3/27/12, 04:40 EST; 3/27/12, 16:40, Beijing Time; 3/27/12, 08:40 GMT; 3/27/12, 02:40 Local Time (almost an hour before we arrived at the airport); Over Northern Canada

We’re finally on our way home!  (But I’m getting ahead of myself.)  First off, we did get to see the Great Wall, and many of us climbed a significant portion thereof.  (It was extremely steep in one place in particular.) 

Overall it was amazing to attempt to comprehend the amount of hard work that was poured into this astounding structure.  We couldn’t even get up there without a tram and the builders had to bring all of the stone, food, and other supplies up with them (we were tired enough walking a small portion of the completed wall).  After coming back down the tram and pushing our way through the determined venders, we ate at a nice, touristy-looking place, which had very good food.  Then we took the bus back to Beijing to visit the Summer Palace.  The amount of art and sheer audacious finery in there, even after being pillaged by revolutionaries, is astounding to behold.  Though we hardly experienced the vastness and beauty of the place entirely, what we saw was plenty to get the point across.  The idea that a ruler would indulge in such finery is quite foreign to our American minds, but it also helps me understand why communism and equal distribution of resources have been so valued by the Chinese people in recent years.  After soaking in the sites and doing our best to absorb some of the history of the summer palace being recounted to us by our guide we headed off to dinner.  Finally the last thing we did was shop at the Silk Street market, where the vast majority of our party bought beats headphones for around 200 RMB (about $32.50).  (I didn’t because they don’t sound that great with classical music.)  Most of us didn’t sleep much/at all last night because we had to get up at 3am to leave for the airport anyway.  Everything went smoothly at the airport except that my iPod decided to stay in Beijing and fell out of my pocket without telling me of its intentions and is probably back in some night market in Beijing being sold for 100 RMB (about $16.50).  As we took off we got a fantastic aerial view of the Great Wall and surrounding mountains since we had a fantastically clear day for China.  (This was the only flight in which we could see any part of China from the air.)  Now it’s dark outside and I’m going to try to get a little more sleep.