China, China

I am not singing though i have to admit, the song is ringing in my head and undoubtedly that would be my LSS (last song syndrome) the rest of the day.
Actually i just wanted to share with you my trip to china recently.

The first time i went to china i was 10 years old, terribly obese and looking like a boy, in fact an old lady went up to my grandmother to tell her that i was such a cute little man.  apparently there were no obese little girls in China with short hair except me.  anyway, it wasn't much of a trip.  at such a young age, i appreciated nothing but food.  so aside from that insult, i didn't really remember much else.


my second trip to china was a couple of years ago with my best friend Chiara.  we went to visit our friend Lylah who had just transferred there from manila.  She took us to the have-to-visit areas like Tiananmen Square, the olympic sites and the Great Wall of China: Badaling section, which supposedly is the most picturesque of the 7 great wall sections. indeed it was really beautiful and awe inspiring,  but for the adventurous at heart, there's something even better.
On our visit to China a few weeks back, with the addition of our friend Haze,  we went to the Mutianyu Great wall.  it's farther than the Badaling section from the main city but the one hour drive was so much worth it.  going up the wall, we had to ride the cable car.  the Great Wall itself is...well.....Great!  massive and long, with a beautiful view of the mountains.

We were there at 8am, the most perfect time of the day as the sun was not yet as hot and the place was not yet as packed with tourists. After two hours of picture taking, walking and hiding in the shade, plus eating, it was time to go down.  There are two fun options you can choose to go down: one is the Ski Lift which we didn't really go for since it was too like the cable ride.  the other one was the Toboggan ride.
The toboggan has a stick right smack in its middle that you can use to either break or go faster on the very long winding metal track that reminded me of playground slides...only wider and much much longer.  To say that i enjoyed it is an understatement, however, a warning... make sure to ride after fast people, otherwise you'd be like me.  we rode after 2 older ladies and i felt that by the time i reached the bottom, my hair had turned white from all that stopping and waiting.


For souvenir hunters, go back to the entrance of Mutianyu near the ticket booth.  there are stalls upon stalls of pretty much anything.  from clothes to dried fruits, shoes and calendars, everything was there.  Bargaining skills required of course, this is China after all, where a few bucks goes a long way. 
more on our Beijing, China trip next time.


Thanks to: Jojo and Lylah De La Cruz for the photos and everything else.
also to Chiara Bautista and Hazel Tolentino for the adventure.