Friday, November 29, 2013

Breaking the law

 Loup met us at the hotel for his last day in China overlapping with our trip. We walked down the nearby "hutong" or alley. Our neighborhood is super hip, but more crowded than Williamsburg typically. We kept seeing these candied fruit sticks. Loup said that they're not for summer because the heat melts the caramel, but upon tasting it, I knew it was just sugar covered. The most common fruit is crabapple but we got an assortment. I tried cherry tomato. That was weird.
 We drove to the country side and ate at a trout farm where they literally catch your fish right in front of you, bash its head in, gut it, and grill it...all fresh. We ordered a little bit of everything to taste a lot of different dishes.
 Seeing the fish still partially alive as she started cutting him up was very sad.
 We then went on the goose chase of a lifetime. Loup wanted to take us to a specific part of the great wall, but he couldn't find it. We were lost, and every time he'd ask for directions people had no clue what he was talking about. Finally, as the sun was going down, we decided to see the Lakeside part of the wall. We were the only ones there, and Loup said that rules were just guidelines. So we climbed this part...
 Not going to lie, but I was a little scared. Mostly because I didn't want to climb back down. I didn't even want to walk back to the edge to see Aaron climb up because of the vertigo.
 No one was there.
 There's the other side of the mountain and the untouched wall.
 The slants here are pretty steep. We were all panting after climbing up.
 Nothingness.
 There was a little part of me that was constantly afraid that someone was going to catch us. Of course we'd be in a lot of trouble because Aaron and myself couldn't communicate with anyone other than Loup.
 The guard tower was open as well.
 I climbed over the safety wall and took this shot with the part that had no side wall. So cool. Check out the part that is no longer over the water.
 I love the curves in the wall.
 Here's the "do not enter" sign. We're super phased.
 The last stop was the bird's nest and water cube, but being as cold as it was, this was the closest we got. I'm lame when it comes to weather.
Here's our hotel. Super chinese looking.

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