Day #3 The Great Wall, The Tea House, Hu Tong

Day#3
Recap of Day 3
The Great Wall was amazing! Leala, Neil, Ashley and I climbed all the way to the top! I was actually surprised about how steep it was. The Badaling section of the Great Wall that we visited is in northern Beijing It is the most well preserved area of the great wall. The great wall was built to protect China ‘s perimeter from the invasion of nomadic tribes. With the Severity of the incline and the steep steps up to the top, I can see how this was used to guard against the enemy.

The Tea House was nice. A women, a conassiuer of Tea if you will taught us about Tea in China. She showed us how to prepare it and also taught us that they use to for Medicinal Purposes. I am happy to find out that Black tea ppromotes Wait Loss. Guess which Tea I bought. ( Haha)

Market – Pretty Lady! Pretty Lady! This market was inbelivably big, a few floor actually ,like a mall. However you can bargain with everyone! I was a little intimidated at first but after a few transactions you really get the hang of low ballin the prices to get it where you want it to be. One women actually hit me with a shoe trying to get my attention, to look at her shoes! After that I needed to leave! It was getting to be a little overwhelming! But A great experience.

We went to the Hu Tong and honestly it was my least favorite part of the day. We went on a Rickshaw ride through the lanes of the Hutong however I felt uneasy about that. We road through narrow roads that were busy with people. It was actually kind of uncomfortable for me because I felt like, Here we are looking at your poor community on a Rickshaw. I don’t know maybe I shouldn’t have felt that way. But the people just stared at us and I just felt as thought we didn’t belong there. The Rickshaw took us to a locals home, which was pretty neat because we got to see how they lived. It had Two separate structures with a courtyard in the middle. It was very messy outside, empty bottles everywhere, laundry hanging out to dry, Cats and birds all around, potatos hanging from there pavilion, nothing I’m accustomed to. Inside was clean and tidy and followed the patterns of Feng Shui for example it is to good to keep watere in the front of the home , so they had a big bowl with some fish in the front door area. I found out that some house do not actually have toilets in them and they use a communal bathroom.