The Great Wall of China
First thing in the morning we had a quick breakfast at McDonald’s and hopped into our tour car. It was a two hour drive before we arrived but even quite a distance away we could see how large it was. The Great Wall is 21,196.18 km long and took over 2,000 years to construct the wall (around 23 centuries to build). It was built as a defence mechanism against the Mongols. Many people helping with the construction of the Great Wall died from starvation, exhaustion, disease and dangerous working conditions. This was a time before the technology that helps build now, so building something so big would be dangerous, over a million people died during its construction.
After our long drive we finally arrived, we waited in a line for a little before being able to go up the chair lift to the wall. It had never occurred to me that the Great Wall was so high up. When we got to the top I was awed at how perfect it looked. We walked some way down but, we were all tired so we headed back to find a huge lineup to get down. We were taking the slide down, the slide had a bunch of luge like vehicles and you got to control the speed on your way down. We waited a hour and a half before it was our turn, it was really fun going down. Unfortunately, people kept abruptly stopping on the track so you could not go very fast.
Tea house
On the way down from the Great Wall we stopped at a traditional tea house where we got to taste tea. A worker showed us how to drink tea traditionally and made us multiple types of teas to try. We all got mini tasting cups and a taller cup which we poured the tea into first before pouring it into the cup so that it smelled like tea. Our instructor told us that it is traditional to smell the tea before drinking it. We tried Fruit tea, Oolong tea, Jasmine tea, Pu-erh tea (or Dark tea), Dian Hong black tea.
I was surprised to find that I liked all of them (well most of them anyway, jasmine is not my favorite, I find that it tastes a lot like soap). I never really enjoyed tea before this trip, I find other countries in the world have much better teas. My favorite type of tea was the Fruit tea it had dried fruit in it and was super sweet without having to add sugar! We also learned that after you steep the hot water with the fruit tea you can remove the dried fruit, which was rehydrated and eat it!
Beijing Zoo/Panda’s
Panda’s are a source of pride in China because Panda’s are only native to China. They are a source of income for China because other countries pay big money to get them at their zoos. We got to see these cool animals at the Beijing Zoo, they were really cute. We also got to see the famous panda, Meng Lan but had to wait a long time in a lineup before we could, Meng Lan was known for attempting to break out of his cage. He was then moved to his own cage that was made so that there was no way to get out.
After we were done seeing the pandas we went to the panda coffee place that was at the end of the panda area. Rylee and I got an ice cream in the shape of a panda which was adorable, my parents got coffees with panda latte art. We also got to see the rest of the zoo which had many animals but, one of the most entertaining animals were the monkeys who were playing and very active.
Dumpling making class
We got to go to a dumpling making class where we rolled out the dough, filled the dumplings and learned to close the dumpling properly. It was really fun and at the end of the class we got to enjoy the dumplings that we made! I found that closing the dumplings was frustrating because I could not get it to look good. We made two types of dumplings pork and cabbage and chive and egg, my favorite was the pork and cabbage dumplings. Rolling so many dumplings took time but it was really fun and our dumplings were delicious (though they may not have been the prettiest). We also got other dishes to go with our dumplings, that were provided by the class.
There are multiple reasons dumplings are important to China, dumplings were created as a frost bite cure. They were originally created to help the Chinese villagers who would often get frostbite on their ears around 1,800 years ago. This helped circulate the blood and keep the villagers warm. They are meant to look like the shape of an ear to represent this although they also look like old Chinese money bags which is why they are believed to bring wealth. Dumplings are also a cultural sign of family because families often come together to make them.
Universal Studios
The Beijing Universal Studios is the newest and largest Universal park in the world. They have Kung Fu Panda world, Harry Potter world, Transformer world, Minion world and Jurassic Park world. My favorite rides were in Jurassic Park and Transformers world, Decepticoaster and Jurassic Flyer. Decepticoaster was a roller coaster in the Transformer world with many loops and turns at high speed, at the beginning it launched us really fast upward. Jurassic Flyer was another roller coaster but the seats were suspended and it was made so that it felt like being a pterodactyl, chasing prey.
I really enjoyed getting Butter Beer from Harry Potter world, it was delicious! We also got an ice cream in the shape of a minion that was banana flavored and my mom got a pineapple passion fruit minion cake. For dinner after our last day at Universal we went to a chocolate restaurant where we had chocolate glazed chicken wings, chocolate bread, a cookie jar milkshake and more.
