Megan: Explorer, Navigator, Scientist.

Hello! I have returned to my blog after a few days of exhausting travel. and I'll do my best to let you know what is going on in my whirlwind trip. It took me a 10 hour train ride to get caught up on my paper journal so if you think I'm being detailed here you should see that tour de force (I've used up half of it in only 8 or 9 days....)

So anyway! Monday night Kaitlyn arrived safe and sound (though with plenty of stories to tell about her trip from the airport) and after a delcious dinner from Rick and Rachel we headed of to see some Beijing Opera. Apparently booking through my hostel granted me delux service since Rick drove us to the theater in his red sports car, pushed through the crowds and ushered us directly to our seats. How about that for attention!

As we sat catching up, some performers carried around tea kettles with spouts about 3 feet long and poured tea in gravity defying displays (like backwards behind their heads) The theater we were at was geared toward tourists as indicated by the English subtitles and countinuing clicking of cameras but the pro was that they offered a selectyion of scenes to introduce the art form to people who didn't know too much about it. The first one featured an inn owner and a guest who fought in the dead of night because they were suspcious of eachother. The acrobatics were more important than the reason behind them. It was like watching a live action artistic kung fu movie. The second one was the story of a nymph who fell in love with the poet Li Bai and then had to fight off the army of the Gods. It featuredplenty of girl power as the leading lady juggled femon arrows with her feet, but I'm afraid I don't fully appreciate Chinese Opera singing. I either think of the old ladies in the park or mom tormenting the dogs with high pitch wailing.

The evening was spent socializing a bit more before I collapsed in bed.

Kaitlyn and I woke up super ealry (try 5:30 AM) to get a seat on the Great Wall tour. We got on a shuttle bus where they served us shady sandwhiches and water before we were relocated to a charter bus for the 3.5-4 hour drive. You may think that's ridiculous, but we were going to Jingshling and Simatait, sections of the wall that opened recently, haven't been fully restored, and therefore are solitary and free of crazy tourist crowds. kaitlyn and I took the chance to shop at a market to sample some local cuisine. The kekoukele Ling was standard fare and the "Francebread" was suprisingly delcious if devoid of many french bread characteristics but Kaitlyn;s cereal turned out to be oddly flavored crakcers. On the plus side my chocolate treats were dlicious.

I would like it to be noted that we did brave public restrooms. They could have been worse, but they were certainly an adventure within themselves.

Im struggling with how to describe the wall to you because I know that even my phots will not do a sufficent job in showing the beauty and the magnitude of what we experienced. From the moment I saw the towers and the winding shape of the wall across these terribly steep mountain ridges I was stunned and immediatly started taking piles and piles of photographs (maybe 200 total for the day) We saw all kinds of features and differences along our four hour hike (and you will see that hike is a light descirption of what we did) We began on a restored section where the brick was dark and the wall was wide and impressive. There were so few people there that I got pictures of myself standing alone. Other regions were so old that the rocks were crumbling and entire trees and bushes had overtaken what was built. While we started out flat, there were a few towers where the going was so steep that we had to crawl. Baisically, the US would never allow these safety standards ut that's why we're in China! My British, German, New Zealand, and other fellow climbers joked about this fact for the entirity of the trek.

From the minute Kaitlyn and I picked the tough \ hike up over the lame cable cars we agreed that we were not wimpy but rather strong adventurers. Our courage was tried by slipping rocks, dizzying heights, anda swinging rope bridge. Then, at the end there was the zip line. It was the kind of thing they make reality contestants do because it's entertaining when they cry and refuse and then do it and say they changed because of the fear. bBaiscially the people who had just let us slip over crumbling buildinghs hung a zipling from a top tower down to the ground over a river and wanted us to go down it. There were other options... but no! Danger must be tested. I tried to laugh off my nerves by asking the gizzled lady suiting me up if my gear made me look beautiful and telling the unnecessarily uniformed operator that I was nervous. It didn't work. The operator pushed on my shoulders to get me to sit down and then pushed me over the edge. My body reacted properly when it saw my feet dangling in mid air and my heart started racing! But quickly I realized wahat a joyous feeling it was to soar over the turquoise water and feel so free.

That night I was exhausted and I countered my manly deeds of the day by sawing the many holes in my purse shut and watching Tae Kwon Do matches on CCTV.

The train ride in the morning the next day went pretty well. it was not the exact 9 hours and 59 minutes that was promised nor was it harmonious as the name "Train of Harmony" siggests but it was close enough so I'll let it slide. My favorite moment of the trip came about 5 hours in when the whiny, bratty girl next to me saw me taking a picture and said "take. a . picture" in broken English. I smoothly replied "Oh, do you speak English" in Chinese and her jaw dropped After she knew I could understand her complaints and her efforts to read my book, she withdrew and the ride was much easier

I'll quickly summarize today.

* I navigated my way through this very confuising but beautiful city. Shanghai was a booming center a number of decades ago so it's a combination of turn of the century New York (I swear, I should be singing Seize the Day and doing Bell Kicks up and down the streets) and something out of the Jetsons.

* The Bund, or the promenade by the water has a goregous view but I preferred learning the histories of the dated buildings accross the street that started as mansions and were usually transformed into Communist headquarters.

* Shanghai has a book district! Totally nerded out about that experience for a number of minutes.

* I took a taxi to Yuyuan gardens which was lwess of a garden experience and more of a shopping center. It was goregous though and thanks to my tour book I found heavenly sticky buns that cured the loss of appetite I had been going through for the last few hours., I could have stayed there for hours

*Instead, I bought tickets for Romeo and ZhuYinTai tomorrow night! Wooo cultural experiences. From there I tried to find Mao's former residence that was mentioned on a map but I think it was actually a little too obscure to find oddly enough, THEN I managed to find my way back on Shanghais's very nice metro system (I guess I now have a killer senese of direction)

One last thing before I go.

An open letter to the Chinese People:
I like you. I think you're generally very kind, helpful and friendly people. I'll forgive you fo r being loud, cause hey I''m loud too!

However, one thing has to change. Please stop staring at me. I get it, I'm Western but thhere are many other Western people in the city and there will be even more in a few months! No matter how long you stare or how often you retrace your steps my eyes will not get any bigger, my skin will not get any paler, my curves will not get any curvier (unless I eat more sticky buns mmmm) and my hair will not get any more... similar to youer s in color. Mmmkay?

That's all for now! I love and miss you all!