Mooncakes and the Great Wall

Moving on to the last recap about the Moon Festival. So here's the deal, evidently there is some widely celebrated Moon Festival in China. It celebrates some story about a Chinese woman from the Moon who brought rabbits for good luck back to earth.... Something of the sort. Every chinese person you ask to tell you the story, tells you a different one.

What is the Moon Festival known for? MOON CAKES!!! WOOO! (in all actuality I would have to be forced in order to eat a moon cake.) They can be made with many different designs and shapes but essentially they are a little 'cake' that has some sort of filling on the inside, whether it be meat floss, berries, ice cream, etc. (Don't ask me what meat floss is... I do not know)

 

My school put on a Moon Festival Celebration whereupon I was prompted to be the coordinator for the moon cake making room. The children would come in and take some pre-made dough and filling and put them together into the mold. I was on oversight patrol. If you ever need to know how to make a moon cake... Come see me. Aahaha!

OK THE BIG KAHUNA!!!

OF course I visited the Great Wall of China. However, I did not just visit this wondrous structure, I camped for a night on this structure! Technically not what you were supposed to do, but we found plenty of neighbors in nearby guard towers doing the same thing.

Yes, that is a real picture, no I didn't photo-shopped anything. Moving on, so this section of the Great Wall was called Jinshangling. My friends and I were supposed to go to Si Ma Tai, but evidently there was some kind of road block so we went here instead. The route to take: from Beijing City, take the Express bus 980 from Dongzhimen Bus Station to the City of Minyuan (should be a bit over an hour or so). Get off at the LAST STOP! ahah Do not let the Chinese taxi drivers take you off the bus before you need to! They will shout hello and see if they get a response. Ahah that is how they got us. Anywho, if you go during the day, there are plenty of minibuses that will bring you to the Great Wall from Minyuan. If you arrive during the evening/late afternoon, you will have to find a taxi and they will try to rip you off. Don't go over 200-250 kuai for the entire cab (50 kuai per person)

If you camp on the Great Wall, I would advise going during the summer months because it gets freezing up there! or bring some kind of foam mat to put your sleeping bag on because of how cold the stone gets at night.

So I went with a  bunch of friends, mostly English (how unusual) Cady (English girl), James (English), Owen (English & the Best House-mate EVAR!), Brendan (the Irishman), Simon (Canadian), Andrew (American), and Alex (American).

Here's a picture of the best house-mate ever, and everyone else ahah. Well not everyone, some people went off to explore Si Ma Tai, but they're playing cards at around 9am on the wall.

So we got to the top (the wall) around 4 or 5 and we picked a spot to sit by 6or 7 and set up camp! There was a steady supply of baozi available as well as sweet bread, animal crackers, chips and ahhhhh Baijiu (Traditional Chinese alcohol made from rice, really gross and smells like paint-thinner, also very cheap) We met a French couple, some Germans who were camped out in the next tower, some Irish folk (I could not understand a word of what they said), some Canadians and some Spaniards! 

             The Night was absolutely freezing, I think I remember shivering every minute I was laying down. But all in all the experience was a good one! 

p.s. I've come to terms with my fear of ancient steps (realized in Machu Picchu, and exaggerated and accepted on the Great Wall) Shout out to Ali and Marta for holding my hand down Machu Picchu and Cady for holding my hand down the Great Wall! ahaha!