China: The Great Wall

The Great Wall of China. How can you adequately describe such a place in words? It began with feelings of great anticipation... the drive from Robin's apartment to Mutianyu, the section of the Wall we decided to visit. That was one of the first surprises, that you don't just go to "the Wall" but to a certain part of it. Badaling is the closest to Beijing but was described as such a tourist's hell that we opted to go further out for a more authentic experience.

My anticipation turned to fear when I saw that in order to "climb" the Wall, we'd have to take a chairlift to reach it. With my fear of heights, I had prepared myself for closing my eyes while in a cable car, but the chairlift was far more terrifying. Very little other than the Great Wall of China could make me get on that thing. With my eyes closed til we reached the top, Jon snapped some pictures of the trip up.






Everyone wants to climb and walk along the Wall for as long as they can. I just wanted to keep going and going, but it turns out this is easier said than done. The Wall is STEEP! When we got to the base of it, our guide informed us we could turn right or left, with the right turn being more difficult but a bit less crowded, and the left having more people but an easier climb. We opted for the left, which wasn't particularly crowded that day.



In the spirit of China's embrace of capitalism, there were old men sitting along the Wall selling everything from ice cream and drinks to little souvenirs. Jon was able to haggle for a beautifully-carved wooden egg with an friendly old man who was just great fun to talk with. He claimed to love Americans and was an expert haggler. Mostly the experience was just taking in the sheer immensity of the Wall as well as the natural beauty of the surrounding hills and mountains. We were lucky that the crowds seemed to stay away that day and were even able to have parts of the Wall to ourselves.

Although I wanted to climb forever, eventually the tiny steps that sloped deeply along the Wall began to make me dizzy. So I stopped where I was and sat down with Robin, gazing at the mountains and people-watching, as Jon continued on, happy as a clam, to explore more. It was one of those rare and treasured travel experiences where the site that you were so anticipating seeing, for such a long time, manages to be even better than you could have imagined it.





We left the Wall, had a nice lunch and then headed to the Ming Tombs. With such an evocative name, we expected a bit more than the spartan underground chambers with very little to actually see among the ridiculous hordes of tourists. But after the incredible Great Wall experience, it didn't really matter all that much to us.

China: The Summer Palace and Hot Pot

Well, since we are leaving on our second big vacation tomorrow, this seems like the perfect time to finish my China blog ;-)

This was quite a long trip for us. We took the metro from Robin's apartment to the end of the line, then had to catch a cab from there. I can only imagine what a schlep it must have been in the time of the emperor. But it was worth the trip. The Summer Palace grounds were a peaceful escape from the crazy urban life of central Beijing - except for the omnipresent policemen who I feared would ask us for the foreigner registration we didn't have every time we walked by.

We enjoyed a nice picnic by the lake of our 7-11 take out noodles and watched a colony of ants attempt to bring our fallen peanut bits back to their home. So wonderfully peaceful!

Unfortunately, we didn't plan this trip too well. We decided to walk from the entrance to the palace proper, and once again were reminded of the sheer size of the place. Everything is really bigger in China. So while we enjoyed a lazy stroll through the grounds, our poor feet were pretty tired by the time we reached the other side.

And to make matters worse, it was close to 4:00, which is when the last of the dragon boats ran to take us back to the entrance, AND the sky had just turned the ugly, dark grey that precedes a big rainstorm. So we missed the opportunity to explore the huge palace complex, but did enjoy our leisurely walk and the pleasant dragon boat ride back to the entrance. We took a cab back to the metro and paid twice as much as the earlier ride due to what must have been a "rain tax" and went back to Robin's.

Our dinner plans tonight were for Mongolian hot pot. It might not sound too tempting to boil your own food in the soupy, muggy air of Beijing, but this was one of the most enjoyable meals we had here. First, we chose the broth for our pot, then got a selection of different kinds of raw meat - ostrich, lamb, beef and crab, then went to make our own little dips at the counter. We used our chopsticks to drop the strips of meat into the boiling water. It was a delicious meal and one of those experiences you could never have in the USA.