long weekend = camping!
Highly recommend camping at the Great Wall. Stay in a watch tower for the night -- saves you from bringing tents!
Thanks to Dragonboat Festival, it was a long weekend here in China... so 11 of us decided to take advantage of the rather-warm-but-not-blisteringly-hot-yet weather, take a bus and other transportation out to Huairou (outskirts of Beijing), hike the Huanghuacheng section of the GW, and stay for a night. Didn't think I'd be visiting the Wall twice in a month's time. Hiking some of the steps brought back semi-fond memories of the marathon... ha.
We celebrated a birthday, ate Snickers (energy!), roasted marshmallows + hot dogs, drank Great Wall red wine (yes, there is such a thing), and also downed some baijiu ... not to mention grubbed on some amazingly rich chocolate cake + frosting that one of us had made, in honor of the birthday. YUM.
One of the highlights of the trip was seeing a star-filled sky... finally. It's been so, so long since I've seen the stars, it was wonderful to spot the Big Dipper, Orion's Belt, Cassiopeia, and other constellations that friends pointed out to me.
Great group -- laid-back, adventurous, and fantastic senses of humor. Normally, I would be hesitant to go camping with a group bigger than ten, but it worked out really well in this case.
Camping at the Great Wall and sleeping overnight in a watch tower... another thing to check off the "Things to Do in Life" list :) Sweet.
