Let’s Go Kick Some Hunny Buns! – Part 3

The next morning, while Paul slept in I made  trip to the local grocery.  It was a fun experience—so many unfamiliar things.  I brought back a smorgasbord of items that I hoped would hold us over for the next couple of days.  Some of the snacks were delicious… others not so much :)

This day we decided to just stay in the city instead of try to head over to the Summer Palace.  We checked out a recommended shopping area and went to quite a few sports stores.

Paul wanted a photo with the USA jersey mannequins.  When we tried it in the store, we got yelled at.  Oops.  So then I told Paul I’d get a photo of him in front of the ones in the store window.  Instead of coming out side with me, he went back inside and stood in the display… I can only smile :)

Next we grabbed some lunch/dinner in the mall.  I got some “grass jelly” frozen yogurt with mango toppings which was delicious.  Paul went the more substantial meal route with some spicy pork over rice.

From there we decided to head back to the main city center so that we could experience “Snack Street” before we left Beijing.  On the way there we saw this church which we thought was interesting because we didn’t know they had churches in China.

Let the mayhem begin….  I’ll let the photos do most of the talking :)

Now that looks like something I could eat…

We ended up wimping out and going for fried bananas.  I would say that I wish we had tried something weird, but honestly I’m perfectly happy with our decision :)

While we were there, we got asked by a group of Chinese students if they could take a photo with us :)   We were some of the only Westerners there.  I tried to get them to get a photo with my camera, but they couldn’t figure it out.  Definitely one of the downsides to not having a point-and-shoot.  I have to say I was a bit disappointed that the Chinese guys couldn’t get it—I thought all Asians were tech-savvy ;)

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The next morning we were off early to head to the main Beijing train station to catch a ride out to Gubeikou which was our next destination.  The 1.5hr bus ride was only $2.40 each… amazing!  The bus was packed… good thing we got on early enough to get seats.

Once we reached the end of that line, we opted to take a taxi (45 min ride) instead of wait an hour for another bus (1.5hr ride) to get to the hotel so that we could get in a hike on the wall before dinner.

We arrived at the Great Wall Box House and were thoroughly impressed.  This is probably my favorite place out of anywhere we’ve ever stayed.  It was a little on the expensive side, but completely worth it.  It’s a blend of a B&B and hostel.  It has a very nice laid back atmosphere with newly restored rooms.  We had a private room which was great—complete with a mini-fridge, fireplace, good pressure shower, ipod dock & surround sound, and a fancy toilet with all sorts of buttons that I was afraid to use.

After our introduction to the grounds, we opted to head out for a hike of the Curling Dragon section of the wall.  After explaining the rout using the map the owner had painted, one of the staff led us to the start of the path and we were off!

We both LOVED hiking the Great Wall—definitely one of the highlights of our year!

The hike was a loop that took us through the quaint town of Gubeikou (or as Paul likes to call it—Chinese Danville) on our way back…

That night was our first “family dinner’ at the Great Wall Box House (GWBH).  They cook all of their food from scratch—a lot of it comes from their garden out back and throughout the complex and the meat comes from local farmers.  It was delicious!  They give each person a smallish bowl of rice and then server the rest of the food family-style in the middle of the table.  You’re supposed to use your chopsticks to get the food from the main dishes into your bowl of rice and then you eat it from there.  I have to say that Paul and I held up pretty well, but it was a little disconcerting since you’re eating with natural-born chopstick users.  Luckily, there was another western couple there that ate with us.  We had a really nice time meeting them and visiting with them over the  next day and a half.  After dinner was over, they served us the owner’s favorite rice wine in small glasses.  I was a little nervous thinking it would be really strong like a liquor, but it ended up being very enjoyable -- Paul thought rice wine was delicious :)