Great Wall. This was absolutely amazing, surreal, and one for the bucket list.

Had a hard time adjusting to the time zone, and I woke up at 3:30am. There was this cool coffee maker in the hotel’s restaurant. I had a bowl of rice congee and three cups of coffee for breakfast. We were picked up by our tour guide Dannis Li.

No one told me that climbing the Great Wall was like hiking Koko Head. What was sad (humiliating) was when these old grandmas started to overtake me. I tried to take deeper breaths and push, but I just couldn’t hang with them. Ahh….

Still, what an amazing experience!

There were these locks, snack bars, and even graffiti along the path of the wall.

What a great morning.

Then we went to visit a Chinese pottery factory.

It’s an incredible process with skilled artists. I now have a deeper appreciation.

We had lunch at this massive restaurant. I was excited to have my first Chinese meal in China! Unbelievably, it was not good at all. Haha. It was a set menu geared toward foreign tourists. Broccoli? (Fortunately the rest of the food we had on the trip was excellent.)

We capped the tour with a visit to the Ming Dynasty Tombs.

Dannis gave us a lot of history and interesting information today. We also toured the museum of royal artifacts.

That evening we looked for the Hua Liang Mall, but got lost. I should mention here that the traffic is wild and the drivers are insane. I believe that their philosophy is “There’s a billion people here. We can do with one less.”

I also found that the puffy jacket is “all the rage” in China. I fit right in.

Reflected on the day of events. What a great, great day….