Beijing Memories: The Great Wall

Since I just reviewed and uploaded my pix from the Great Wall to Flickr yesterday, I think I am just going to jump ahead and write about that today.

To be honest, China was never on my travel radar and if it had not been for this unbelievable trip, I am pretty sure we would have never gone there, despite the Great Wall being a very intriguing draw.

Though it almost didn't happen.  One of the increasingly questionable things that was not included on the original itinerary was a trip to the Great Wall... it was something that had to be arranged on our own.  Thanks to that previously mentioned savior-like administrative assistant from the Hong Kong office, a trip to the Wall at Badaling was scheduled for our free day on Monday.  Then about a week or so before our trip, we found out that Badaling (the most popular/visited part of the Wall) was closed for the first week of the Olympics... so we were pretty disappointed... and, needless to say, I vented that frustration on the Internets...

...and the power of the Internets, within minutes fellow plurker and Facebook Scramble supreme samurai vuboq, suggested the alternative of Mutianyu, saying it was a much nicer section of the Wall (which we would hear over and over again - then why go to Badaling in the first place?).  We threw out that out to the group and while it may have been the only other viable option, a trip to the Great Wall at Mutianyu was pretty quickly scheduled in.

Our day trip included a visit to a jade factory (very thinly disguised as a "cultural experience," but certainly the tour company had to be getting a $$ kickback for dropping a bus of people off at the factory - that coincidentally had a very large store with the lure of 25% of all jade purchases), a stop at Ming Tombs (resting place for 13 emperors of from the Ming Dynasty, we saw one of them), and yet another lavish lunch with an endless rotating selection of food (guessing there had to be at least 20 different dishes this time around!).

After pretty decent weather all day, the minute we got off the bus there was a good downpour.  Having had our afternoon/night of tennis washed out the previous night (more on that to come), we were starting to think that we had turned into some kind of rain gods.  It was quite humorous as the dozens upon dozens of folks selling t-shirts, souvenirs, food and drink, etc. at the base of the Wall ... quickly got out their supplies of umbrellas and rain ponchos as the first drops fell from sky. Yells of "Umbrellas!  Umbrellas!!" quickly filled the air in whatever language the person passing by looked like they would speak... and it really didn't matter if you already had an umbrella... but more on those folks a bit later.

Our tour guide bought our entry tickets - which included a round-trip cable car ride up to the Wall (all for $8 US/person, take that Disneyland!).  I asked him about one of the features that made this section of the Wall kinda unique... a return trip down via toboggan.  He didn't understand (kinda surprising, since I'm guessing he comes to Mutianyu regularly)... thinking I was saying "to bargain" with these "shop" owners (in retail situations like this, you never pay the original asking price).  I tried again, mentioning a "sled" but to no avail.  While I didn't internally let it go for awhile, I dropped it since I knew that no one else in our group would be interested.  We were the most adventurous and/or able of the bunch, which I am not sure is saying good stuff about us or a sad commentary that we could be considered adventurous or able... ha!

We got into our cable car (allegedly the same exact one used by Bill Clinton in a 1998 visit) and when we reached the top, we were met with this view:

Definitely one of those "I can't believe I'm here" moments, which I've been very fortunate to experience a couple of times in what has turned into a travel year not likely to be repeated any time soon.  This was a bit different... while I always thought I would see say the Eiffel Tower... the Great Wall was not on my possibility/probability radar... which made it even more mind-blowing.   

The fact that we took a 5-10 minute cable car ride to get to this point... that we had sweat running down our backs... that we got winded at the high elevation... that we had easy access to food and water... it was just incomprehensible to think how this was ever built... and completed in the year 1569 no less!   Again, just impossible to wrap your mind around!   

Chairman Mao was famous for saying "He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man" - and in our two-ish short hours at the Wall, we certainly came to understand that statement.  You don't "walk" the Great Wall, you climb... and it is challenging both going up and down... the steps are quite irregular when it comes to width, height, and depth... an even a tad more challenging being slippery from fresh rain... but again, you feel pretty darn silly stopping to catch your breath or wondering how you are going to make it back to the start when you think about the innumerable men who sacrificed their lives to build this Great Wall.

Again, I'm guessing we were the most ambitious of our group and traveled the furthest away from the start point... I'll admit I am mostly to blame, but it just got too tempting as the crowds definitely dwindled the farther away you got away from the cable car station.  Given the Badaling was closed, I was still surprised that there weren't an insane amount of people here at Mutianyu... and by the time we got to our "time to turn around" point, there were only a handful of people around us.  This picture has to be pretty close to our furthest point out...

... and we had to climb all the way up to the part of the Wall at the very top of the picture.  We took several breaks along the way... but I think we are still glad we did as much as we did.

Now, back to our little "shop" owners (I put "shop" in quotes, because they were pretty much just tents)... on the way back to the bus, you have to run the gauntlet of a seeming endless amount of people shouting at you to buy pretty much anything... though the "I Climbed The Great Wall" t-shirts, were a particularly popular item for sale.  I would have likely purchased something if it wasn't such an overwhelmingly insane environment and/or that everyone was pretty much selling the same exact items.  I could only imagine the feeding frenzy between vendors if you stopped at one booth and not the one next to it...

...and they seemed to think that if you didn't buy something from one vendor, that 5 seconds later your would want to buy the same exact item from them.  I basically tried to keep my head down and plow forward as even a glance at an item suggested a purchase intent to these folks.  One guy even got right in front of me and touch my arms to try and stop me... it wasn't in a threatening way, but still a bit over-assertive for my tastes.   The big claim was "3 shirts for 1 dollar!" ... one woman from our group did offer a person 1 US dollar, which was quickly rejected... as was 1 Yuan (which converts to a measly 16 cents US)... not exactly sure what the magic "1 dollar" was, perhaps 100 Yuan... which would still be a 3 t-shirt bargain for $US 16... but again, the crazed selling environment was certainly not my cup of tea.

It was an interesting way to end our visit to the Great Wall... but certainly didn't distract at all from the awe and wonder of what we had just seen... and I would certainly suggest that it is not on your "to do" travel list that you put in on there or move it up several notches.  As I said, in one of my picture descriptions on Flicker yesterday, I think calling this "Great" Wall may be the biggest understatement of all-time!

Comments

[Scot]

What incredible pictures! Absolutely beautiful and yet kinda sorta sad, on so many levels.
While you were gone the History Channel ran a show called China's First Emperor, which told of, among other things, the building of the wall. I highly suggest you try to catch it if you can. (Hey its the history channel so it will probably be shown another 30 to 40 times this month alone!)
The show told the story of Qin Shi Huangdi, China's first emperor, the man who united all the states of China.
Use your Tivo because its over 4 hours long!

I've enjoyed all your travel pictures this year but the China pictures have a strange difference about them. Maybe its the rain or "mist" as we keep hearing it called. While the pictures show great beauty there seems to be a lack of joy. Pride, yes, as shown in the flower arangements, meticulous pride to be sure, but where is the exuberance, the pleasure in a job well done that the other Asians display? I hope I'm completely wrong about this or maybe you just haven't gotten around to posting those pictures yet, but I'm looking lof local smiles. Just smiles for being alive, Chineese and living in a thriving metropolis. Am I wrong?

[Joanna]

I agree with the comment above - these photos are hauntingly beautiful. I love reading about your journeys, Ed, as I am sure that will be the only way I "visit" places such as this.

Thanks.

Joanna