Hello Everyone!
My month in China has flown by, and I have no idea where it went. I know, that is no excuse for the poor updates in the past two weeks. However, it just says I was out using my Chinese and seeing the sights rather then sitting inside on the computer.....You have to understand that!
This past weekend was amazing. I traveled to the east of Beijing to a town called Tangshan. It is a town that was heavily damaged in the earthquake of 1976. The earthquake was measured at 7.8. Over 240,000 people died making it the largest natural tragedy in the 21st century. However the city today is the leading industrial city for porcelain production. So our trip there took us to one of the factories. It was called Red Rose Bone China. The name comes from the materials used in the house wares. The ingredient is 20% made up of Ox bones. The rest they wouldn't tell us! Mr. Jiao, the factory manager, gave us a personal tour. We started by seeing where and how the material was stored. We then saw how it was mixed into a clay like material so that it could be shaped by the workers. The clay was squeezed out into cylinder-like shapes which were then placed on a cart for storage. The next station depended on what product was needed. The factory made plates, bowls, cups, mugs, salt and pepper shakers as well as bowls. You name it, they probably made it. Anyways, like any porcelain, after it was formed it had to be put in a kiln. This kiln was a 24 hour process. After that, a 3 hour glaze process before the item could be painted. We saw several workers putting patterns on the glassware. To my surprise, most were stick on prints. All in all, a very interesting stop and there is nothing like Mass production! Oh and we spotted, that the bottoms of the glassware had a label like Thailand or Malaysia.....the owner told us some buyers don't want association with China on their product because it will be thought to be very cheap!
After the porcelain factory we went to the memorial for the earthquake. In 1976 the earthquake was on July 28th, which happened to be the day of our visit. The memorial and museum helped us to understand where exactly it hit the city and what was there, and what is now there.
It was back to the bus after this, to drive about 3 hours to the great wall! This is what I was on the trip for. We drove to a place called Qingshan guan, which means "Green Mountain Pass" in Chinese. The ride to the pass made the entire trip. Imagine a 30 person tour bus, traveling down a bumpy dirt road, that has more trucks and mules on it then can fit! What did this mean? It meant lots of honking and running things off the road. Also I swear every town’s person was out on the street waving or watching us. It was as if they had nothing better to do and had never seen a white face. I got some great pictures! Let’s just say it was the most interesting 3 hour bus ride I have ever been on. On the side of the street I even saw cows tied up outside houses as if they were camels in the Middle East. On both sides of the road you could see terraced farming as far as you could see up them. The area reminded me of Guiling in a lot of ways. We eventually made it to a parking lot some time later. As our bus door opened up, there was a flood of local village people there to greet us. As the bus parked, we got stuck on some power lines. I then though maybe that the whole town came out to see us take down their power....How the bus got untangles, I don't know, but very humorous to watch!
After that little adventure we all grabbed our things and headed up the mountain to the "resort" as our guide told us. It was about a 10 minutes climb. The place was everything and a resort. There were cute tucked away houses, surrounded by gardens, the old castle wall and of course the Great wall. I literally slept on the great wall! My room was like a little Chinese house with a full bathroom and even a TV. I mean I wasn't going to use it, but the fact that some Chinese guy had to carry that thing up the mountain...amazed me.
Before dinner, I took my best friend..."the camera" exploring. We found hanging pumpkins, beautiful towers, and we found out why it is called Green Mountain! Take a look at my pictures.
For dinner they took us to a local farm house. I never thought I would eat at one of these, and the food surprisingly was very good. Besides the screw that I sat on and the dirty dish ware, it was like a 5 star place! We were told to hurry up and eat because the hotel was having fireworks in 30 minutes. When we left with only half the food eaten, I am pretty sure they called up the neighborhood to come eat the leftovers because there were like 40 people saying bye to us as we got back on the bus. So Fireworks on the great wall are amazing, and there was a lightshow and bonfire. But it was the karaoke that topped it off. I mean, who else can say they sang karaoke on the great wall!? Who would have thought?
Sunday was the day I had been waiting for. It started early because I woke up at 6, probably because I was excited for the hike and sights! It was sunny and cool, which is what we wanted. A little hazy, but it is the mountains. WE had a guide who went at a great pace for me, but caused everyone else to fall behind. Oh well, it wasn't hard to navigate considering you are on a wall that only goes up or down! The wall was amazing and better then I thought. In some sections it was complete rubble, which made the experience even better. Steps did still exist, and the watchtowers could be climbed in, however it truly was a unique place. Looking down the wall back at the resort, you could make out the existing wall that once surrounded the area as a castle! As we reached the 3rd or 4th watch tower the guide said we had to take the path back down. I looked at him and told him I was going to the top! We had only been hiking for about 30 minutes, and lunch wasn't until noon, so I had plenty of time to climb! Besides with these views, lunch could be skipped! Luckily our personal guide Edwin, didn't care, so he took down my number in case I didn't return, and I his incase there was a problem and set off on the adventure! It was nice to not have to do it alone! As we went further up, the steeper the wall became. At sections we had to climb to the side of the wall on dirt because the rubble was so loose and dangerous. After about 40 minutes we reached the top tower. The clouds made the view difficult but it was beautiful. Wow was it up there too! I wouldn't have wanted to be that solider to have to climb it everyday! After a couple hundred pictures, well not really, I headed down the wall. The way down led to some interesting weed whacking. However just like any other time, I lost.....but it was well worth the scrapes. After lunch we packed up our belongings and hiked down to the bus. I didn't want to leave this fairytale place, but like all things, it had to come to an end. The bus ride back took about 5 hours. Bumpy Bumpy ride! I am glad I choose to sit near the front. Not to mention we almost died or killed someone at least 20x. Only in China!
