Every so often, we get to do or see something so spectacular
in our traveling life that it takes away my breath.
Swimming with 100 dolphins in the Pacific Ocean near Kaikoura, NZ,
walking amongst thousands of penguins in Antarctica, seeing lions on safari in
South Africa, La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, the Great Barrier Reef, the
D-Day beaches, the Sistine Chapel, polar bears in the Arctic, the York Minster,
Westminster Abbey, The Tower, Big Ben (Editor’s Note: I see what you did
there).
The Great Wall certainly joins the list (the list is longer
than that, but I don’t want my loyal readers dozing off). Frankly, as amazing as the Forbidden City is,
the Great Wall tops it in my book (your opinion can be different).
We took the bus about two and half hours to get to a less
crowded, more dramatic section of the Great Wall (the Chinese call it the Long
Wall, but they are happy to humor us and call it the Great Wall for us). There was hardly anyone at this part of the
Great Wall. We essentially had the place
to ourselves – which made our day pretty special.
We went to the Jinshaling portion of the Great Wall in
Luanping County, Chengde City. It’s 130
kilometers from Beijing. I know you are impressed that I know that, but
I simply had the presence of mind to take pictures of the scene-setter
sign.
Built on a top dramatic chain of peaks, surrounded by
mountains, with the flowering trees in early spring bloom, the pictures do not
do it justice. So, you’ll just have to
go yourselves!
My knee did not take kindly to the many high steps we had to
negotiate going up and down the Wall.
Thankfully, Carol had brought our REI hiking sticks, so I used those
going up. Going down the steps was
easier for me, but harder for Carol, so then we each used one.
We were given our own local person to stay with us, take
pictures of us with the Wall as backdrop, and generally make sure we don’t
die.
When we made it up to a certain level, we were directed to a
watchtower. Three tables were beautifully set up – we were having lunch on the Great
Wall of China. Wow!
When the server came around to offer wine, I turned it
down. Carol took some red. It hit me – when will I ever get a chance to
have wine whilst dining ON (not just at!) the Great Wall. So I had some.
And it was grand.
After lunch, we had a couple of hours to wander the wall by
ourselves. Our Sherpas (they weren’t
carrying anything other than souvenirs that we felt obligated to buy) stayed
with us. It’s okay, I would have tipped
them for their help, so it doesn’t matter.
In the long run, they provided a service, albeit limited, and then we
bought some cheap crap from them.
Everyone is happy!
We climbed to the top of one watchtower, and it also had a
side stone deck that afforded good views of the Wall.
Oh, let’s be honest – once up on the Wall, most of the views
were fantastic. We had walked further
than anyone else, and were not looking forward to doubling back and covering
the same giant steps, the same grueling up and down (I will trade my left knee
for one that works. Anybody? Anybody?)
Our Sherpas earned their sales though, as they knew of a
much gentler way back. There was a gate
from one tower. The gate led to a
sloping trail with many fewer steps. It
was a nice walk down through the forest, and we beat the others down.
I bought us two lousy snacks masquerading as ice cream on a
stick. Look, the snacks cost next to
nothing (four yuan total, which is thirty cents in USD), and we may have
doubled the shopkeeper’s sales for the day, so it’s not a complaint, more of a
report to my faithful readers. When in
Luanping County, don’t buy the ice cream on a stick! (Blogger: If that’s all you get from this
blog, I’ve done my job! Editor: Not all heroes wear capes! Blogger: I detect sarcasm!)
Anyhow, we had a long bus ride back to Beijing, made longer
by the traffic that makes Beltway traffic seem like it is moving at Indy 500
speeds. I called up my Apple maps, and
it said we were ten miles and 55 minutes from the hotel. It actually took 70 minutes to crawl that
distance.
We had a great dinner at the Hotel – with Peking Duck being
the signature course. It wasn’t the
Peking Duck we are used to at home, but it was still pretty good (before you
all scathingly email me, the owner/chef of the restaurant at home is from China
too). There were multiple courses, and
also a slideshow briefing about Friends of Nature (FON), a grassroots
environmental group in China.
They have 30,000 members and are up to around a two million
dollar budget, which doesn’t sound impressive, but it is a start. They are also involved in environmental
lawsuits, but since it is against the government, in the words of Miracle Max,
“have fun storming the castle!”
Then it was off to bed, as we had a 4:15 am wake-up call on
Friday.
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