Sunday 9th November 2014

The Great Wall of China

The alarm wakes us early this morning. Unfortunately I don’t feel one hundred percent, my stomach is iffy and I feel nauseous. I forego breakfast and say a silent prayer that I will feel better before it is time to leave. Today is an opportunity of a lifetime; I doubt if we will come this way again, I have to be okay! I know that Dave won’t go without me even though I would want him too. He won’t agree either to my suggestion that if so far into the journey I need to return to the hotel, I can get a taxi and he can go on. ‘We stay together!’ he insists.

I lay in the back of the people carrier, dosing on and off throughout the 90 kilometer journey and thankfully I feel much better by the time we arrive.

Day-trippers from Beijing usually go to the nearest part of the wall (Badaling) but apparently it is quite touristy and crowded. We have therefore opted to travel just a few kilometres more to the Mutianyu section of the wall, which is north of Beijing.
Li Biao is very quiet this morning and did not even point out what turned out to be our first glimpse of the Great Wall of China. We compared him to our wonderful guide in Petra a few years ago and how he ensured that our first glimpse of The Treasury was magnificent. We told Li Biao that we wanted to hike the 6 kilometres and he estimated we should be back in the car park at around 2.30pm and he said that he would be waiting there for us.

The four of us take the cable car to reach the wall. Wow the sight before us is unbelievable, the Great Wall of China snakes as far as the eye can see to the east and to the west above stunning mountain scenery. It is a perfect day too, the sky is blue and it is dry. For November we are very lucky!
As I still don’t feel 100% and aren’t sure of how much walking I will do, we told Anne and Pete to go ahead without us. I am here and even if I walk a little and then sit and marvel at the amazing view it will be fantastic.

Following a mountain ridge, the wall is extremely steep in places and there are many steps to climb or crawl up depending on the steepness. A watchtower was built at a distance no further than two arrow shots apart. I saw a landmark tower and commented that I would like to aim for it and Dave agreed. We just reached it as Anne and Pete arrived from the other direction. They had walked further but had decided not to continue to the furthest reachable tower. Pete kindly and generously offered me his hiking pole, which I gratefully accepted. I confess occasionally feeling a little light headed and I felt much more confident on the very steep steps. Pete and Anne set off again, we stayed a while, admiring the view from the watchtower and watched them disappear into the distance. They were today ticking off another wonder of the world. After this adventure they have only another three to explore.

The views are amazing. Splashes of autumnal orange and terracotta colours brighten the shrubbery on both sides of the wall. How fortunate we are to be here.
We smiled as we overheard a tourist in a strong American drawl commenting ‘gosh this is the oldest thing I have ever seen apart from my Grandmother of course’.

We met up with our friends again where we had joined the wall some hours earlier and we decided to walk eastwards. Although the views were still magnificent, they were not quite as impressive. This was because we could now see glimpses of urban life in the distance below us instead of an uninterrupted view of the great wall, and it’s surrounding beauty.

We now had a choice to make – a chair lift or a toboggan ride back down. Pete and Anne decided quickly that they were going down in toboggans. It was only one person per toboggan and I wasn’t at all sure about it. In the end I decided on the chair lift and we bought the required tickets.
However when I saw the chair lift I confess that I was quite nervous. I didn’t realise that I would have to get on while it was moving and that then it positively swung off the end of the ledge. Aarggh! Scary! I gave up our place in the queue when our turn came and peered again over the edge uncertainly. Eventually, I took a deep breath and with the help and patience of Dave and the men manning the lift I got on. Unfortunately Dave’s jacket got caught in the barrier as it closed over us and as we swung off the edge the barrier was not secured in place.
After my initial panic, I realised we were safe and I did relax and manage to enjoy the view.

We were just a few minutes late meeting Li Biao and he quickly ushered us into the restaurant for lunch. After our meal (which for me was two pieces of pork and a spoonful of rice) we immediately started the return journey. It took 1 ½ hours this morning but unfortunately on the outskirts of the capital city we joined a long queue of traffic heading back into Beijing, which made the return journey considerably longer.

Our guide told us nothing about our surroundings and gave us short answers to any questions. ‘Part of the Olympic Park’ was one such answer; ‘the drum tower’ was another reply. It was a shame that he did not add that the drum tower was closed and had been for five months, as we would learn the following day!

I suddenly had a thought and enquired what time we would be going for the Peking Duck Banquet, which was part of our evening itinerary. ‘Now’ he replied. We were stunned and disappointed at his answer. We had walked the wall, eaten lunch and now he wanted to take us straight for dinner! We told him that this was not acceptable. We wanted to return to the hotel, shower and change. He reluctantly agreed to meet us all again at 7.30 and still sulking he returned to the hotel with us.

On arriving at the restaurant I noticed a sign stating that it closed at 10pm. However our guide informed us that we were too late to eat there and had to go elsewhere. I had originally expected an organised event with lots of people at this ‘duck banquet’ but clearly this dinner was to take place at a local restaurant.

The driver soon found another restaurant specialising in duck and the guide ordered what did turn out to be a banquet. Although not quite what we expected, all was delicious and it was good to be in a local restaurant with locals as opposed to an organised event for tourists. Our banquet included not only duck but also chicken, beef served with egg, aubergines and various other dishes. Although we tried on a few occasions to involve Li Biao in the conversation he remained quiet and sullen, chatting only to the driver or on his telephone. We had a map of the city on the table and the four of us were discussing a route for our free day tomorrow. But Li Biao showed no interest, offered no suggestions, and made no enquiries as to where we were going. This guide is not the best by a long shot with his monosyllabic answers, his lack of oomph and seemingly lack of pride and passion about his country. Or are we being unfair? Is it the Chinese regime, are all tour guides instructed to say as little as possible about their country?

When we finished our meal Li Biao informed us that we needed to leave our hotel at 6am on Tuesday to get to the railway station for our onward journey. He added that it was too early for his 1 ¾ hour metro journey from his home so he would not be accompanying us. He gave us a map of the station, explained where we had to go in the station and said that the usual driver would take us there.

We returned to our hotel and enjoyed a nightcap in the bar marvelling once more at the fabulous day we have had and finalising our plans for the following day.

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