Jetlag and the Great Wall

I spent the weekend in Huai Rou, which is a couple of hours outside of Beijing. Many people in this area host city-folks on the weekend as a country get-away. We stayed at a place that Alex had stayed at several times before and they remembered him right away. They were great hosts and treated us very well. We slept in rooms off of the main area and they fed us very well. They also made us drink Yangjing beer and lit firecrackers when we arrived. In the afternoon, we attempted a pretty aggressive hike up to the Great Wall, but the beer, jetlag, and heat got the best of us and we only made it halfway. We relaxed all evening and had more delicious food for breakfast.

We are now in Shanghai, which is more modern and more expensive than Beijing, but we are still struggling to find things like internet cafes. We are currently masquerading as Marriott Hotel guests to get the free wifi in their lobby, which is on the 38th floor with an incredible view. You see highrises all the way to the horizon. It’s really hard to fathom how many people live here.

The clouds are moving very fast because of the typhoon off the coast of south China. I hear the weather in Minnesota is a bit stormy as well. I think we’re done with jetlag now, so hopefully I’ll get wittier and more entertaining!