Spoiled

For those who don't know, I am traveling in China with RC's mom and 24 other fifty-plus-somethings. It was a little intimidating at first, but I have to say that being the same age as most of their children is definitely working to my advantage. They all treat me like their own daugther and are constantly looking out for me. It really is very sweet. They also tell Mom what I great kid I am. See Amma, I am not so bad afterall. =)

Today - ABSOLUTELY exhausting.

We woke up (Mom, Aunty and I) at four am -myself with girlie cramps; Mom and Aunty just because. We lolled around for a while and then decided to just get ready. We headed down to breakfast and thought we'd be the first ones there. To our surprise, half our group was already having breakfast because apparently they couldn't sleep either. We finished our food and headed out to our bus that departed the hotel at 8:30 am.

Our first stop was a jade factory where we saw how they carved and polished jade. And ofcourse they had a showroom of their products. We wandered around for a while and I was suckered into buying something because I wanted to make sure my sister's bday gift was high quality jade. You're going to love it Che.

Then came the Great Wall. I got off the bus and could not freaking believe that I was looking at THE Great Wall - the one that I had read about in books since I was a grade schooler. The climb didn't look so bad but holy coly was I wrong! The steps are all uneven heights and widths. Some are so narrow, you have to turn your feet sideways to make sure your heel doesn't slip over the edge! Mom couldn't make the climb so I went on by myself. I ran into another uncle from the group and then at another landing met another couple. We some how egged each other on until the 4th tower. We found out later that had we gone just a little further, we would have reached a gorgeous temple and could climb down in another direction away from all the crowds. I'll do that next time I guess.

Alright, I am actually wiped out from our day. I'll have to blog about all this more tomorrow. Tomorrow's plan: Forbidden City and Summer Palace.