Simian Farmer: The China Diary (9 of 10)

Nearing the end now.

I'm a little more upbeat in this journal entry, but still seem to take an inordinate amount of pleasure in slagging the food. It really wasn't all that bad... honest.

I'm impressed that I used a semi-colon correctly.

Monday, 27th March 1989
Hua Du Hotel
Beijing

Well, today has been the best day I've had since Hong Kong. I got up at around 7:00 and then went down to the "Western Restaurant" and had some more shit for breakfast. Then we got ready and took off for the Great Wall. It was almost a 2 hour drive by bus and I slept most of the way. When we got there we started climbing this section of wall that went for 1 km before it ended and became the old unrenovated section. On the way up, I shot 22 pictures or so. On the way down I bought a T-shirt, and I bought another one when I got to the bottom. On the way back to the bus, we found out how persistent peddlars can be. The just wouldn't let us alone. We then drove a ways and had some almost edible lunch and then walked over to a very disappointing Ming Tomb. then we took off back to the hotel, got settled back into our rooms, and I went upstairs to visit everybody. I was invited to Julie's room and we talked sex and stuff; it was a lot of fun. But then it was time to go to bed, and you know what happens now.
'Night.

I wish I would have put more effort into describing my experience at The Wall. It really was the most humbling part of the entire trip. Most of us were exhausted just walking the short distance back and forth that has been refurbished for tourists. Can you imagine the human effort to build more than 5,000 kilometres of that thing!? Truly staggering.

Group shot, eight of the nine of us. I'm the handsome fella 'twixt the two girls in the middle.

Greatwall

And though it's a bit premature, a second picture, just of me, to make up for none in the last post. This is on the return flight home. I'm posting this one because I'm sporting one of the shirts I referenced in the journal entry above.

It reads:

Sticks and stones may break my bones,
But whips and chains excite me.

Sticksandstones