Tania in China

Sun, Nov 5: The Great Wall

This is the day - the day I will see the one thing that people everywhere associate with China, the Great Wall. Building the Great Wall was not a single project, instead there have been at least 5 major Great Wall projects, beginning in 208 BC. The first 4 Great Walls were mostly constructed of rammed earth, and very little survives of them today. The Great Wall that everybody thinks of when they think of The Great Wall was built of stone by the Ming dynasty between 1368 and 1640, with the largest sections being constructed between 1560 and 1640. The first walls were constructed to protect China from the raiding warriors to the north, but the final long sections to the west were built to keep out the Mongols. The length of the wall is stated as being anywhere from 1500 or 4000 miles long, depending on which sections of the wall are included in the measurements. Most of the wall has crumbled and have even been scavaged for building materials; it is only the sections near tourist centers that have been restored to their former glory. It is also not true that the Great Wall is the only manmade object that can be seen from outer space. Since it is only a few meters wide and basically the same color as the surrounding ground, it cannot be seen with the naked eye from space.

Well, enough background. I grab breakfast, catch up on email, make sure I have enough batteries for my camera, then go to the lobby to meet my driver. He is driving a fairly nice car with leather seats, and is a good driver, but the only problem I am going to have during the trip is that he smells. Not that he is unclean, but he is giving off an ammonia-like odor sometimes given off by vegetarians who have not been getting enough protein. I have noticed it also in a few other Chinese I have met, but not ones I was going to be spending 3 hours in a car with. Darn. The day is crystal clear, and as soon as we turn onto the highway we can already see the mountains an hour away - a rarity in this smoggy part of the world. I have decided to visit the Mutianyu section of the wall, one of 3 sections near Beijing. It is not the closest, but is supposed to have much better views while still offering a tram ride to the top. The tram is essential for me - this wall was built on top of mountains! The trip is uneventful, and takes us through quite a bit of rural Chinese countryside. There are actually donkeys pulling carts of produce to market here! The drive takes about 90 minutes, and you know when you are close because you can see all the restaurants and souvenir stores. My driver wants me back at the car in 2 hours, not the 3 hours I wanted, and I am a bit upset, but it turned out that 2 hours was enough time since it was so cold up on the wall.

It is quite a hike just to get to the tram, and all the way there are persistent people selling gloves, hats, coffee, and all kinds of trinkets. You have to buy a ticket to access the wall, and another ticket for the tram, but the whole thing ran me just over $10. There is no line at the tram and I am able to get right on.

My first views of the wall from the tram are really awe inspiring; I feel like I am looking at a painting. This is one attraction that lives up to its hype. I get off the tram, climb some steps, and can see the wall stretching off in both directions - one heading uphill and one heading down. I know I should go uphill first, but downhill seems to offer the better photo opportunities, so that is how I go.

The Great Wall is not a spot for the handicapped, or for those with bad knees. There are multiple stairways, multiple ramps, and uneven stone everywhere.

There are watchtowers every few hundred feet along the wall, where guards used to keep watch for invaders. They also used to have a system of signal fires that they could use to transmit messages from one tower to the next, so that vital information could be transmitted from the western wilderness to the capital in Beijing with amazing speed. Also, notice the kids in the blue and white warmup suits. There were thousands of them everywhere while I was there - sitting on all the steps, racing down the ramps and roughhousing, squealing in the watchtowers - everywhere. I was too old to be around that even when I was a teenager, and now that I am a grumpy middle-aged woman it really got on my nerves. I don't know where they came from, but a whole school district had to be there together with no visible adult supervision.

The view of the mountains is just spectacular from this height, and I am lucky the weather is so clear. From what I understand, most days have far, far less visibility than this. It is cold and windy on the wall, and I am glad I have worn a turtleneck with a cardigan. I am cold going down, but by the time I finish climbing back up the steps I have my sweater off and I am sweating.

Notice how uneven these steps are. You really have to watch your step a throughout the Great Wall. Apparently there was no standard for the height of a step 600 years ago, even in the same run of stairs. There were a few sections coming out of the guard towers where the steps were at least 18" high - not good for this old, out-of-shape tourist.

I will post more photos later, but don't want to overwhelm this entry with just too many pictures. I made it a nice distance down the wall, and was suprised it didn't take me as long to get back as I thought, but I was really winded at the end. I walked around the welcome platform, and a young Chinese even asked to have her picture taken with me, then I headed off down a path towards the tram. I wasn't paying attention, misstepped, and BOOM! Down on my knees, heels of my hands, and chest. Thank goodness this was just a ramp and not stairs; I could have really done some damage. I laid in shock for a moment, figured out that nothing seemed seriously damaged, then picked myself up and assessed the damage. I had my camera in my hand and was worried about that, but it is still working even though it is scuffed up. I skinned my palms and have a small spot on my right palm that drew blood, but nothing significate. I didn't tear my jeans, and my knees seem to be just skinned as best I can tell. I think I was really lucky and got off easily.

I limp to the tram, find again there is no line, and spend the ride down assessing the damage of my fall. At the bottom, I find out that you have to walk a gauntlet of souvenir sellers to get back to the parking lot. There are 200 or 300 yards of tiny winding streets packed with vendors selling everything yelling out "t-shirt $1 - ok, 2 for $1! I remember you! You buy t-shirt! Hello, lady! Look here! Real silk!" I am really not in the mood for this so I put my head down and charge my way back down the hill. I have a bit of trouble figuring out where my car is because I remembered it was black, but there are 5 black cars in a row where I left my driver! I finally recognize the car from the missing rear view mirror, and we are off back to the city exactly 2 hours after we arrived. The driver took back streets most of the way back to the city and I don't understand why, since we are running parallel to the highway most of the way and it seems to be running just fine, and all I can figure is that he was avoiding the toll and pocketing the money. Since he didn't speak any English I couldn't ask him. It only takes us about 15 extra minutes to get back, and I am glad to head up to my room for a bit of a nap.

The maid has closed the window again and it is about 80F in my room, so I open the window again. Multiple people complained about the heat in the lounge, but the staff basically said there was nothing they could do about it. This is really making me leery of staying in another Novotel. I nap, then am feeling fairly well rested by 4:30, so head out to the ATM and to find an optical store since I broke one of the nosepads off my glasses, and it is really annoying. There is a Bank of China next door, and although I can't get the first ATM to give me money, a local points me to a different machine and I am successful. Then I go down the street to the optical store, they fix my glasses in about 2 minutes, and don't charge me anything! The last time I had new nosepads put on my glasses I think it cost me $8. I am happy!

I am hungry but not feeling too adventurous, so I go back to the hotel to eat at the buffet. Big mistake. Although it looks nice, the food is not very good, no drinks are offered by the staff, and the pasta with cream sauce I had made at the pasta station contained 6 scoops of oil with 2 scoops of sauce. Even the desserts look nice but don't taste very good at all. Definitely not worth the $20 it cost me.

After dinner I head back to the subway to go to Wufangjing, the major shopping street in Beijing. It is dark and windy when I get there, but it turns out the street is a pedestrian area, and it has a very Christmasy feel to it. There is even a big stage setup where different African groups are performing, I assume in conjunction with the Africa-China summit. I do a lot a browsing, and have to duck in a store every 100 feet or so to get warmed up. I like this a lot better than Shanghai - I find much more of interest here. I even wander through the 5 floor "Foreign Language Bookstore" but don't buy anything since I still have books to read. The prices there seemed to be about the same that they are back home. I also walked through a toy store that was fun, and found all different kinds of Chinese crafts at all kinds of stores. I find a few Christmas presents, and wavering about a bunch more, but after a trip up and down the street I am too cold and tired and have to head back to the hotel. I don't even have the energy to email anybody at this point - I just drop right off to sleep.

posted by Tania @ 2:22 PM