China Baby!

Hey all, this is the end of my second day in China, I leave for Singapore tomorrow. When I get there I'll post some pics on here, using the hostels free internet so can't take that long. I've been having fun, been hanging out with my German dormates who nicely speak in English when I'm with them.

I got in Tuesday night but was too tired from the hassle to find a taxi to the hostel and my last 2 weeks of sayonara/sightseeing craziness to do anything. The next morning my new pals and I went to Mao's mausoleum and the Forbidden City. Mao's mausoleum is pretty creepy, not sure if its really his body or a fake, but you just keep walking in a line and it only takes 10 minutes to get through it. The forbidden city is absolutely amazing, it's so unbelievably big. Unfortunately, some of the most important buildings are under construction getting ready to be showcased for the 2008 olympics. But we wandered around for ages admiring the architecture and the sheer size of it all. Funnily, there was a Starbucks, but we remain unconvinced if it was real or not- the sign was just propped up in the window and the menu didn't look quite right, though they were wearing the aprons. That night just hung out with other backpackers and had dinner where the restaurant tried to to severlely rip us off, that was not so fun. Had an early night as I got up at 5:20 this morning to go to the Great Wall.

The wall was amazing, as you can expect. We hiked a 10km section that starts off pretty nice, as it's been redone a bit, but the center sections are pretty rough, with loose stones and really steep, tricky places. Was glad I wasn't hiking it by myself! It took us 5 hours to get through the section, with plenty of photo stops. The weather was fantastic as well, not so humid and a bit overcast so we didn't get fried. The annoying thing is having someone waiting at the top of every staircase and in every tower trying to sell you something, so you're constantly fending them off. It was a very long day but well worth it.

Anyway, I'll post pictures tomorrow or the day after when I get to Singapore. My feet are still pretty sore from the walk today so not gonna do anything tomorrow morning, just relax. Decided to just go to a few places, didn't want to run myself ragged in the beginning of the trip or be too tired to enjoy it. Also, I love how everyone at backpacker hotels has identical outfits- the plain colored T-shirt, cargo pants or shorts, and those loose hippy type skirts for the girls, love it.

Will write more when I can