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Introduction
April 8 - Flying to Beijing
April 9 - Beijing
April 10 - Beijing
April 11 - Beijing to Guiping
April 12 - Guiping
April 13 - Guiping to Guilin
April 14 - Guilin to Beijing
April 15 - Beijing to home
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We headed out to the Great
Wall at Badaling today. On the way, we drove by the 2008
Olympic construction. The buildings will be amazing when
they are done. The main building will look like a birds' nest
when it's finished.
Also on the way, we stopped at a jade factory. We picked
up purple jade earrings for Amy and Grandma. I picked out
a ring and Amy found a snake. It was a beautiful shop, although
high pressure sales were the norm again.
We were served another huge lunch before the climb, although
we didn't eat much.
Mark, Amy and I went to the walking part, along with one
of our travelmates. The other two went to the top on the cable
car. I made it to the third of eight gates. Mark and the two
girls made it to the top - 7km one way, very steep and exhausting.
It took them just over an hour to get up and 45 minutes to
come down. Amy held J's hand almost the entire way - and talked
the whole time, too. She made it the whole way without complaining.
They had an M&M snack for fortification at the top and
then came back down. I met them and came back to the bottom
with them. While I was waiting, I took pictures for people
and posed in other people's pictures as well.
 
On the way home, we all rested. It took well over 2 hours
to get through Beijing traffic. We canceled our tour of the
Summer Garden and went to dinner (lots of food again!). We
went shopping in a connected mall. Amy had been pining for
a stuffed kitty and was ecstatic to purchase it. We also purchased
a few pairs of shoes for Amy. After shopping, we went back
to the hotel to pack and get ready for our early wake-up call
to go to Guangxi.
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