June 24 was a seriously Chinese sort of day. First we went to the great wall--sure enough it's really great! We hiked along for many sections with some other folks from our travel group. Also a fun way to get to know each other. It's so interesting how the hike changes depending on the pitch of the hill at any given moment. There were some stretches that were unbelieveably steep. One surprise to me was the many, many, MANY peddlers on the wall, constantly working to sell you all sorts of things from "I climbed the wall" t-shirts to small dolls of boys 
that really pee. Then we went to one of the few remaining hutongs--the extremely narrow streets with traditional dwellings. A family brought us in for a tour and explained the ins and outs of hutong life. Very interesting. But definitely the highlight was the way we got around in the hutong--rickshaw! We were a little concerned as both Andrew and I climbed into one of the tiny rickshaws. The driver looked a bit concerned also--I noticed he glanced back at his tires as we started. Turns out we all had reason for concern as one of the tires did break! Andrew would want to make sure I told you that it broke on my side though. :-) One other highlight to the day was that we actually found a place for dinner that had REAL ICE CREAM. A wonderful and rare treat in China.
Blessings to all of you on the other side of the planet! Dawn
"A-LEE-theea." Either way it's a beautiful name! Zena is healthy though she doesn't eat much. I have been staying close. Guess what? CBS has Champ car races in 5 minutes! Praying God's angels travel with you, my, isn't He good?
Posted by: