The Mini Great Wall

Ni hao! Today we had another very long day in China. We awoke in our hotel in Chengde, the next stop for our Chinese journey. The hotel is really nice (4 star) and we slept very well, got ready, ate breakfast, and were on our way. On the agenda for today was the Summer Mountain Resort. When we got there we saw a very talented band of street preformers. The instruments were a few thousand years old and very interesting. The band gave us a special private preformance and then we began our tour. The palace was georgous and looked very similar to the Forbidden City. That did make sense because the Emporor lived in both palaces. Anyways, we toured through the various rooms and museums of the Summer Resort and took in all the beauty of it. We started at the emperor's living quarters and after we finished exploring those, we proceded to the lakes and boundries of the resort. Outside, we ventured through the gardens and began a hike to the "Mini Great Wall". It was a long walk, but compared to yesterday was a piece of cake. We walked on a long path until we saw the wall. The wall at the Summer Resort was a lot smaller then the Great Wall, but, much better preserved. We got some drinks and climbed up the stairs. To our surprise the walk was very easy. The wall was flat and had some railings on it. It was still very steep, but, was more plesant and easier then the day prior. We walked about a half hour and had crystal clear views of the city from where we were. It was beautiful and we could see all of the temples that surrounded the resort. We continued our hike and eventually were done on the wall and got onto a road. After a little walk down there and through a mountain we were back where we started. We made a georgeous loop and saw some beautiful parts of the town. In front of us was an almost more beautiful site, our campgrounds. Riley and Michael, two of our phenominal tour guides, were waiting for us with blankets on the ground and boxed lunched for everyone. Lunch was salad, sandwhich, French fries, and fried chicken. As much as it may sound American, it had a distinctly Chinese flavor. Nonetheless, after our little walk it hit the spot. Our group soon cleaned up our picnic spot and made our way back onto the buses.

Our next stop was the paper cutting museum. We went to the top floor and had a private demonstration from a paper cutting master. The artist made a beautiful butterfly in about two minutes. We were then told that each of us needed to try. Everyone took a paper and a pair scissors and attempted to cut on the lines the master drew for us. She cut it with no lines and it came out georgeous and even with lines our came out not nearly as good. No matter how they came out we were then given the opportunity to purchase some paper cuttings and they were absolutely magnificent. After our "shoppertunity", as Riley our tour guide says, we loaded back on the bus for a quick break at our hotel and then dinner.

Dinner was a little bit different from the rest of our recent meals, it was a dumpling feast with entertainment. The dumplings were filled with anything you could imagine and tasted so good. After that we had cake and were treated with special entertainment. Today was the one year anniversary of the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies (08.08.08) so we are guessing that was the reason for the festivities. Anyways, we had a dance group preform and a male and female singer put on a show for us. It was a very fun time and we all were up dancing and singing with the preformers. When their show was over we all went back to the hotel to get a good nights sleep. Now it is time to do just that because tomorrow is a busy day of touring and travel. Goodnight!