The Great Pall of China

Hi all.


Nope, that title isn't a typo. More about that later. After our day checking out the highlights of downtown Beijing, we decided to do what every person who visits China HAS to do: visit the Great Wall. Being the cheapskates (read very thrifty) travelers we are, we were determined to do this trip as cheaply as possible. We bypassed the hordes of "guides" approaching people for tours (and the hostels slightly more reputable version of the same) and settled on a more local tour with a sight-seeing company that does trips for Chinese tourists. It was a third the price of the tours (100 yaun per person, or about 14 dollars) geared to foreigners, so it seemed the thing to do. When we got there, the tour we wanted (NO SHOPPING) didn't start selling tickets until later, so we sat outside and weighed our options (while looking out on Tiananmen Square and listening to the Kenny G Christmas album piped over the bus station). Then we made the decision we should have made in the first place: roll like we usually do, with no tours. So we took the subway across town, found a local bus going the right way (after much confusion), and were on our way to the Wall! We even had a fantastic tour guide on the way there who had quite a sense of humor -- or at least we think so: the other passengers were laughing a lot, but we don't speak Chinese.... Best of all: it only cost us 12 yuan ($1.50) to get there!



We met the Wall at Badaling -- the most well restored and touristy part. It lies about 70 km (45 miles) from Beijing. We had some serious trepidation about visiting the part that everyone and their dog visits due to the crowds (they are serious when they say that there are 1.3 billion people here), but were in for a serious surprise. After some more confusion about where we got dropped off (it is really a hindrance to speak no Chinese), we found the entrance to the section of the wall. There were indeed hordes of visitors there (buses and buses and buses full), but for some odd reason they all were heading to the east when they got up on the Wall. So of course we turned West. We pretty much had the wall to ourselves from that point on. What a fantastic experience! Also, what an amazing piece of human construction. Altogether, the various walls (no, it isn't one long wall, but many sections) stretch almost 30,000 kilometers (17,000 miles)! It snakes along ridges through the mountains. I know you have seen photos, so you know what I am talking about. We hiked (some sections were really steep) until we came to the end of the restored section, then sat and had lunch. Then, as we were finishing up, Sarah noticed the HORDES. Whatever was causing people to go the opposite way at the beginning no longer applied, because they were coming. We said our goodbyes to an amazing, quiet experience on the wall and started back. Apparently, the busiest time for visits to the wall is also the hottest. Go figure.

Now, a brief word about the title of this post: we were 45 miles from Beijing at that section of the wall, and the air was still so smoggy that we could hardly see the wall stretching up the next mountain. I have never experienced pollution like this. We read that breathing the air of Beijing is like smoking 70 cigarettes a day. I would have to agree. The cars clogging the roads are one thing, but most of the pollution comes from 18.5 million Beijingers burning coal for a lot of household uses. We both certainly noticed the effects. By today I was starting to get a nice cough.

Anyway, this is already pretty long so I will sign off. Tune in next time for our adventures on the train out of Beijing!




-Matt!