Day Two, continued

Our drive to Badaling was very interesting. Our big bus, on a curvy road, covered with tourists, both walking and on buses. I don't think our horn stopped honking the entire drive up. The scariest point was our drop spot. Our bus went through the small tunnel pictured below. This is an actual road, not just a tourist drop, but the tunnel is only one car wide. The traffic through didn't care if people were also trying to use the tunnel, they just honked a couple times while driving through.

The wall was definitely the highlight of our trip. It was after all the main reason we wanted to go to China! Our guide gave us an hour and we were off. Chris chose out goal of the high tower to the East. We stopped for a quick photo, then got to hiking. It got gradually steeper as we neared the peak, eventually becoming uneven stairs. Once we reached the top reality set in for me. I don't like heights and we were WAYYY up there. Not only that I had to climb back down! Going down was harder than climbing up! On our way down a Chinese woman tapped Stephanie's shoulder and motioned to her kids and her camera. We had been warned that this may happen, so Stephanie just nodded and gave her best American Blond smile.

Once we reached our starting point we did a little shopping at the souvenier shops and found the best thing ever - Cold water and Ice Cream. We each picked a treat and sat down for a rest. Before we knew it, it was time to board the bus and head back to Beijing.

On our way back we stopped for lunch. Imagine our suprise to find these tiny cups

And this small bottle

We were informed it was the local moonshine and it was included in the lunch! All of the adults has a sample (or two)!

We did buy a bottle to bring home, not because it was particularly good (imagine watered down nail polish) but because it was only $2 and a GREAT conversation piece.

After lunch we headed to the Summer Palace. It was here we decided that if you have seen one palace, you have seen them all. The Summer Palace's claim to fame: it is home to the world's longest corridor (730 meters).

Another quick ride on the bus to see our final scheduled spot of the day. The Olympic Stadium - The Water Cube and the Bird's Nest.

Since there was no dinner planned for this evening, we all decided to check out Wafujing Street. For any of you that watch any of those Strange Food shows, you might recognize the name. For the locals it is just known as the Barbecue street. Here street vendors sell everything, and I mean EVERYTHING on a stick. The first "food" I saw when we walked up was a Starfish Skewer. Rick, I thought of you the whole time we were here! We each ate something strange, Lyle had Sea Snake, Chris tried Fried Silk Worm Larva, Stephanie had a frothy drink, and I had spicy noodles (I know, the girls wimped out, but we had nothing to prove!) We all enjoyed skewered chicken, steamed dumplings and for dessert - Fried Ice Cream!

Afterwards we all caught our own taxi's back to the hotel to get some Tums and Immodium AD! Tomorrow, final day in Beijing and off to Xi'an