Day 4….Zoom Zoom Screech

After spending a nice sleep for at least half the night, because of building construction from 1am to 4am…..we left the hotel at 8:00 to go to a jade factory on our way to the Great Wall. They gave a very good talk about jade and how they do some of the carving.  Did you know that there are 150 types of jade, and not all of them are green!

We dropped a little money there and then went on the Mutanyiu section of the Great Wall.  We passed through the country side around Beijing….there were tree farms and orchards, cattle, sheep, and greenhouses.  When we arrived we had lunch and then on to the Wall.

Most of our group went up on the Cable car and with the intention to come down on the cable car… but because Pam had a plan (which included geocaching of course) we went up on the cable car (Barb walked up!) but came down on our butts!  

We were so lucky to have such a beautiful day, the sky was blue and the sun was shining….mild temperatures and no wind.  The views were amazing (hoping to post pictures later).  We kept saying that we couldn’t believe that we were really on the Great Wall of China. Interesting sites along the way….a donkey, camels and  a wedding shoot (bride in a beautiful red dress).  

The Great Wall

 

 

 

Mutianyu Great Wall

We didn’t find one cache, and but while waiting for Barb to join we found the 2^nd cache after much searching…..adding two new cachers along the way and just after finding it,  an Aussie from Sydney who was an ( intermittent) cacher came along and then a fellow from White Rock (another intermittent cacher) who had been hovering both signed (one of the new cacher comments was “typical male, we do all the work and men swoop in and claim the benefits.”

 

Then down we went on the toboggan….a kilometer luge-like run…..half an aluminum tube on a one person sled.  Instructions at the top….no stopping for photos or cell phone calls!!   We do have photos!

Joyce coming down on Toboggan

Then we went to the Sun Village, a children’s village for children whose parents are in jail.  We were given a tour of the dorms, had a video about how the village came to be and went off to the farm that helps support the organization, to pick strawberries with the children in their greenhouses.  Delicious.   Then went into their canteen (kitchen/dining hall) to make dumplings for our dinner. The founder, a former police officer, was the one who gave us the talk and then went to work to make the dinner, a very dynamic lady.

Then finally off to the hotel….

PS None of us bought any shirts with “I climbed the Great Wall”…aren’t we good!