Da' Wall! - Monday Dec. 17, 2007

We had to meet even earlier than yesterday...7:30AM. We first went to a traditional medicine pharmacy/museum (I'm not entirely sure). There were oriental medicine doctors to take our pulse; nurses translated from Chinese to Korean. I thought that the nurse was going to have to translate from Chinese to Korea, and then my host mother was going to have to translate from Korean to English, but it turns out that the doctor could speak English. From taking my pulse, he determined that: 1) I have low blood pressure and 2) I have a weak stomach...meaning that I digest food slowly, I guess. Another doctor told me host brother's 12 year old friend that he has stress. My host mom and her friend were told that they need to exercise. All this determined from taking a pulse. China has a goal to check every incoming foreigner's pulse starting in 2008. Oriental medicine is one of the most popular industries in China, and they are trying to make it grow ever more.

We then went to a jade factory and kind of learned about the different kinds of jade (had no idea what they were saying.) I bought a few pairs of earrings for the equivalent of ~$5.00 each. It was so hard for me to figure out exchange rate...I never really knew what I was spending. I either paid in won or asked my host mom what the exchange rate was compared to won.

We then headed to lunch; it was like Chinese/Korean all-in-one. It is a government-owned restaurants with a government-owned store connected to it. Another place we had to stop. I bought a few small things, one being a Beijing t-shirt that says, "One World, One Dream." Hmm...I realized after buying it that it was printed in the states. Ha! I also bought some postcards of Beijing.

After lunch, we headed to an emperor's tomb. He was the 14th emperor of the Ming Dynasty; his name was DingLing. I'll admit, I giggled to myself about that one a little bit. His tomb was excavated...there was an entryway discovered in 1956 to the underground palace. His tomb was initially constructed from 1584-1590. My host mom informed me that many people used to be buried alive with their dead emperors as human sacrifices. This came to an end when little wooden idols were instead placed in the tombs. Inside of the empress' tomb, make-up products were placed. Hmm...I wonder what I will be buried with. What will people say was important to me?

We then made our way to the Great Wall of China!! We took a cable car to an area we could walk on. I rode up with my host family; my host sister was scared of the cable car. The climb was at an incredible incline; my host mom and her friend decided not to walk up. My host mom told me later that a 76 year old woman from our group walked up; I think my host mom felt a little silly after that. I walked up with my host bro; it wasn't a very long climb, just really steep. I can't imagine being one of the people who worked on that wall. There were between 2 and 3 million Chinese that died during the centuries of constructing the wall. We were told it took 260 years by our guide. I bought a painting of the wall from a man who claimed to be the painter; whether that is true or not, I'm not sure, I just liked the painting. At the bottom, we were approached to buy some small souvenirs; they were offered to us for $2 (2 small Great Wall statues and a large wall hanging), so we bought them.

We went to get a foot massage. It was very strange. There were about 9 beds lined up in a room, and we each had a personal foot massager. We were asked if we wanted to pay $15 to get the dry skin scraped off of our feet (how disgusting does that sound?) I went ahead and did it...mostly because my host mom and her friend decided to. The guys massaging our feet were actually quite attractive. They were all 20 except one was 23.^^

We walked over to dinner afterward; we had individual pots for shabushabu. Usually it is all done as a stew in the center of everyone, but I liked the individual deal. I could have my veggies, and they could have their meat!

We went to a...legal black market...after dinner. The whole thing was bargain like crazy with everyone. It was huge!! I bought a beautiful skirt and some earrings. The guide helped me bargain at first, because I wasn't exactly sure what was going on. Honestly, I think I could have done better than the guide, but it was fun watching her argue in Chinese. ;) We were there for about an hour; I just roamed around by myself.

I took a bath when we got back to the hotel and attempted to journal. Tomorrow we have to leave super early, and we have a LONG trip home.