The Great Wall of China
Trip Start
Jun 18, 2008
1
10
46
Trip End
Sep 04, 2008
Beijing,
China
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
To get to the Wall, we woke up early and took a bus to the subway. From there, we found the 980 which is a long-distance bus that travels north of the city to a town called Menyun. Once in Menyun, Adam and Red haggled with gypsy cab drivers to negotiate a ride to the Wall. The taxi driver spoke Broken English and he kept interrupting Adam and Red's deliberations, so they resorted to speaking German in order to discuss privately. We finally arranged a ride for 100 RMB for the three of us, and we got on the road for another hour-long drive.
The narrow highway had two lanes, and there was especially high traffic. Starting July 1, all vehicles with yellow license plates (typically large diesel trucks) will have their driving rights suspended until after the Olympics in effort to cut down on the Beijing pollution. There were many trucks on the road who were trying to get in all their last shipments prior to the two months when their business will essentially come to a halt. For our purposes, the extra traffic meant an hour of gripping the hand rest on the door while the driver turned a two lane highway into three. He was certainly not alone in doing this, and my greatest fear was we'd collide into an ongoing car also accelerating to pass the slower truck in his lane. Let me assure you, we got there safely.
Once at the Wall, we paid for our costly admission then trekked up a ways just to reach the Wall itself. After the first five minutes of climbing steep stairs, I knew I was in trouble. I was breathing heavy and realized that I was not in great shape for the imminent physically challenging hike. Though I had anticpated a difficult hike, I didn't realize exactly how strenuous it would be. At times, I had to climb the stairs on all fours because it was so steep, and one step alone was the heigth of my knee down to my foot. Also, we chose the portion we did because we knew it would be less touristed but this is because much of this section is in disrepair: i.e. loose gravel, no stairs, just rock climbing. Certain parts made me nervous, but I made sure to be careful of where I placed my feet and tried to imagine myself a Chinese guard in the Ming Dynasty who had to protect his country from the invading Mongols. Yes, I am Mulan!
So, it sounds like it was some great hardship, and my legs are sore after the fact; however, it was completely worth it. The views were incredible, it was the first time we saw the sun in a week, and the magnitude of it was just so amazingly awesome. The wall snakes around the ridge line and dips in the valleys to rise again with towers dotting the peaks. Plus, structures that old never cease to impress me. If something is 300 years old in America, it's ancient and heavily protected by a historic society. The part of the Great Wall we visited was built way back in 1300. Can't beat that!
Halfway through our hike, we ran into these older Mongol men and women. They spoke to me in Chinese and I gave them my apologetic "I don't understand" head shake. Then the two 50-60 year old women each offered me one of their hands and grabbed me to pull me up steep, crumbly parts of the Wall. I was very grateful and admired their strength. With their aid, I was no longer sluggish and was practically bounding my way up the Wall. But, in my mind, I knew it was too good to be true. They were not helping me because they felt sorry for me-- they wanted something. Eventually, they revealed their motives to me. Out came the 80 RMB t-shirt. I refused. She lowered the price. I offered 10. She laughed and gestured 70. I again refused. I tried to walk away but she latched on to me and told me the woes of her life. She had two babies at home, lies, bla bla. Finally I offered 40-- way more than it's worth--when I got to the point when I was ready to pay 20 just to get her to back off. So, that's how I came by my I Climbed the Great Wall t-shirt for an embarrassingly large sum.
We finally reached the end of our 6 mile hike, and I was exhausted. Happy to have had the opportunity to climb one of the seven wonders of the world and happy it was over. Next time we go when friends visit us in China, we are going to the part that's nicely restored complete with a cable car and alpine slide...
Comments
Rewarding hike
I experienced the Great Wall at both a restored section, Juyongguan pass, and the Jinshanling-Simatai hike. Although it was more strenuous, walking the section at Jinshanling provided better views and make it worth your efforts. The 10 km hike was the highlight of my trip to China.