Nicole's Trip to Beijing Part II

A picture of our "hot pot" dinner


Whit and I at the Great Wall


I awoke on Monday morning to find out that we would be going to a small Korean restaurant for a late breakfast before heading out to the Great Wall. The restaurant was basically a small concrete walled room with a few tables. Erika, Dan, Whitney, MMX (Whitney’s boyfriend) and I all had the same thing. It came in a very hot black bowl that had rice on the bottom, piles of carrots, mushroom, something that tasted and looked like pickled bark, a spicy red paste and then a partially cooked egg on top. The dish is served piping hot so you mix everything together really fast and the egg proceeds to cook. Other than the pickled bark the meal was hardy, warm and generally satisfying.

We left the restaurant and piled into MMX’s car to head to the Great Wall. The area of the wall we were going to was about an hour and a half away. We traveled through many small towns and relatively small cities on our way. The thing that kept popping up was these brightly colored pieces of exercise equipment in small park areas. It seamed like every town had an area like this. None of the machines were electric but there were elliptical like equipment and such. Whitney said that mostly older adults used these areas. I would love to see the United States install areas like this in every community. Gym memberships are very expensive and this makes exercise equipment available to everyone.

When we arrived at the area of the Great Wall we were going to walk there was a woman with a camel in the parking lot. I was about to pull out my camera to take a picture when Whit informed me that you have to pay to take a picture. That was my first indication that we were about to enter a very “touristy” area. When you exit the parking lot you have to walk up a hill which is really a rather long row of vendors selling everything from hats, mittens, and souvenirs to quilts and snacks. When you get arrive at the top of the first hill you pay 40 RMB ($5) for a ticket to ride a gondola to the top of the mountain. After purchasing our tickets we made our way up the second steep hill to the gondola entrance. All five of us squeezed into the car and made our way up, past the tree line, to the very top of the mountain. When we stepped out the Great Wall was directly in front of us. It had begun to snow and the scene was truly breathtaking. The wall ran in each direction as far as we could see. We climbed the steps in font of us onto the wall itself. Along the wall there are small “watch towers” interspersed. We walked through the first one and when I came to the stairs on the other side my stomach did a flip flop. The stairs appeared to be straight down and on either side there seemed to be nothing but steep mountain sides. Whit thought we may have to turn around and go back because my case of vertigo was so severe. I was able to make my way down the stairs with MMX holding one arm and Dan holding the other. I handed over Derek’s camera to MMX so that he could take pictures of the wall because I was afraid to look. I always thought the Great Wall was relatively flat, I was so wrong! You are basically climbing mountains with steps built into them. After about twenty minutes I regained my composure and was able to enjoy the scenery. We climbed up and down, up and down for about 3 miles until we came to an exit stairway. At the bottom of the stairway there is a giant slide you can take to get down the mountain. Unfortunately, the slide was closed for the winter so we were forced to take a not-so-new chairlift down the mountain. This was probably more frightening than my initial shock at the beginning. The chairlift, Great Wall and gondola form a triangle so we got off the chairlift in the same location we got on the gondola. We made our way back to our cars which lead us past the vendors (who spoke English very well). We piled back in the car to head back to Beijing.

When back in Beijing Whit wanted the five us to go to “hot pot” for dinner. We went to a large shopping area and entered a glass elevator on a sidewalk that took us into a very nice restaurant. There was no wait but Whit and Erika pointed out that if there were a wait the restaurant has a place where you can play games or even get your nails done while you wait for your table.
We sat a large table and the wait staff brought us each our own aprons and placed covers over our jackets and purses. I new I was in for a new experience. In the middle of the table were two built-in boiling pots. I was informed that one contained a very spicy broth and the other a clear mild broth. MMX ordered for us. Fairly soon after plates of thinly sliced beef, lamb, cubes of beef, lotus, sweet potato and lots of other veggies started to appear. Everyone just picked what they wanted, choose what type of broth to cook it in and let their stuff cook in the broth for a few minutes. Then we used our chop sticks to pick out our favorite meats and veggies to eat. Just when I would think we were done another plate would appear. Also, there was a never ending supply of watermelon that was delicious! When we had finished the meat and vegetables one of the waitresses came to our table with eggs. You pick which broth you want her to crack yours into. Then about seven minutes later you fish out the egg with your chopsticks and have a perfectly cooked poached egg. Just when I thought we couldn’t possibly finish another bite the noodle man arrived. He starts out with a small piece of dough and proceeds to do what looks like rhythmic gymnastics while stretching the noodle. In the end the noodle is about ten feet long and it has never touched the ground. It is quite the show! The noodle is broken into pieces and cooked in the broth. All totaled we probably spent over three hours at the restaurant. It was definitely one of the most unique dinners of my life. After such a long day of climbing the Great Wall and a huge meal I was ready for bed. We headed back to Whitney’s for the night. The next day we were headed to Silk Street for shopping…