Man-Made Wonders and Men in Makeup

January 19th, 2006

Today I saw one of the 7 man-made wonders of the world. The Great Wall of China is pretty freaking cool. I can’t describe the enormity of the wall or how steep the climb can get in parts. We hiked the wall for about an hour and a half, which was plenty of time. The view was great and standing on such a historical monument is unforgettable. Our hike was a bit tough in spots and some smarty-pants American gave us the award for panting when we reached the top. I can only imagine if we didn’t work out at all!

We ventured to the Silk Market in the afternoon, but I’m completely marketed out. I’m poor and the deals aren’t as good as the Chinese tourism officials would have you believe. At the end of the day, you’re still buying crap for the most part and crap isn’t worth nearly as much as the aggressive sales people think. Honestly though, if I had to put together a door-to-door sales team, my labor pool would consist entirely of market workers. They are relentless and don’t seem to mind rejection in the slightest.

We wrapped up tonight with a cultural experience that I enjoyed but don’t intend to repeat. The Chinese Opera is very interesting – for an hour. The costumes and make up are great, but the music is like nails on a chalkboard. All kidding aside, I am glad that I went and I will certainly remember the experience for a long time. Word to the wise – If your fancy hotel books tickets for you, tell them you want the cheap seats or else they will stick you directly in front of the stage and when you come in just before the show starts everyone behind you will look at you like you think you’re something special. Even the best seats in the house are cheap, but they were just too showy for our liking.

For anyone who might be interested in our hotel information – we stayed at the Peninsula Beijing. I will probably never get to stay in a Peninsula again, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I even had my own adult bed again. Their turndown service consists of them refolding whatever you unfolded when you were last in the room and placing slippers and water beside your bed. I didn’t use it, but the speaker phone from the bathtub looked pretty interesting.