In this first week we hiked Earth’s Great Wonder, the Great Wall.  This was our first encounter with the forewarned crowds of people.   To ease into the experience we chose to hike in the less crowded direction (which still contained thousands of people). We quickly learned how to weave around those who suddenly stop in their tracks to take photos or talk to people or in the occasional event of us avoiding being spat upon. We were definitely the loudest group and clumped together we stood out like a sore thumb. Which added to the fun, at least we were easy to find when we got separated by impenetrable clusters of tourist. Along with the touristy nature of the Great Wall, we each had our first attempt at buying items, whether souvenirs or refreshments for ourselves.  Some had better luck than others. I definitely paid too much for cheap souvenirs, which was a lesson in which I learned to look, not buy and when buying, only pay a reasonable amount.

A lull in the crowd on the less crowded path and very steep stairs.

We also toured the Summer Palace, built a long time ago by workers digging out a lake and piling the sediment into a hill on which much of the palace buildings were constructed. The large crowds here made it very difficult for me to enjoy the sites as I was busy trying to keep from getting lost in the crowd.  Luckily we were able to escape the dense crowds by taking a paddle boat ride around the lake for an hour.  The paddle boat was great for relaxing, fun conversation, picture taking and cheering on the paddlers. As time went on through the trip I eventually relaxed and realized that it was ok to wander a few feet away from the group if you kept track of where they are and where they’re headed.

Summer Palace and the boats we eventually paddled around the lake on.

Even on the lake there was tons of people that we had to avoid running into.

Art along the walkway ceiling at Summer Palace.

After wandering through the Summer Palace for many hours we rushed over to the Forbidden City before it closed its doors for the evening.  I’m still slightly confused on what’s so forbidden about it.  We were told that the public is forbidden from entering, only the governmental elite were allowed in.  But this must be truth from the past because the place was teeming with thousands of tourists including ourselves and no governmental elite were spotted (though we did see some military personnel).

Giant wall at Forbidden City entrance.

A big courtyard and building at Forbidden City.

A huge building along the side of Tienanmen Square

This first week required a lot of adjustments for us to slide into some of the cultural aspects of being in a new country and not speaking the local language.  We had to adjust to a very different time zone (Beijing is 15 hours ahead of Oregon), a different look, value and price for money spending.  Even crossing the street is different! Cars aren’t likely to stop for pedestrians, you must wait for an opening and often you can only cross one lane or half way at a time. Of course we also had to adjust to using chopsticks, even for slippery items such as noodles.  This we luckily had a little ease into because the hotel still laid out silverware for breakfasts.  We quickly adjusted to our new roommates, which turned out to be great pairings after a few minor tweaks the first afternoon. And possibly the most difficult adjustment was that of not being able to clearly communicate with the majority of people around us. No longer could we read a menu and order food we wanted, we couldn’t even ask for a table!  We couldn’t ask what things were and asking the price of things was occasionally quite difficult. Even asking where the bathroom was or directions to a meeting place if we’d gotten lost could have proven extremely difficult. We were very grateful that many signs and a few people were bilingual and that numbers are often written as numbers instead of characters. We also lucked out on having a great guide, assistant, organizer, translator and tai chi master leading the combined group of Americans and British. We survived these adjustments and often had fun with them or at least found a way to laugh about them.

Most signs are in characters. Some were luckily in English, especially KFC and Pizza Hut.

Another important aspect of this week was inquiring about everything. We had thousands of questions about everything around us such as: What does this sign mean?  What are they saying? What are we doing next? What is this we are eating?.  Many of these questions were answered but I quickly gave up on asking questions about the cultural sites and items we were seeing as it was becoming apparent that we were wearing down the translators within our group very quickly. Eventually I also stopped asking about what we were eating, it was easier to just taste it and determine whether or not I enjoyed it before figuring out what the food was.

A food vendor with lots of possible foods to attempt. Of the foods pictured here we only tried the shark and squid (or octopus).

This first week was full of adventures.  Our eyes were opened to an entirely new environment, culture, economy, transport system, and to new friends traveling as our group.  Much of my thoughts were of pondering the differences yet similarities between the Chinese and American lifestyles that we were able to see and experience. Occasionally I had to pinch myself and remind myself that I really was in China on a very amazing, life changing adventure. Quil