Saturday at the Great Wall

We awoke this morning to a clear blue sky. After breakfast in the hostel we left for the Great Wall. Our bus took us on the hour and a half ride to the Badaling section of the wall. The traffic was heavy for a Saturday. It is said that Beijing gains 1000 cars per day to its roads.
Our Gould students, Kelly Chen, Fei Shu and Tim Hsu have been indispensable. They have prepared ahead and have helped us with restaurant selections, reservations, directions, everything!
We have already begun to observe the contrasts that make China so exciting- Beijing's famous hutongs- narrow old alleyways that stretch for miles filled with shops and homes-are being razed to make way for modern buildings, yet all around us ancient landmarks are celebrated.
The road from Beijing to the Badaling section of the Wall begins on highways and moves quickly into the mountains. The students were quiet on the bus as we gained elevation; the enormity of the mountains coupled with the nearly equal enormity of human achievement to construct the Wall, which from many vantage points along the drive could be seen as far as the horizon, had an almost spellbinding effect on all of us.

We arrived at Badaling, secured our tickets and started walking the ramps and stairs of stone. We all learned quickly to politely decline the offers for postcards, hats, carved masks, bracelets, scarves and other souvenirs pressed upon us. The climb is steep, the views were spectacular, and everyone helped to raise the Gould name.

Upon our return to Beijing, Fei ordered for us at a duck restaurant. We ate at 5 large tables. The plates of food just kept coming, and some kids think we should embrace the idea of huge lazy susans on our tables at school. We are eating with chopsticks (no option) and doing very well. We started with plates of pickles, candied dates, lotus, dried beef sliced paper thin, duck liver slices and duck feet in mustard sauce.

Next came steamer baskets with thin pancakes, plates of scallion and cucumber slices, sauce, and plates and plates of duck slices with crispy skin. We rolled everything into the pancake and down the hatch. Then came river fish (eyeballs were a favorite with boys) a beef dish, duck soup, and then we finished up with watermelon.