March 19: The Great Wall

Today we went to the Great Wall. We first stopped for a tour of a jade factory. These tours are 5% tour and 95% sales job. Of course we tourists all buy things anyway! The ladies are very skilled at putting jade bangles on women – they use a plastic bag to get them on and off and choose the size that they think is right for you. It is Chinese custom for a woman to wear a jade bangle until her daughter is 18 and then she gives it to her to wear. So, I bought one – how could I resist when the woman told us that the colours would intensify over time and that by the time Norah was ready to wear it, it would be worth so much in value that it would be priceless? I did manage to get her down to a good price – for jade that is – jade is very expensive, as it turns out. I drove a surprisingly hard bargain – so much so that the sales lady leaned over after I negotiated with her manager and asked me not to tell anyone else in our group what I paid for the bracelet. The only problem now is that I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to get the bracelet off myself. I am not trained as the ladies at the factory are. And once I’m off my Pringles diet my wrist is sure to get bigger.

We then went to the Great Wall and climbed and climbed and climbed and then we climbed some more. Norah fell asleep in my arms on the bus, so Doug wore the carrier and we put her in it while she was still asleep. At this point Doug declared that “all Hell would break loose on the Great Wall” when Norah woke up to find that she was with Doug rather than me. Doug and Norah climbed to the point where most people stop, Norah had a bottle to psych herself up, and then they kept going. I went ahead of them to navigate the steps for Doug. Let me just say that the Great Wall is one looong wall! It goes on forever. Doug bought a t-shirt that says, “I climbed the Great Wall” - we couldn’t find one for Norah that said, “I slept through the Great Wall.”

We got home and a bunch of us went to see the seals that are in our hotel. Norah liked the seals but loved the running water in front of the seal tank even more. We were all pretty tired, so after another Pringles dinner (Norah had formula, in case you were concerned), we went to bed.