China in the Ancient Times

So, I know that I kind of left my last post with a bit of a cliffhanger. Let me reassure y'all right now that all things went well after I got to the Sheraton. I was able to stay there both nights and I was safe throughout my remaining time. 

Again, I was really bummed that I wasn't able to see much of the city since I spent the whole day out walking looking for a place to stay. The next morning, I woke up bright and early. I had to meet up with my small group for our tours that we had planned for the day. Our adventure began at The Forbidden City. This is the largest city center in the whole world. The reason it is termed "forbidden" is because in ancient times, only the emperor was permitted to access all of the rooms (all 9,999.5 of them). Our tour consisted of walking from courtyard to courtyard while passing through different gates. We didn't have access to many of the rooms, basically just walking through the gates with the rooms on either side. We were able to peer into the emperor's bedroom, which was neat. There was some interesting architecture on these building, all symbolizing something from superiority to safety to good will. Seeing such extravagant designs was really something. It was nice to learn some of the history about this ancient city, but I was mostly looking forward to checking out The Great Wall. Our guide told us that around 80,000 people come to visit The Forbidden City each day. You better believe it was crowded!

After walking through the City, we took a 2hr drive, where I was grateful for sleep. Upon arriving to Mutianyu (the part of The Great Wall which we were to begin our climb), we took a chairlift up the first part. It was kinda cool to ride a chairlift in the middle of the summer in some random place in China. The first parts of the Wall where we were located did not have the ability for us to walk up. Hence, the need for a chairlift (there was also the option of taking a cable car). We could look all around us and see The Great Wall expanded in every view. It was quite a site! 

The Great Wall was nothing that I expected! It was actually two walls on either side with stair steeps in between them. Once we got off the chairlift, we had the choice to continue hiking up the Wall or staying down. Of course, I continued, with two other ladies from my group. It was magnificent! The jungle around us was green and luscious. The reason we were permitted to hike on this portion of the Wall was because it has been reconstructed for tourist purposes. I got to the end point where we weren't allowed to continue anymore because it was overgrown and worn down. Basically, they blocked it off with a cemented wall so that we couldn't keep going. The purpose was so that we don't add to its already decaying factor.

To get back down, we sat on this booster thing and took a ride down a massive slide. It was way fun! We grabbed some food and a few souvenirs and then took our drive back to our hotels. That night, I went into town for a short minute to check out the street market. Many tried to weasel me out of my money, but I was strong this time and kept walking. The next morning, I had to wake up early for the train ride back to Zibo.

My trip in Beijing was many things ... scary, lonely, intense, thrilling, exciting, eye-opening, and marvelous. Even though my first day wasn't all that great, I am glad that I had this chance to tour The Forbidden City and The Great Wall. It's definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity. It made the struggles all worth it, in the end! I was blessed with safety and protection, for which I am grateful.