A "Great" Day

This morning we departed early for the Great Wall with a guide named Jean from Strech-A-Leg tours (they were ranked very highly on TripAdvisor - our bible over here). It was my second trip to the Wall and Amy's first. Jean was an amazing guide and explained many interesting details. Did you know:

• Nearly 1/3 of the Chinese population at the time worked on the wall during it's construction? Basically, every family sent at least one male child to work!

• Soldiers had three-year stints manning a guardpost on the wall. No returns home, no hot food or heating fires (smoke could confuse their intricate smoke signal system of communication), and no blankets.

• Most of the Wall was built in the mountains. It was not built on the boundaries of China but was actually considered the last line of defense for invading Barbarians.

• Amy took 2700 pictures in three hours.

• The Great Wall could double as a ski resort - there is a gondola to ride up and a chair life to ride down. Or if you prefer, you could take the alpine ride down like we did! Whoa!

It was a picturesque day and so much fun. We continued into the afternoon with Jean and checked out the Imperial Academy and the adjoining Confucius Temple. This is where the best and brightest studied for three years during the various dynasties. They studied Confucius' philosophy and the 13 classics (which took a calligrapher twelve years to write!). One exam at the end given by the Emperor to determine your fate! Every student was checked from head to toe before entering the exam (which lasted three days) to make sure they didn't have any hidden papers for cheating. While walking around the Academy, we ran into a bunch of school children and had a nice chat with them. Their teachers were interested in talking to us - the kids just wanted some chocolate!

We also walked through one of the nearby Hutongs and had an incredible stroke of good luck. We met a man who had lived in his hutong house for 57 years and he was kind enough to invite us into his home and show us around. In my 11 trips to Asia, I've only been invited into somebody's home once so this was an incredible treat. The house was lovely and very well kept.

He and his wife were very proud of their kitchen and bathroom (most residents use the public bathroom a block away). As we were leaving, Jean asked if we had anything to give as a small gift of friendship. I had to contain myself from laughing as Amy gave them the only thing we had - her last Luna bar!