There were 5 of us on the tour - Ruth (accompanied by her wheelchair), MaryJo, Joan, Sylvia and myself. The ride to the Badaling section of the Great Wall took about an hour and a half, and when we arrived I realized this is the same section we climbed in 2001. And the same restrooms, with the same smell, the same store and I was afraid that it will be the same restaurant with a memorably bad lunch. We started climbing, and some of us stopped and turned around after a while. The weather and visibility were perfect, but it was terribly crowded as the opposite section (the harder one which we climbed last time) was closed due to a visit of some Leaders. (The procession of black-windowed black cars reminded Ruth & me of similar caravans in Jerusalem). Most of the tourists were Chinese, and in fact a few were so excited to see Westerners that they asked Sylvia & me to pose for photos.
Finally we two also had to turn around so that Sylvia makes it down on time to transfer to the car which picked her up and drove her to the airport. The rest of us went back on the bus and went to a most amazing spa-hotel (http://www.commune.com.cn/en/) for lunch. The food was excellent and I was so relieved not to have to see the other place's food again.
After that we continued to the Ming Tombs which were as I remembered them. By then our small group had formed tight connections and we spent the whole afternoon and evening giggling and joking - everybody was having a great time.
From the Ming Tombs we went back to Beijing directly to The National Center for the Performing Arts, which is a most amazing building. The problem was that we arrived around 5:30 when it was still closed and we knew that the conference participants would not get there before 7 or so. They let us go in and sit in the private dining hall, and we understood that we will be served a fancy dinner before the performance (in fact they wanted us to eat immediately but we rebelled and said we will wait for the others). That was a bit puzzling as it was to start at 7:30 and the schedule seemed too tight. They did arrive around 7:10, we ate and were ushered into the performance hall a bit late. The performance was by the Stuttgart Ballet and very beautiful, as was the venue itself. But everybody was very tired and decided on another rebellion during the second break. This caused some confusion but finally the bus was summoned and we were all safely deposited back in the hotel.
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