Sunday was off to an early start. After a quick breakfast in the hotel, I boarded a bus and headed to the Great Wall of China. Considering the hotel sat on the luxurious Wang Fu Jing Shopping Street -- Beijing's version of 5th Ave -- traveling through China's countryside was an eye opening experience. In two hours, I went from being surrounded by five star hotels, to enormous apartment complexes in the sprawling suburbs, to some of China's poorest villages. The only constant in the short trip was the infamous smog that stretched from the city center all the way to the Badaling entrance of the Great Wall.