We started the day by bounding up 1200 meters to the Great Wall of China.  We officially started in the J-word section and walked to the M-word section.  If you can speak Chinese there are more letters in the names.  The visibility was what I would consider terrible, but according to out guide (Joe), it was average.  You have to love the combination of clouds and smog.  We started on a unrestored section and walked to a more touristed restored section where I found out we were at a AAAAA (penta-A?) historical site.  I tried very hard to upload a picture of this sign, but the internet sensors must be reading my mind…

After the Great Wall I went to the pastry stand that had a long line and using very sophisticated hand gestures, got 4 custard tarts (4 fingers) and about 20 cream puffs (1 finger, gesturing like a scoop, and pointing to the cream puffs) it costs an astounding $1.18.

I discovered where Anderson Windows are made

I want the three person tandem.  The last picture is of the local bike repair shop.

Our dinner have been very varied.  The first night we went to Mr Shi’s Dumplings and had dumplings (crazy I know).  This is a place that caters to English speaking tourists and expats and the dumplings were pretty good.  The second night we were a little more adventurous and went to a hot pot place that did not have any English signs or pictures.  We walked in and someone came up to us and told us that they spoke English and told us that we wanted to get a combo pot with a hot and a mild section of spice and one of each sauce (sesame, tahini, and hot).  She then walked us to large fridges that had plates (we got squid and mushrooms) and skewers of assorted “things”.  I think that I ended up with some tripe, mushrooms, processed stuff, veggies, and assorted meatish.  We then cooked out skewers in the liquid and it was really good.  The following night we went to a place that only served one dish which was an oddity because most of the restaurants here have a larger menu than US Chinese restaurants.  Yesterday we had a really great late lunch that consisted of spicy Szechuan food (snap peas and peppers, spicy squid and peppers,  home fries, green beans and pork, mushrooms and beef).