Day 32 - The Great Wall

Sunday, August 26

I went for a walk around the complex, in the morning. I watched the fishermen along the shores of the waterway for a while but I am convinced that their efforts are only designed to give them solitude. I didn't see any one get a nibble, let alone catch anything. I also checked out the golf course around the outside of the complex. It's the first one I have seen in China and it looked like a typical course other than the high voltage transmission towers located on it. It reminded me of Beechwood Golf Course back home...other than the gated community surrounding it!

After a fancy " Hot Pot " lunch in Beijing with Nicole's uncle and aunt, Jeremy, Nicole and I went to see the "Great Wall". I couldn't go to Beijing and not go to see the wall.

I took the Gondola ride up to the " The Great Wall " and then walked in both directions for a couple of hours, taking pictures and enjoying the view.
It is something to behold. Its height and width vary along its path as it winds along the tops of the mountains. It ranges from 5 to 8 meters (16–26 ft) in height, and 6 meters (20 ft) across the bottom, narrowing up to 5 meters (16 ft) across the top. There is a 5- 6 foot wall above the walking area on each side ( the Chinese side and the invader's side) with openings along the walls that could be used to ward off attacks. There were stairs built on the Chinese side of the wall ( and sometimes in the middle of the walkway ) so that they could climb up an down while defending it. It is very solid and it was obvious that it would be difficult to breach, even if it wasn't located on the mountains.

I met a fellow from Germany while I was on the Wall. His name was Martin and he is a project leader for the seats in Audi cars. He was in China to go over the new seats that will be used in China on some of their models. The requirements for China are much different than in other countries. In most countries, people buy a car to drive it. In China, many of the rich ( and there are many! ) have a chauffeur and the owners sit in the back, so they want the fancier seats and the entertainment systems located in the back seat. Audi is almost at the point when they can introduce this new feature to the Chinese market. Martin also mentioned that the standard car horn only lasts a couple of years in China because it is quite dusty and the Chinese use their car horns a lot. The standard horns are only rated for 10,000 beeps which is good enough for the life of a car in other markets but not for China, so Audi has installed stronger horns for them.

After returning from the wall to the car, Jeremy and Nicole were nice enough to take Martin to the airport where he could catch the subway back to his hotel. With the slight detour to the airport, we were a little late getting back to the condo, however, Nicole's aunt cooked another wonderful meal for us.

Tomorrow Jeremy and Nicole will drop me off at the airport in the morning on their way back to Shenyang.