Beijing - Day 2

Day 2 in Beijing was our day to the Great Wall. There are many different wall areas to visit, the closest is Badaling. This is the most repaired section of the wall and is usually the section that you will see on TV (Samantha Brown, Pres. Obama photo op, etc.). It’s also the most crowded section so we decided to go further to Mutanyu. This section of the wall is about 90 minutes from Beijing.

When we got up in the morning, the “fog” seemed to really be settled in and it wasn’t looking good for the home team. As you can imagine, we wanted a good day to get photos of this experience and it was a little concerning when you could barely make out the buildings around the hotel and the sun was an orange dot behind the clouds. But, we had made the arrangements for the car to pick us up at 10:00 so we were committed . We went down and ate breakfast at the buffet for the hotel which was okay but definitely not great stuff. We were hoping for the sky to clear as the hours passed. We packed a lunch and snacks for the trip and got ready to head out.

Our driver arrived promptly and we headed down the road, away from the city but traffic was still pretty slow moving until we were about 20 minutes into the trip. We followed the main highway for awhile and then headed off to a more local road. The weather was clearing the further we got away from the city so we began to breathe a little easier (in more ways than one, the air in Beijing was pretty nasty). As we have before, we made notes of the towns and villages we passed on the way to the wall. I am not sure how the people lived since you saw no signs of manufacturing plants and you also didn’t see much for farming but obviously, the were able to earn a living in some fashion that I am sure we might find pretty unappealing. We kept looking out the windows for signs of the wall as we headed into more mountainous terrain but we couldn’t see anything. It wasn’t until we arrived that we were able to just catch a small glimpse of what was to come on the top of the mountain ahead of us. We said goodbye to the driver and headed for the cable car to take us to the top. There is the option to walk up to the wall but a) it was a long walk, b) we would rather be walking on the wall than up to the wall and c) we’re pretty lazy people.

As we ascended, we could begin to see the region better with the valleys and mountains all around us and then, we could start to see just a small section of the wall. I hate to be one of those people that say “you have to be there to experience it” but you really do. We watched Samantha Brown on her China trip talk about the Great Wall and thought, it doesn’t really do it justice. We got off the cable car and on the wall and the camera never stopped snapping photos from this point forward. The day wasn’t perfect but it was pretty darned good and it wasn’t too cold so we took as many photos as we could to capture the moment. There was a couple that asked if we would take their picture and we did and they then offered to take a photo of the family. Imagine that, a photo with all 4 of us on the wall. It was very nice and gave us a picture that we seldom get. The wall took some endurance to go up and down and around all of the areas. It was worse on the far edges of the wall section. We decided to follow the major section of the wall and head towards the alpine slide to get us down. We had 3 hours to be there and this was the best way to cover the most ground. It also gave an incentive for the kids and allowed for a quick return to the parking/souvenir area.

It was incredible. The amount of manpower to get this built boggled the mind. The wall followed the tops of the mountain ridges and must have been a daunting sight for anyone thinking they would walk down main street into Beijing. The sheer size was hard to fathom just how it was done, how many people worked on this section, etc. We enjoyed every moment and soaked it all in. To try and describe it further would be very difficult. We could see in the distance another section of the wall (Simitai) which only added to the wonder of the place. It was a great day for us and we can finally say that we are true men (there is a quote in China indicating that you are not a real man until you have walked on the wall).

Near the end of the day, Jacob and Tammy headed to the alpine slide but I wanted to go a little further. Warren and I headed to the last section of the wall open to the public. Here is where it got very steep and difficult. At one point, we were climbing on all fours trying to get up the steps without falling. It was crazy! We only had about 25 minutes to get back to the alpine slide so we went as far as we could and then turned around and headed down the steep slope to meet at the slide. The slide was fun and we were being chastised by the workers along the slope indicating we were going too fast.

Then it was find the souvenirs that we would take home from the wall. There was a large section of stalls selling many things we can get in Suzhou so those items weren’t so appealing but there were some things we thought were nice. This is where Warren turned into a bargaining fool. We went into one stall and the lady quoted us like 840 RMB for three landscape photos of the wall. This was a pretty crazy price so Warren went to the next stall which had the same thing and asked for her price. 550. Next! He just started going back and forth between the stalls and asking prices and letting them know he was comparison shopping. He would yell, 400 over here. They didn’t really like this but it was playing their game to win. We finally got them for somewhere around 240 RMB. We bought some shirts that said “I Climbed the Great Wall” (and all I got was this lousy t-shirt) and that’s about it. We looked for a Great Wall hat but none, just hats for Beijing. We found our driver and headed back to the hotel. It was a great day for us and we were thrilled that we finally made the trip. The Mutanyu section of the wall was less crowded and I am sure just as beautiful as many other sections so it was even pretty relaxing.

For dinner, we went to a pizza place at a very Western area in Beijing. As usual, it took a long time to get there due to the traffic. The prices were pretty steep for pizza and it really wasn’t all that good but we ate it. We decided that before we headed home, we would go to the WuFujiang Night Market. This is the place you may have seen on TV during the Olympics where they sell just about everything to eat. Scorpions, grasshoppers, silkworm cocoons, testicles from about any beast walking the planet along with some more normal items like noodles and rice dishes. We were in the mood for scorpions and grasshoppers which really had little flavor. They were crunchy and salty but no real flavor to speak of. We also ate a mutton “sandwich” which was okay but nothing special. It was interesting to watch the people since this area is more of a tourist trap than a place where the locals go to eat. Interesting, you bet. We could have eaten there for about 1/3 of the price of eating at the pizza joint. Typical with the street food, it’s cheap and usually it’s pretty good.