Al comes out of his shell

Our last full day in China, and we’re not resting on our laurels here.  We were up early to get ready for our final performance, at the Confucious institute.  This was the group that helped bring us to China, and has served as our helpful and hospitable hosts while we’ve been here, so we were happy to visit their headquarters for one last show.

We’re mostly running like a well-oiled machine by now, but traffic delayed our progress this morning.  Luckily this was a smaller and more informal concert, for employees and students at the institute, so it didn’t seem to cause many problems (though we did have to skip our planned visit to the Summer Palace afterward).

That’s me, Tom, and Dave, valiantly climbing this large flight of stairs.

The concert was another success, despite a few technical issues.  This was Al’s last chance, and sadly he still proved to be superfluous.  Tom decided he deserved to come out of his case one time, to get a chance to see Confucious.    The rest of us got to spend a little time wandering through the institute’s mini-museum, containing arts and crafts as well as interactive exhibits about other facets of China’s cultural history.

After one last huge lunch, it was time to head out of the city to the Badaling section of the Great Wall, about an hour and a half outside the city.  Once again, the weather was chilly and damp (though fortunately not actually raining), and once again many of our group had not dressed entirely appropriately.  I was definitely regretting my bare legs, but figured I would eventually warm up from exertion.

Tom and Michael were a big hit with the elderly Chinese ladies

From where we started the wide expanse of wall stretched away as far as the eye could see (which, given the damp mist, was actually not all that far) in both directions, climbing up and down over the steeply rolling hills and winding through the rugged terrain.  It was mind-boggling to contemplate how much effort must have been involved to build this huge edifice in such challenging surroundings.  Our guide told us that the Great Wall is also considered the largest cemetary in China, because so many people died during construction and were buried alongside or within the wall itself.

Our set off at various paces — this time I was wise enough not to attempt to join the fastest group — and began our trek.  I can’t imagine trying to do it in the rain, because the steepness of the grade at some points was quite a challenge even in dry weather.  You definitely want good tread on your shoes.  There are watchtowers spaced out along the wall, and paths that you can take that run alongside as well.  Along the north side, you can see the holes left for archers to use.  It’s hard to imagine someone thinking this was a good place for a battle.

After one last round of gift shops (these proved to be rather pricy) it was time for our last dinner.  Our guides had been promising a “surprise” all day, and I think some in our group had allowed themselves to hope that it involved the Pizza Hut we’d passed earlier — but it was not to be.  The surprise was the famed Peking Duck dish, which consisted of duck covered in crispy skin that you put into thin tortilla-like wraps with plum sauce, onions, and cucumbers — much like the moo shu pork that you would get in an American restaurant.  It was actually delicious, even if it was not covered in cheese.  There was plenty of other food as well, and the scallion pancakes proved an enormous hit.

Stasko family rocks the house

We were in the top section of our restaurant all by ourselves, and there was a large stage that of course could not go to waste.  Our guides, who were very fun and entertaining, had been working valiantly to keep everyone from falling into an exhausted stupor on the buses, by encouraging singing performances and contributing some themselves.  Now the kids were eager to show what they could do, and quite a few instruments made their way into the restaurant.  The drummer in the group even went out to the bus and retrieved poor, neglected Al — who finally got his day in the sun.  Turns out, when fully assembled, he turns into a fancy drum with a foot pedal.  Tom was tearing up a bit, as he photographed “Al’s first recital”.

“Victoria” and “Christina” take their turn (that’s Al in the background).

The kids (and our guides) had a great time doing some final silly singing and dancing together, and it was the perfect way to wrap up the trip.  There was a lot of laughing (and a few tears) as everyone got ready to say goodbye to their China families and return back to real life.

As we got ready for our final morning, initially we thought we’d get to sleep in a little (for the first time on the whole trip).  Sadly, the political conference that’s happening has resulted in unpredictable road closings and traffic snarls — so it was 7am breakfast once again, even though

The start of the Urals

our flight didn’t leave until 2pm.  No one wanted to contemplate the prospect of having our group of 70 people miss that flight.

As it turned out, we got to the airport with plenty of time, and go through all the various hurdles with no difficulty.  The Palmer/Pavlik family was at the front of the line this time, which allowed us to snag some window seats.  And it sure was worth it, as we flew north over the stunning Ural mountains.  Their start looked like they’d been placed there by machinery — a straight line in the ground, with flat plains on one side and large mountains on the other.  As we continued north, frozen rivers snaked among the peaks, which eventually became snow-covered as we approached the Arctic.

The windows on the plane didn’t have shades, but instead controls to darken them. Unfortunately, the powers that be on Hainan Airlines decided that it was bedtime (at 6pm) and darkened all the windows.  It was very frustrating to see the beautiful views fade to black.  But we were all thrilled to see Boston appear several hours later, and even happier to see that we hadn’t lost anyone when we got off the plane.  Our yellow school buses transported us back to the middle school, where there were many joyous reunions.  We chaperones were sad to see the trip end, but happy to hand our responsibilities back over to the parents!