Food taste so good the ghost even come to eat...

Street at night!

Yesterday was spent vegetating and relaxing after the tiring week of touring.  We were secretly looking forward to this day for couple of days.  Mother finally finished watching 3rd season of Orange is the new black, some of the brothers finished reading the books they brought, Father slept on and off throughout the day.  After eating authentic Chinese food for over 2 weeks, we finally convinced Father to try out a nearby KFC.  The food was definitely different, but not gross like how Father described it, although the side dishes were tiny.  The chicken wasn't crispy at all, more like the packaged fried chicken from Publix back home.  Most of today was spent like that as well. Except today we went out to Ghost Street for dinner.

The menu Mother took to put in the blog, but the Manager yelled at her for taking pics which evidently isn't allowed.

We took the subway to and fro.  Surprisingly enough, the walk wasn't as grueling as I remembered it to be. Perhaps my body built up some stamina from the past week of hiking!  However, the subway was extremely crowded each time we were on it.  We unfortunately hit rush hour.  

Down into the subway from the Ghost Street

It took an hour to get to the street, which was lined with various restaurants.  When we got there, it was still kind of light out, so it didn't look like much.  We walked down a whole section before deciding on where to eat. Father had to consult his smart phone to make sure we were in fact on the right street.  

Some interesting decor ft. the Brothers
(left to right; #1, #3, #4, and #2)

Father and the Baby

The Baby feeding Brother #!

We enjoyed the meal and fast service.  Well, it was fast after we found out you were supposed to order when you enter, pay and then be seated.  We were seated for awhile waiting for a waitress when Father flagged someone down to ask and were explained how to order!  We were in and out of there by two hours, which is a bit unheard of for our family of eight.  At night, the street was lit up, which made it much more impressive.  It's a bit like Las Vegas in that aspect. That is...without the glamour.  

The street's pretty busy at night!

We didn't stick around much longer after that and took the subway straight home.

The Baby, "Subway Surfing"

Yanqi Lake, do as the locals!

Our days of having a car and driver ends today.  This whole week has been pretty exhausting, so for our last day, we took it pretty easy.  We begged Father for no more hikes!

Goofing around at the entrance

We decided to spend the day at Yanqi Lake.  There were no Western tourists there,  and it appears to be something the locals enjoy.  The first thing we did after arriving at the lake and buying out tickets was riding on the speedboat.  The speedboat there circled the lake.  Mother stayed behind with all the bags and the most of us enjoyed the ride, the outlier being Father, who got a little motion sick.  I personally enjoyed the scenery and cool breeze, since it was so sunny today despite the smog.

Our tickets!  We only needed to buy 7 since Baby got in for free!

We also rode on another, much slower boat that circled the lake.  Once again, Mother sat out on this one so the Baby could ride.  The Brothers found this activity a little boring, since they much prefer faster, more exciting activities.  I couldn't take many pictures at all since the Baby stole my phone and insisted on taking selfies with it.

Brother's #3,4, the Baby, and Father

The reason for lack of photos

Now, we pick up the pace.  There was a water roller coaster that the Baby really wanted to go on. Brother #2 went with him since the rest of us didn't want to get wet.  Brother #2 said he enjoyed it and the Baby's smiles pretty much told us everything we needed to know.

Next on the roster was zip-lining.  Mother, Father and the Baby sat out for this one.  This was our fourth time zip-lining so none of us were nervous, although it was a different experience zip-lining over a body of water.  All of us liked it very much even though the strap was a little uncomfortable. This one was the most tame zip  lining we have done thus far.  

The last thing we did before leaving was riding in the bumper cars! The Baby really wanted to do this and so did the Brothers.  The bumper cars here were hard to maneuver, which caused a little frustration, and the Baby wanted to go again since the older Brothers got to, but it was an overall fun experience.  

The Baby and Brother #2

After that, we began to head back to the car and drive home.  

Longqing Gorge: The elevated lake

Our days with the car are coming to an end.  Today, we went somewhere very out of the way, Longqing Gorge, which 1.5 hours away from our condo.  Our Plan A was to go horse back riding, but the place for horse back riding is known to be shady (a lot of bait and switch sort of happening), so we fell back to Plan B, the Longqing Gorge.

When we got there, we had to take the Dragon Elevator, which was really just a giant escalator inside a giant metal dragon.  It looked really cool on the outside next to the Longqing Dam, in my opinion.

The Dragon Elevator

I noticed that this tourist spot wasn't too crowded despite being the weekend, which made it easier to spot all the locals staring at us.  They didn't even bother to hide it, they just outright stared.  It makes sense since we're a family of eight, but this doesn't usually happen in tourist-y spots, it's definitely more common in residential areas.  Father gets asked all the time if all the kids are his, and he happily replies "yes".  

Our big family!

After coming out of the dragon, we made our way up to a scenic spot on the side of one mountain. There were two options to get to the top, take the cable cars or walk.  There was a sign on the path to the top that said no admittance, but Father read reviews online and learned that you could take the path despite the sign instead of spending money for the cable cars.  We took this option, since we thought that we wouldn't have to walk too much, but it was longer than we anticipated.  I was so tired once I reached the top, even with frequent breaks.  I rested a little and drank some water before continuing even higher.

We walked all the way up that...!

While on the way up, the mountain offered amazing views of the surrounding mountains and aerial views of down below, although I didn't go all the way to the top, since I got tired. Some of the Brothers and Father got to the top while Mother and the Baby didn't even attempt it since Mother was tired and the Baby was suddenly scared of heights.

Aerial view

Brother #4

Coming down was a lot quicker, but that doesn't mean it wasn't tiring.  We got down and quickly made our way to the boats, which took you around the lake in the gorge.  The water was a very pretty shade of green, not dirty at all, and the mountains completely surrounded you the whole time. It gave off a kind of isolated feeling, you couldn't even tell that this area was touched by man.  I think the aerial shot conveys this best.  The scenery was nothing like you see in the States.  This scene definitely made me feel like I am in China.

Brother's #1, 4, the Baby, and Father

Brother #2 and me!

We skipped out on the other activities after the boat ride, which lasted around 40 minutes, and decided to head back home.

The Great Wall; Mutianyu Edition

Not pictured; Mother

The Great Wall of China is about 5,500 miles long.  So even though we walked the whole north side the last time we went, that was only a fraction of the wall.  We visited Mutianyu, although we only walked one end of it, but that section was about the same size as the part we walked last time.  This section of the Wall is not as convenient to get to as the others.  The only way to get there is 1.  private car 2. Tour group 3. Taxi.  

While driving there, it drizzled a little and Mother was worried that it would rain while we're at the Wall.  And who knows how safe it would be to walk the Great Wall when its raining.  Luckily, by the time we got there, the drizzle was gone and there weren't any signs of rain.

Once we got there, Father bought the tickets.  Mother talked Father into getting an add on that allowed us to take the cable cars up and down to and from the wall.  It definitely made the trip up a lot quicker and less tiring.

Mutianyu is a lot easier to walk on since the steps are more even and less steep, save for a few exceptions.  It was less smoggy/cloudy today so the sun was definitely shining more and the breeze wasn't very strong, which made me hot very quickly.

Surprisingly enough, the Baby walked a lot!

Messed up stairs

We were about 3/4 of the way to the end when Mother decided she would stay behind (along with all the drinks).  The rest of us decided to go all the way to the end, which wasn't really the end.  The wall is just cut off at one part, and beyond that is not open to the public.  

Even though the end of the wall was near, since the rest of the wall was just stairs, it was still very tiring.  At the top, we took a long break, and the Baby insisted on playing hide-and-seek. The part of the wall not open to the public, but I got a good peek in at the original wall.

Some of the original wall

Eventually, we began to head back to the cable cars, but it began to drizzle on the way.  We hurried back and got to the car before driving back to the condo.

Hongluo Temple

Today, we thought we were taking it easy and went to the Hungluo Temple, a large Buddhist temple 1.5 hours away from us.

We took a look at the temples, but the smell of the incense gave me and Mother a headache so we stayed back.  After that we checked out the Path of the 12 Chinese Zodiac and took some pictures. We also looked at the 500 Arhats and the Big Buddha, which were a bit creepy.

While looking at the Arhats, the Baby befriended a kitty cat.  He really loves animals for some reason and was very fascinated by the cat.

After that, it started to drizzle, so we quickly made way to a teashop.  We bought some food and went under the protection of the roof to eat.  The Baby also got some bubble to play with, since it was only a little over a dollar.

Once the rain cleared up, we decided to take a trail up the Hongluo Mountain.  After walking up 1/3 of the trail, we were all pretty tired, but we still continued to get to the top.  The walk was tiring, and in the end, we had so stop about half way up since the rest of the trail was closed.

They stopped letting people past at 4:00pm and we got there at around 4:30pm.  I was a little disappointed, but quickly go over it.  Even though we didn't reach the top, we still got to see some beautiful scenery.

The walk down was much quicker, and soon after, we left the temple.  I enjoyed the AC car and napped on the way home.

Black Dragon Pool

Today, Father decided that we should take it easy, so we went to take a small hike to the Black Dragon Pool.

On the way up

The drive to the trail was a little over an hour, and I enjoyed a quick nap on the way there.  It was drizzling a little today, so Mother was hesitant to go, but there wan't anything else to do in the surrounding area, so we just decided to chance it on the trail.  Father bought the tickets and we quickly began to walk on the trail.

It was a bit foggy, but the scenery was still beautiful.  Surprisingly enough, the Baby actually wanted to walk today!  This kinda took a load of Mother and Father, especially Mother whose whole body ached since she was the one who would usually carry the Baby.  Except today, Father wanted to carry the Baby most of the day.

Brother #2 in between the Dragon Cut Rock

The English wasn't the best

The weather was very muggy and it drizzled on and off for the first half of the hike, but it wasn't anything we couldn't handle.  It was a 2.5 mile walk to and from, so we walked a total of 5 miles, and each mile took about an hour since we were moving so slow.

Peeking into the Black Dragon Pool

Once we reached the Black Dragon Pool, we got to ride in small inflatable boats to get a closer look. After that, we continued to the Black Dragon Temple before coming back down.

Family photo at the top

While walking down, Brother #4 went ahead of us by a lot.  Mother and Father were growing worried, so they told the rest of us to go ahead and find him.  But we couldn't, and that made Mother and Father even more worried and angry.  Once we reached the bottom and got to the car, we saw that he was waiting there all along.

On the way down

The rest of us piled into the car and relaxed for the long drive home.

Ming Tombs (13 of them, actually 3)

Today we all woke up in pain.  Mother says her body felt like the time she started P90X.  It ached to climb down the stairs.  Father decided we would take it easy and  go to the Ming tombs.  There are 13 of them but only 3 are open to the public. We saw the Chang Ling Tomb, the Ding Ling Tomb, the Zhao Ling Tomb, and The Sacred Way in that order.

The Chang Ling Tomb was the biggest tomb and we spent our time there, since it was the first one. There were many artifacts in the Hall of Eminent Favors on display along with a very large statue of Emperor Yongle, who is buried here with his wife and 16 (yes 16!) concubines.  To think, the lucky 16 were the ones who got to be buried there, the others aren't even mentioned.  We also climbed up the Soul Tower to get  good aerial view of the tomb.  Since our bodies were still sore from yesterday, we were quickly tired out  and proceeded to the free lunch you get with the vouchers.  The free lunch was served in a tin tray much like the ones you see in the schools or the prison from the Korean drama.

Next was the Ding Ling Tomb, which is where Emperor Wanli, his wife and concubines were buried. This tomb wasn't as nice as the previous, but it was the only one where we could climb down into the burial chambers.  It was a bit barren inside, but you could see some replicas of the coffins, which was interesting.

Touching the nose for good luck!

Afterwords, we drove to the Zhao Ling Tomb.  A lot of the buildings here are replicas, but that didn't make it any less interesting.  The Soul tower was nice to walk around since if offered nice views of the surrounding mountains.  But it was pretty small, so we left very quickly.

Our last destination was the Sacred Way, which is the original road leading to the tombs.  The road is lined with trees and twelve sets of stone animals and guards.  Since Mother was so tired from holding the Baby most of the time, she stayed in the car.  I was tired as well, but luckily, the walk was quick and the driver met us on the other end of the road so we wouldn't have to walk all the way back.  We quickly loaded in the car and drove back.

The Sacred Road

The Great Wall

We finally went to The Great Wall!  Father rented a 15 passenger van for a week so we could access outer limits of Beijing not easily accessible without a vehicle.  For the seven days we have the van, we are trying to jam as much things into our days as we can.  Father thought starting out the seven days with the Great Wall was smart, but he forgot that yesterday was a holiday, so it was pretty crowded but the traffic wasn't too bad.

It was an hour drive there and we got there around eleven thirty.  Father decided that we would go to the North Side of the wall, since it's longer supposedly more fun.  We saw that 99% of the people were on the North Side.  At the beginning it was very crowded, but as we continued the crowd thinned out.  Surprisingly enough, it wasn't that hot since it was so windy.

Panoramic view

The ground was a very uneven at some parts and slippery, but the view was pretty terrific!  There were so many slopes and steps.  Not for the out of shape, that's for sure! We took frequent breaks, and sometimes got  a little spread out since there were so many people.  Around the middle of the walk, we stopped for some corn for Mother, and ice cream for me and my brothers.  Mother likes the corn in Asia more than back in the States, and always treats herself to some when in Korea, and now apparently China.

Brother #1 makes an appearance!

We made it to the end of the wall at around four in the afternoon.  We took a long time since there were so many of us, and Mother and Father were slowed down since they were either carrying the Baby or a backpack filled with drinks.  At the end, we took a very long break before beginning to walk back, leaving through one of the side exits.

As we walked back to the parking lot where our car was waiting, we passed many vendors and tried out some food.  Mother really liked the corn, so she got another one, and I got another ice cream.  We also passed by some black bears who were eyeing our hot-dogs and looked a little pathetic.  The Baby spotted a spiderman mask for $1.60 so Father easily agreed to purchase it.

Poor Black Bear...

During the hour drive home, we got to enjoy the outside scenery as the AC was blasting our sweat away.