Day Three and Snow!

After once again partaking of the "boundless food supply" in the Capital Dining Hall our group set out for the Great Wall. Michael and our driver met us at the hotel. One the way, we visited the Olympic area and saw the famous Birds Nest and the Water Cube where Michael Phelps won his eight gold medals. The weather was cold and snowy. I was really glad that I had invested in a winter jacket before leaving for China rather than winging it with the lightweight barn coat I usually wear in Corpus Christi. It was freezing! As the day progressed, the snow kept coming down harder and by the time we got to the Great Wall, the steps were treacherous and icy. We decided not to climb all the way up but did go up far enough to get a good view. The two boys in our travel group were from southern California and had never seen snow so they had a blast. They decided that the Great Wall made for great sledding and slid down portions of it in their jeans, leaving a bluish streak in the snow. I couldn't resist joining in a couple of impromptu snowball fights with them. After lunch, the snow started coming down even harder and Michael started making calls to find out about our flight to Nanchang. Our 4:55 p.m. flight was cancelled and we were tentatively rebooked on a 10:00 p.m. flight. Michael was told to call back around six o'clock to see if we would be able to get out so we had a few hours to kill. We went to a Beijing shopping mall. This was an interesting experience. If I hadn't known that I was in Beijing, I could have been fooled into believing that I was in a mall in any American city. All of the stores had English names, all the models in the adds were westerners, and even the music playing over the loudspeakers was American. Only the bottom level gave an indication as to the true location. There was a Chinese grocery store and several food and specialty kiosks that catered to the Chinese population. After killing time at the mall, Michael told us our flights had been cancelled due to the snow so we headed back to the hotel for another night's stay.