Badaling, October 6, 2008, Monday
Trip Start
Sep 26, 2008
1
11
31
Trip End
Oct 18, 2008
Badaling,
China
Thursday, April 2, 2009
We were not going to be fooled. Even if the big week was over, we never lived under illusion of having much elbow space on the Wall. Or in other words, if any, then it would have to be really early, before most of the crowd starts pouring in. So we figured that the time to go was right after breakfast at dawn.
Great Wall can be visited on several sections and each of them obviously has assets and liabilities. I was not entirely clear as to which one would be the best for me. Even the "Red Lantern House" offered daily excursions to at least three or four and never really made an effort to explain what one had on another.
01 Beijing - Badaling motorway
For a while PingPing had been leaving the decision to me, but when she realised I had no clue, she decided to cut it off and said:"For you, since you go there for the first time, I think Bādálĭng is the best."
And so, Bādálĭng it was.
As I had waken up, the sun had just tentatively started scouting the horizon, shyly sending out first rays into the slowly brightening sky. By the time PingPing and I finally took the seats in her car, it was still an early and rather crisp, but sunny and wonderful new day. It was as if the weather decided to join in the Chinese hospitality by providing probably the best day so far for my visit to the Great Wall.
Bādálĭng section of the Great Wall is some 70 or 80 km away from Bĕijīng to the northwest, up the relatively recently completed Bādálĭng Expressway. For all the antics by the Chinese traffic participants that I had witnessed on Chinese roads so far, speeding was not one of them. They routinely exercised remarkable restraint when it came to driving speed. PingPing fit the general attitude fully, so it meant that in spite of the fact that we were now on a four-lane motorway with a free-flowing traffic, it would take us about an hour to get there.
While she was driving, she charged me with the task of picking music for the ride. So I started leafing through her fat booklet of CDs, skipping among other titles my band's second album, and eventually settling for some Nat King Cole's CD in Spanish instead.
02 The Great Wall
I didn't understand the language, but I recognised numbers like "Tres palabras" and "Quezas, quesas", standards by any standard and songs that I had routinely played during my stint as a musician in Germany.By the time this CD was at its end, we started seeing first sections of the Wall along the motorway. The landscape and geography of the area we were driving through were growing hillier by the minute and my eyes were fixed on the structure that I had read so much about, even often seen on TV, but was now seeing for the first time with my own eyes. Even PingPing, who had not been on any section of the Great Wall for quite some time, probably since her high school, nodded in admiration.
Then I took the Nat King Cole out and replaced it with wonderful "Swing When You're Winning" by Robbie Williams, and that was the music that accompanied us until we arrived, following the snaking Wall, in Bādálĭng.
Bādálĭng Town of Yanqing County is hardly a settlement. I'd venture and bet that were it not for the Great Wall, by Chinese standards it wouldn't exist on military maps. All you can see there are two or three streets lined with a humble number of low buildings, mostly housing tiny souvenir and grocery shops, cafés and restaurants. Maybe a hotel or two. A stretch further up, more into the hills, there is a long car park and an entrance to the Wall. That's all.
It was quarter past eight when PingPing and I arrived. The day was absolutely fantastic, with golden sun and blue, spotless sky.
03 The Great Wall
Something that, I suspected, Bĕijīng had lost a privilege to a long time ago. But it was very windy. And very cold. 7°C only. Way too cold for early autumn. And much colder than in Bĕijīng which was only one hour away by car. Well, we were wrapped up properly, so it wasn't much of a problem after all. Besides, a walk along the Wall would soon set our working temperature sky high, so there was no fear whatsoever of catching a cold.However, the Wall was not open yet. We wanted to go straight up. Particularly as we had arrived so early when virtually no one was there yet. But the gate opened only at nine. Therefore we had to wait. So we went back down to the car park, and checked some souvenir shops which, as opposed to the Wall, were already open and to my surprise, I found a white cowboy hat in one of them. Probably Tibetan again. It would cost me ten yuan only. I promptly seized the opportunity and bought it for Naprisca.
Then we took some photos in the stinging sun, inspected a Bactrian two-humped camel standing patiently nearby and waiting for an occasional tourist who would be interested in taking a picture with or on it, strained our eyes staring high up at the hilltops and trying hard to make out the entire length of the wire carrying cable cars for the rich and lazy to the Great Wall, sparing them an effort of a climb on foot, and danced - well, tried to dance - some waltz. A strong contestant for the worst dancer in this world, I tried to teach PingPing the steps and then tried even harder not to step on her feet.
04 The Great Wall
Neither of it ended with a roaring success. But at least it helped kill the waiting time.And then we joined the shortest of the queues, a baby queue indeed, and went up.
As everyone knows, the Great Wall was the greatest man-made military defence structure in ancient China. Starting out as separate sections, with each of many warring states that existed back then building their own walls to protect their own territories, at one point in history it was gradually beginning to get connected into a single Wànlĭ Chángchéng, or "Ten Thousand Li Wall". Li, of course, being Chinese unit to measure distance. Consequently, its purpose changed and transformed, as it was now mainly a protection and defence against invaders from the North. Then for a while it was continuously extended and repaired by following dynasties. Until one day someone in the Qing dynasty just decided they had no practical need for it any more, gave it up and relinquished it to decay and deterioration. Of course, modern Chinese authorities seriously took to reversing the trend and restoring the Wall to any reasonable extent possible, this time not to fend off marauding foreign hordes, but to attract them instead. And the spot where that task has advanced the furthest, and where it was easiest carried out, was here at Bādálĭng.
Of course, contrary to contemporary legends, the fact that the Great Wall is one of the few man-made structures visible from space is a pure fabrication. It's a neat try to add up to its mystique and an attempt at gaining some additional glory, but entirely untrue.
05 The Great Wall
But then again, the Great Wall hardly needs any additional drumming up, I'd say. With tens of millions flocking in a steady annual flow to visit it, I don't think it matters much where highest you can see it from, Moon or Mars. It's impressive enough right there on the ground, with your own feet on this incredible, spectacular structure. This particular, Bādálĭng section was constructed by the guys of the Ming Dynasty and is probably the most famous of all Great Wall sections. Best preserved, longest and first open to public, it's this portion of the Great Wall that has drawn the greatest attention from the Chinese government since the foundation of P.R. of China. It was designated a major historical site under state protection in 1961 and then listed as a World Cultural Heritage site by the UNESCO in 1987. No wonder. It is easily one of two or three most impressive things I have seen in my life.
As we entered the Wall, we could go to the right, where almost everybody of those still relatively few went, or to the left, where almost no one headed. Some logic would dictate that there had to be a reason why everyone went right and no one left. For a second I was even tempted to suggest we join the rest of the pack. All the more so as there were still surprisingly few people and our choice of the time and day seemed to work out brilliantly. But before I could present the suggestion, PingPing said:
"Let's go left."
And so left we went.
The Great Wall is quite a hard work. With a lot of steep slopes, some of them somewhat facilitated by steps and railings, but some not so luxurious.
06 The Great Wall
However, we bravely went on, which meant mainly up at first, sometimes outright sharply. Just as the Wall followed the ridges of this restless, hilly area, at the average altitude of just about one thousand metres. If the opposite section of the Wall was still sparsely visited - and we could clearly see it from where we were - this one was outright empty. Only two Dutch guys who trotted up the Wall at roughly the same pace as we did, the only difference at how fast we advanced was how long we took to take pictures. And one or two locals. That was all. Incredibly, contrary to my wildest dreams, we had the Wall virtually for ourselves.And the surrounding nature and area were miraculously spectacular. Rugged and pretty, they were another priceless bonus to this already wonderful excursion. The day grew ever warmer, so I started perspiring and coming in need of shedding some clothing. But then again, the wind didn't let up a bit. And that was a major drawback. If I had not been wet, I'd have taken most of my clothes off. But I had been wet. And such a wind would have been a death to my kidneys.
We trudged on up and then rolled down, just as undulating Wall demanded it, until finally, after some time, we reached the point where the Wall was closed off for tourists and we couldn't go on any further. That was the end on this side. The nature and the landscape beckoned on, but walking on would be a risk and there was no sane reason in this world why anyone - why we - would undertake such a risk. So we turned around and doubled back in the direction we had come from.
07 The Great Wall
This part was obviously the shorter and less spectacular one. But precisely for that reason PingPing had made an excellent choice by picking it first. Because for a first-timer it's as spectacular as anything. And also, we were treated to this unbelievable solitude on the Wall for at least half an hour or maybe even three quarters of an hour. There would be no such treat on the other side.Besides, on our way back, solitude and emptiness were two concepts already gone with the wind as we were increasingly reminded that we were in China. What solitude and emptiness we had caught, there would be no more of it.
Back to the watch tower at the opening of the Great Wall, we went on to what upon our entering had been our right. Even if the Wall was often so wide that, as they said, it would allow horses to gallop five abreast or soldiers to march in ten parallel columns, tourists evidently put much more strain on the space there. Majority of them Chinese, of course, but westerners wouldn't be put to shame with their numbers, either. By the minute it grew increasingly difficult to keep up your pace, particularly at occasional bottle-neck spots where it often took some pushing and shoving to get through. But the atmosphere was jovial and on balance, it all added to the good time.
There was this highest spot up ahead with the best view over entire landscape where almost everyone seemed headed to. I saw increasing number of people in short sleeves, and I tried to strip some of my clothes, too, but the wind immediately started whipping my body, by now covered with warm sweat, and unless I wanted to incur a cold before my impending trip to North Korea, I knew I'd simply have to put them back on and bear it the way it was.
08 The Great Wall
At regular intervals on the Wall there were signal platforms, like small watch-towers, which used to be an important part of the whole fortification. Each one of them is actually a blockhouse built on the top of the Wall and guards used to send warning signals from there. Since the Ming Dynasty, the amount of smoke and gunfire released conveyed specific military information about the enemy. Depending on the number of rounds, the guys messages were meant for knew how strong the advancing enemy was. And one of those watch-towers was this highest spot accessible to tourists on the Wall. There was no way higher up from there. Only on down to the end of walkable section of the Wall on this end, or back to where you came from.
PingPing and I went on and after some time and few more less then friendly, almost ominous slopes reached the other end. By the time we did it, it was already early afternoon. On our way there, some way back, we had noticed a way-out pointer that would lead us down to the valley and back to Bādálĭng. This was now the only thing left to do on the Wall. So we turned around and made this final little stretch to the way out. On our way there, a group of Chinese, mostly youngsters, but an older guy among them, as well, stopped us and expressed a strong wish to have a picture or two taken with me. I duly obliged. So we took time for some laughing and friendly photo session, and after a lot of bowing, hand-shakes, thumb-ups and "xiexies", PingPing and I finally left the Wall.
The exit got us to a valley with a number of souvenir stalls and shops, another car park, and a bear park.
09 The Great Wall (photo by Guo Xiao Ping)
Of course, the bear park was the only interesting thing there, consisting of two or three deep excavations, each one with an artificial stony landscape, equipped with a metal construction and a number of bears to climb it. All those bears were black, most certainly some local species, and either trained or, most likely, self-trained to climb this metal thing and entertain tourists.Entertainment consisted of catching sliced apple pieces mid-air, thrown in by visitors. Some bears would come up to the wall, stand on their hind legs and open their jaws in expectation. Others would climb up the construction, far enough to avoid direct contact with people, and yet close enough to catch an apple slice if thrown well. All along the cage rim there were small cardboard plates with sliced apples. You had a feeling they were there just waiting for you to feed the bears. And they were. Except, once you threw the first piece, a guy would materialise from somewhere, blending out from the crowd, marching briskly up to you, and demand three yuan. Which was a bit of a rip-off, I would say.
PingPing was of the same opinion. For she was the one who, as expected, reached out for the apples and started throwing them to the bears. When the guy appeared and demanded three yuan, she frowned and fired something in Mandarin at him. He then produced another piece of cardboard with a hand-written price tag of three yuan on it. The fact that it wasn't exactly the most visible thing around, both in terms of size and position - I'd even say it was deliberately half-hidden - didn't help PingPing's outburst.
10 The Great Wall
However, she had no choice but to pay.Or had she? In fact, less than a minute later, another tourist fell into the same trap, this time a westerner. And the same taxman merrily trotted up again, demanding three more yuan. The tourist was at first baffled, then reacted the same way as PingPing did, only not so explosively, and simply refused to pay. The taxman chased him a few metres, but the tourist wouldn't budge and calmly went away, leaving the rest of apple slices on the plate.
Now that she had already paid, PingPing threw the rest of her slices to the bears and then we went back to the car.
Mao allegedly said that he who had not climbed the Great Wall was not a true man. Well, as history has already proved, Mao was nowhere near the monopoly on truth, but I liked that saying nevertheless. At least on that score, I finally proved myself a true man today.
Back in the car, PingPing was suggesting we visit Ming Dynasty tombs on our way back to Bĕijīng. In all other circumstances I'd have gone along with her suggestion as that was the idea I had myself been entertaining. However, as soon as we were in the car, I had an opportunity to finally take off my clothes and the T-shirt I'd had on was as wet as if I had just taken it out of the washing machine. Except that in this case it was wet with my own sweat. I had no spare shirts on me as I had not expected I'd need any. I wiped myself with paper tissues we had on hand and said:
"Sorry, but I just can't go like this. We'll have to do it some other time."
"But when?" was her logical question.
"Next time I come to Bĕijīng. I just can't go now."
And so we went back to Bĕijīng. She was driving, I was half naked - well, from waist up, anyway - and Robbie Williams was blasting from her CD player.
Outside there was the best day so far.
