That is until you want to actually buy something. We spent a few hours at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall today which we were told really translates into the long wall. I guess somewhere along the line someone decided that wasn't as marketable of a title. There is a cool cable car ride up and back which reminded me of the old gondola at Vail. This was truly a sight to see and is impossible to describe with any justice. All we could think of was how could they do this prior and during the Ming dynasty yet we can't put a fence up on the Mexican boarder in the 21st century? The other amazing concept was that anyone would be trying to traverse across this area, survive, and then still be able to attack with any significance. The terrain is mountain goat like and certainly perilous for human travel.
It was the girls first experience with street vendors and boy are they energetic! Talk about not taking no for an answer, what a sales force they would make. Apparently everything is a dollar until you actually attempt to purchase said item for the low price of a dollar. At that point an eager and rapid dialogue begins with the "quality" of the item of interest and how what they were actually willing to sell for a dollar is not of the same quality of what you have chosen and your item is much more authentic, of higher quality, hence worth much more. Never mind you picked out the very item they were holding in their hand claiming to be a dollar as you walked by. Talking about your classic bait and switch. I think we have laws for these sales tactics don't we? Nonetheless it was a fun experience and worth the show for an 8 dollar t-shirt not worth more than 5 probably, but hey it's 100% cotton which we were told about 20 times during the sales pitch.
The remainder of the Great Wall adventure can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/y9kjxhs
At least I think so as I can upload to Picaso web albums via an app but you can't view them from China as they are filtered.
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