The Great Wall

I know everyone has been dying because of my short break from blogging, so it's time for a new blog...about The Great Wall of China!

After being here for over a month, I was starting to feel emabrassed I hadn't visited this famous site yet. But the arrival of Per's parents, they came on Monday, meant it was time to start the REAL sightseeing, and we headed up to the wall.


A 4 hour drive from Tianjin by hired taxi (we had to get up at 5AM!), and we arrived at The Great Wall at Simatai, which is apparently one of the more original pieces of the wall you can visit as well as the highest section of the wall.

Looking up at the wall, my first thought was "how the hell are we going to get up there?" nevermind how they built the wall way the hell up the top of a mountain.

1st view of the wall:


Lucky for us, they've considered lazy Westerners and constructed a number of handy ways to help get to the top.


First we jumped on a cable car (I do not exaggerate, we had to launch/jump onto these things). They certainly looked unreliable but undoubtedly helped us avoid a 2 hour serious hike up the mountain, and that was enough motivation for me. There were a few crazies who walked up...silly people.

Per's parents on the cable car on the way up:

Cable cars:

When we reached the end of the cable car route, my thought was "umm..its still like a million miles up to the wall" and I had a few moments of panic imagining the treacherous climb ahead of us. But no, never fear! There is also a mini-train to help you a little further up the mountain. No interesting pictures of this, but it was also a sketchy mode of transportation.

Still, we had not reached the top despite our 30 minutes of assisted travel. So we had to continue our treck up the mountain on foot for another 20 minutes. A number of Chinese farmers climbed with us...I thought they were just friendly Chinese women who enjoyed walking up the wall every now and then and talking to tourists...but, everyone wants to sell you something. Apparently, even at the very top of a mountain you can buy t-shirts for 2 dollars.

The Lundqvists making their way up:

But we made it and even managed to convince the Chinese women, after much hassle, that we would not be puchasing souvenirs at such high altitudes.

Lundqvist family at the top! The picture is tiny so it is hard to see, but Per's mom is very happy :)

Then it was time to explore the wall..walked up a ton of stairs, explored 4 watchtowers, and took in the amazing (even though it was foggy) view of Mongolia, Chinese mountain sides, and many more miles of wall.

Per and I looking sweaty and tired:

View from one of the higher watchtowers. The wall continues off in the distance down the mountain.


I'm so tiny!




Me working my way up to another watchtower:





Per, a worried prisoner:


Time to head back down again! The hike down was less exhausting but more difficult on the legs. By the end, mine were pretty shaky. Good thing we had the handy train and cable car to help get us down too!

Lundqvists making their way down:





Besides the hawkers, there were some other, even more annoying, pests at The Great Wall. I spent a large part of my time running or swatting these nasty suckers away.



Nasty Great Wall bugs:





And as usual, they seemed to flock to the one person most disturbed by them. As we rode the cable car down, THREE of them decided to sit next to me. Can you say, invading my personal bubble? Needless to say, I was VERY unhappy about my unwated cable car guests. Per was pretty unhappy with my squirming on the ancient cable car as well as my squeals as they flew at my face.

Per thought it necessary to document my distaste:

Per on the way down:

By this time I was really tired, exhausted, hungry, and sweaty, and there was STILL a 4 hour drive back to Tianjin ahead of us.

This is pretty much how I felt (I share this with you because it made me laugh so hard on the cable car I cried):

Incredible that someone so attractive can look so hideous right? :)

That was my first trip to The Great Wall. I will return with my parents in a few weeks.



A short list of other recent events:

Per's work for the last year has paid off! Vestas had their audit the last week in September, and they got the certificate which Per has been preparing for. His managers have given him rave reviews, and I am SO proud of him!

We ate hot pot in TEDA, where Per works, and we ordered shrimp. Couldn't possible have eaten anything fresher, they arrived at the table implailed by sticks and still moving.

Went to the tailor today, and had three really cheap suits made for the three Lundqvists. I will get one if they turn out good :)

Per and I booked our trip to Singapore and Malaysia for the second week in November! Very exciting.

Tried a Chinese public bus to get to the airport when we picked up Per's parents...never again.

Today was the 60th anniversary of the creation of the People's Republic of China. Lots of festivities (very elaborate and impressive) on TV which are taking place in Beijing, and a small fireworks show in Tianjin. Most of China has vacation the next week.