10 degrees, sunny
Tianjin is the Chinese port for
Beijing. We had to choose to either see Beijing or the Great Wall – we chose
the Wall.
When we booked this cruise so
many months ago we also booked an excursion that was to take us off of the ship
for a few days, fly to see the Terracotta Soldiers, the Great Wall and also
Beijing. This was unfortunately cancelled due to an itinerary change. We were
and still are a bit disappointed. We figured that being in Beijing someday would
be likely and getting to the Wall is a bit of a production, hence…we saw the
Wall.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzsRScb7gWsbpXRv9hhXTv64ItnFr1VFQpm5ht7F5J_GC1Ret56pUT2h84BqG6HbNC_JDiKoVPjFhRkVo8udhyphenhyphenJQpJX9Ta94le1LbIzzOfgEkLrx-ZIwGEHhmU1zJiD4-N4OtMcg/s320/IMG_2161.JPG)
It was a very long day with a lot
of driving and way too much time spent in the passport line, but what we saw
was fantastic. The part of the wall at Huangyaguan is in a remote
part of northern China, but that is close to the port – still 2.5 hours. The
cruise tours and a few other visitors are the only ones at the Wall – this is
great. This part of the Wall is on a steep mountain ridge. Climbing it was a
bit of challenge and we certainly didn’t climb all that there was to climb at
the Huangyaguan part. We spent about an hour climbing up and then down. It was
the perfect day for this – clear and cool. I can only imagine what it would be
like on a hot day…I am thrilled to be here at this time of the year.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSJpnZhK1Bwb98KWXRmfM3o_DnAXtFt7IyHTNus7Ws9bhFjycJ79U95oD8TFBf9cY-3AXhTK4XElBA-SmiEaiaS68b-i_zqGLhN58EBPpmpps8OajPo2zgmEzIrz3H6cXzN55UYA/s320/IMG_2145.JPG) |
see how steep the steps are |
Along our hike, we passed through
watch towers. Some of the wall was a steep incline, some were shallow steps and
some were very steep. As usual, coming down was harder than going up.
After our visit to the Wall we
had a traditional
Chinese lunch at a local restaurant,
although described as traditional, it was very accessible and very good. The
lunch was also HUGE. It was served family style and just when we all thought
the food was finished, out came some more, and then more. The return to the
ship was another 2 hours on the bus.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvcTIIkbJHBc3y5MLHpf8qb2aXWZhrhLsDDTcMKnY0JcAVJwu9h4GgrPGGz_tpEbZu6OaVqb7gJGHhEZf0BFSvBtoFoDQ7hyphenhyphenUbZR4EeZARYQmL1JwlLzIp0n8Ya-Uw1pL1mMtyBQ/s320/IMG_2166.JPG) |
apricot seed?? |
All in all, it was an 11 hour day (2 of these
due to Chinese immigration) for an hour at the Wall and an hour at lunch, but
we didn’t regret a minute – thankfully and I’ll say it again…the weather was
fantastic! I wouldn’t do it again, but I’m glad I did it.
Another interesting thing that
happened was I tried what I think are called apricot nuts – I googled apricot nuts
and didn’t get what I tried, so if anyone knows what these are please let me
know. They were like a large, hard bean pod. You peeled the outer shell off and
ate the fruit around a small inner very hard seed. The fruit was like dried
fruit, very sweet, chewy and dry-ish.
2 comments:
Looks amazing!
The wall looks amazing! No idea what that fruit is.
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