No 2. Wonder of the Week: Great Wall of China

TRAYTABLE, the author's of one of my favourite regular blogs and a fellow flight attendant, got it in one. My second wonder for last week was the Great Wall of China. You go girl! Wow is really all I can say about the World Marvel, oh and you too Tray :)

After speaking with a colleague who had first seen the wall via Badaling, we had all agreed we wanted to travel further out of Beijing by half an hour to a less populated area to visit the wall, at Mutianyu where we could chair lift it up, and toboggan it back down. Perfect.
On arrival I was greeted by stalls and stalls of souvenirs catered to the many tourists spilling out the mini bus doors on a daily basis, however this day due to the balmy weather, we were not too inundated with other sightseers. I was in heaven immediately as I bought up big on many sun dried fruits and nuts from the stall owners where their produce was a plenty. YUM! My Raw Foodie Friends would have loved it. Except I was put off my dried strawberry when one of the pilots referred to the recent melamine scare.

Once up at the main part of the wall for this region, our guide Mike, would drop tidbits of trivia about either the Wall or China history itself (well worth getting your own personal guide), and although it was a VERY cold day and overcast, we could see the wall winding for miles and the autumn colours in the trees were a perfect back drop. The pilots were determined to walk to the top, only to find that at each 'top' there was further to walk to the next 'top'. Didn't they know that the Great Wall is the only man made structure visible from the moon?

The following day, I managed to make it to the Forbidden City, across the road from Tienanmen Square, for a few hours of wandering through the grounds where you are free to even walk through the to the concubines residences. It was totally out of this world.
As you have probably guessed China was part of my amazing trip and I got more than I bargained for in my down time.

More on the shopping later! (When my credit cards are not hurting so much).