The Great Wall of China

October 22, 2008

Today started bright and early with a 9am alarm. Yes, that is bright and early for me on vacation, not to mention I was out pretty late last night. The plan for the day is to go to the Great Wall of China. I chose to visit the Mutianyu section which, while restored, is considerably less touristy than the very popular Badaling section.

The tour I chose was small - only 8 people - and turned out to be an excellent choice. The group included me, a girl from Kuala Lumpur (Winnie), an Indian couple, two ladies from Australia, a guy from Sacramento, and a girl from Toronto. Winnie and I started chatting early on in the trip and ended up walking the wall together. It is always nice to have some company, but more than that it is nice to have someone to take pictures for you!

The day was warm but foggy, and unfortunately the view of the Great Wall was not as good as it would have been on a clear day. I don’t know how I had pictured the wall in my mind, but I do know that I was not expecting it to be a series of steep up and down hills with large, arduous stairs to climb. At points the walk seemed downright dangerous, and the fact that it was damp from the fog and slightly slippery did not help matters. But of course, once you got to the top of a climb - which generally meant you were at the next watch tower – the breathtaking view and the sheer magnitude of the wall was breathtaking.

It was about a year ago when I decided I had to see the Great Wall. I actually think I was reading ‘3 Perfect Days’ (a regular feature in United’s in-flight magazine) and it was about Beijing. I hate when the ‘3 perfect days’ article is about somewhere that I haven’t yet been. I also hate when someone says to me ‘have you ever been to….’ and I haven’t been. I know I may never see the whole world, but I am damn well going to try.

Anyway, I have finally seen the Great Wall. I think that the Wall and, in fact, everything about Beijing, has made me feel really small in this really big world. The history here is so amazing and so vast, and yet it is here, in the present for you to see and experience. The Wall was built in 220 BC or something crazy like that (and yes, I recognize that it has been rebuilt numerous times). The Forbidden City was built by the Ming Dynasty, which started in the 1300s. We don’t have this kind of history in the US, and maybe that is why we don’t quite - and this is a generalization about the population of the US – get how our actions impact the world and vice-versa. But I won’t bore you with my political views when, in general, you know them if you are reading this…(see I didn’t even talk about how Sarah Palin only got her passport last year…but can see Russia from Alaska) ;)

Where was I? Oh right…I walked the Great Wall. And then I slept on the 1.5 hour drive back in to the city. When I woke up I had a text from Peter wanting to know if I wanted to get dinner. I had decided earlier in the day that I shouldn’t leave Beijing without eating Peking Duck, and luckily he agreed that sounded like a good idea. We met in the hotel lobby for a drink and then wandered out to find the restaurant that Lonely Planet had recommended as being ‘less touristy’.

I wouldn’t have wanted to see ‘more touristy’. But the duck was really good and we had another fabulous evening in Beijing.

It was about midnight when I started to fade and we called it a night.
And before I knew it the alarm was going off on Thursday morning….time for another day in Beijing.