This weekend was a three-day weekend in celebration of International Labor Day on May 1. Since we had an extra day off, we went with friends on a day trip to the Great Wall. We left home at seven o'clock, stopped at McDonald's for breakfast, and then met up with our fellow tourists at 8:45. We then boarded a bus for the Great Wall and arrived around 11:30. The scenery was a stark contrast to the previous time we had visited the Great Wall, which had been in the middle of winter: the trees were covered with light green leaves, and there were blossoming pear trees all over. Since it was an unrestored section of the wall, we had to hike up a rather steep mountain path to get to it, and by the time we got there we were both pretty much spent (but Benjamin more so since he had carried Seth most of the way). Seth, however, decided that he needed to join the rest of our group in hiking to the nearest tower, so up we went.Next we took a taxi to a local farming village. The farmers there supplement their income from farming by hosting homestyle dinners for out-of-town guests. We had a delicious meal of fresh eggs, fish, and vegetables, including a few wild vegetables that cannot be found in the grocery stores.
After lunch we went horseback riding to another section of the Great Wall. We were unsure of how Seth would do, and he was a little scared when we first got on the horse, but once we started walking he couldn't stop smiling. We rode up to the wall, got off our horses to look around, and then rode back down. Unfortunately, Seth decided about a minute down from the wall that he had had enough horseback riding, so we dismounted and I had to carry him all the way back to the farmer's house! (Benjamin and I did our fair share of carrying Seth yesterday, not to mention hiking and climbing, and we are both feeling it today.)After our group was done riding, we boarded a bus for home. This was definitely the most tedious part of the trip, what with everybody in China going sightseeing over the three-day weekend. We waited in line for about half an hour to board a bus which took us a few miles, then waited another half hour to board a second bus which took us the rest of the way back to Beijing. Our tour guide told us that the trip normally takes 70 minutes, but it took us four hours to get back to the bus terminal in Beijing. We didn't get home until around nine o'clock at night.
Seth was a little angel the entire day. The only time he was even remotely fussy was when we woke him up in the morning and made him get dressed. (He is accustomed to sleeping as late as he wants.) He was so good, in fact, that the other members of our group, who don't have children, all commented on his wonderful behavior. In order to make up for his extraordinary behavior yesterday, though, he seems to be extra pouty and whiney today. Maybe he's just upset that we are relaxing at home when we had such a fun-filled day yesterday. Despite his great behavior and all the fun we had, we have a renewed desire to wait to do more sightseeing until Seth is a little older. I'm sure we will forget this resolution in time--we always do--but we're planning to take it easy for the next couple of months!
