital of China begun with a 6:30am wake up call. This was hugely unappreciated and unnecessary. We stumbled through the hotel to the dining area and stuffed our faces with the buffet before slumping back to our rooms to get ready for the day. We were supposed to leave at 7:30, it was nearly 8:30 by the time we were all ready. Seems silly to expect 12 18 year olds to be fully functioning before at least midday. At this point, the few of us that went exploring Beijing last night were beginning to regret not going straight to bed when we got back to the hotel last night. Jet lag is not a fun experience.

However, the early start was definitely worth it to witness my first wonder of the world: The Great Wall Of China at the Mutianyu section. It definitely did not disappoint.

Once the coach had parked and we all clambered out into the forested area and a couple of us spied a Subway. It's so weird how seeing just the smallest piece of westernised culture  can lift our spirits and prevent us being totally alienated in this ginormous country.

On the hill leading up to the ticket counter, there were copious amounts of small market stalls selling a variety of traditional Chinese gifts as well as the standard fake wares! Emma and I both decided on getting a conical hat; not only as a souvenir, but also as a form of shelter from the blazing sun! It was absolutely scorching hot. We were all still working out how the currency worked, and we completely forgot that we could barter the price down, so we paid full price (£8.50). On the other hand, Hamish was trying to barter a 3 yuan bottle of water down to 1 yuan. Naturally, the lady refused. For ages we presumed that nobody was letting us barter because they thought they could get lots of money out of us because we were English. It wasn't until we were handed our tickets that we realised that 3 yuan is the equivalent to 30p. No wonder the lady wouldn't budge on her price!

We were then given the option to walk up to the Great Wall, or to get the cable car up. Quite a few of the others, including Alex and Georgia, were adamant that they wanted to walk it. No way in hell would you catch me doing that! However, everyone's minds miraculously changed when we were asked if we wanted to get the cable car up and toboggan down. Unsurprisingly, we jumped at the chance of doing that. 

Emma and I shared the cable car seat and that was the start of a beautiful friendship blossoming throughout our time in China. I do appreciate a good cable car journey, but I did start to feel uneasy when I looked down and saw a variety of enormous spider webs jumping from tree to tree below us. I do not want to think about the size of the spider that created such a beautiful monstrosity. I am so glad that I did not see it!

It didn't take long to forget about my arachnophobia once we reached our destination. It was so surreal to be standing on top of a man made structure that can be seen from space. The magnitude of the architecture was incredible; you could see miles and miles of undisturbed Chinese nature. The view is surreal.

However, I would not recommend visiting the Great Wall with jet lag, especially if you have a low blood pressure! I could not tell you what made me think that once you got onto the top of the Great Wall it was just a flat walk. Well it isn't. The steps were so steep and I was sweating like a pig, if you excuse the cliche, but it was still amazing! We had to make  pit stops every time we got to one of the watch towers and, eventually, Emma and I just sat down and admired the view, leaving the others to explore the rest... Didn't really see the point in going any further as we would have had to walk back in about 30 minutes anyway! We also inscribed our names into the stone, to be part of history!

Hands down the most exhilarating part of our time in Beijing was going down on the toboggans. It was literally so much fun, it was tempting to go back up just so you could come back down again! I leaped at the chance of going down first. At first I was going really slow, just to annoy the others really, and when the people in front of me finally moved far enough out our way, we all decided to play the game 'no breaks'. It's kinda self-explanatory. The only problem was that we got to the bottom too quickly!

A few of us decided to then go and get a subway. It was relatively cheap and tasted amazing! I was ravenous! Georgia bought me some red fake ray bans as my birthday present... only 3 months late. The phrase 'better late then never' springs to mind. Just kidding Georgia, you know I loved them! 

In hindsight, getting the subway wasn't really worth it as we were literally on our way to another all you can eat restaurant with traditional food. However, maybe it was as it was the last subway I would have for 3 months. Sad times. 

After lunch, we travelled to see the Beijing Olympic Park, which is ironic as I haven't even seen the London Olympic Park yet...

That's me in my new conical hat!

It was so weird experiencing ancient China in the morning and then modern China in the afternoon. As much as I most definitely preferred the experience of going to see the Great Wall, the Olympic Park was fascinating in it's own right. Although, it was a bit off putting when a young boy, I'd hazard a guess at him being about 7 years old, just pulled down his trousers and weed behind a sign. Classy. Oh, don't worry, according to our tour guide that is perfectly normal behaviour. Seems legit.

After this, we went to a gorgeous park with a small lake. Or it could've been a big pond... We found some ducks! At one point we made friends with a little girl who must have been no older than 2. She gave Georgia a flowery stick and her mum was trying to teach her to say 'hello', but she was too shy. Her shoes were literally the coolest things. They were decorated with angry birds and squeaked when she walked, they also had a small whistle tucked away in the bottom. After seeing the young girl come over to us, quite a few other children came over to us, they were fascinated with the way we looked, which is weird because we don't look drastically different. One of the children was a rather chubby boy, about 6 years old, and he walked straight over to us. Georgia said 'Ni Hao' trying to be friendly and he looked like he was going to give her a hug. He didn't. Instead, he started pushing her. Repeatedly. It was absolutely hilarious. Couldn't tell you why he did it, but he did!

After another all you can eat, we made our way back to the hotel and then we all mutually decided to go out as a group to where we went the day before. As we didn't speak Chinese, it was hard to find somewhere where we could get a drink. Eventually, we found a hotel with a rooftop bar where we managed to get some cocktails, and the boys got a few beers... Couldn't tell you what was in them though!

After a couple of drinks, we went to show the people who didn't come with us yesterday the food market. Hamish dared Ollie to try something from one of the stalls. Ollie chose to eat a snake on a kebab stick. Head and everything. So gross.  If anyone fancies trying it, it tastes like calamari apparently! 

After going to McDonalds again, we managed to find an 'Olympic' bar which had a pint of beer for the equivalent of £1. I only had the one pint as I was literally falling asleep at the bar. However, about half the others were about to drink enough that they will definitely regret it in the morning!

I left at around 12ish with a couple of others to go to sleep. Despite the fact that Georgia was the only sober one left, she decided to stay out with the others to make sure they all got back to the hotel ok. This is totally ironic now. I got back, crawled into bed and slowly started drifting to sleep.

The next thing I know, at about 12:45 there was a knock at my door. I presumed it was Georgia being to lazy to get her room key out, so I ignored it at first. The knocking got more and more frantic so I pulled myself out of bed and answered the door. It was Emma. I was not expecting her. It wasn't good news either.

Georgia had been hit on the head with an empty glass tankard thrown by one of the boys in our group. Noone, apart from me, was really sober enough to go to the hospital with her and Mr/ Mrs Smith. I have never panicked so much in my life. I grabbed the first pair of shoes I came across and ran to the hotel foyer to find that Alex had gone with her. At least she wasn't on her own.

Now came the waiting. By now I had no idea what to do, I felt so lost in this foreign country. I wanted to go home.