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After a sleepless night, Judy & I got up at 4:30AM and walked to another ATM where we easily made a big enough withdrawal to draw a collective sigh of relief. We gathered the boys and went to the hotel next door, where we were to start a tour of the Great Wall at 8:00. The hotel has an all-you-can-eat breakfast – including coffee, which by itself is usually 22+ yuan – for 20 yuan (about $2.40). We are not going to starve.
We were picked up by “Shane” and his driver in a Hyundai minivan for a private tour. Shane is a graduate of Beijing Central U., where he majored in English with Japanese as his secondary language. He received the name “Shane” from his first English teacher – maybe that’s the tradition. “Shane” was chosen because it’s unusual and his Chinese name (which he didn’t give) is unusual for a guy (it’s generally given to girls). We weren’t told the driver’s name, but he navigated the traffic from Beijing to the Great Wall with a reckless abandon that made Judy yelp more than once (and she is not a timid driver).
Welcome to China.
It took about 1 ½ hours to get to Mutianyu, 90km northeast of Beijing. It is not the section of the Wall that you usually see covered with tourists in pictures (that’s Badaling). The Lonely Planet recommends this section because it’s spectacular but much less crowded. That is not to say that it is empty or without tourism. Far from it. To get to the cable car that takes you to the lowest section of the wall, you have to run a gauntlet of tourist stalls selling everything from Red Army t-shirts to emperor hats to much more practical bottled water. And they really try to rip you off. One lady tried to sell me a small (2 yuan) bottle for 20 yuan.
You really need that water on the Wall. We started hiking at tower 14 and climbed up to tower 20. It was hot and arduous but the air was still very clear and the view breathtaking. Shane said it was always like this 20 years ago (he grew up in a Beijing suburb), but between air pollution and fog you often can’t see far. Not a problem today!
Judy counted the steps up: 866, one, way, not including “ups” going the other way (you pass through a saddle) or ramps (of which there are many). We were exhausted and water went fast.
The Wall itself is as remarkable as you’d expect, following the mountain ridges. For all our pictures, click here: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=172066323/a=102868539_102868539/t_=102868539.
We were picked up by “Shane” and his driver in a Hyundai minivan for a private tour. Shane is a graduate of Beijing Central U., where he majored in English with Japanese as his secondary language. He received the name “Shane” from his first English teacher – maybe that’s the tradition. “Shane” was chosen because it’s unusual and his Chinese name (which he didn’t give) is unusual for a guy (it’s generally given to girls). We weren’t told the driver’s name, but he navigated the traffic from Beijing to the Great Wall with a reckless abandon that made Judy yelp more than once (and she is not a timid driver).
Welcome to China.
It took about 1 ½ hours to get to Mutianyu, 90km northeast of Beijing. It is not the section of the Wall that you usually see covered with tourists in pictures (that’s Badaling). The Lonely Planet recommends this section because it’s spectacular but much less crowded. That is not to say that it is empty or without tourism. Far from it. To get to the cable car that takes you to the lowest section of the wall, you have to run a gauntlet of tourist stalls selling everything from Red Army t-shirts to emperor hats to much more practical bottled water. And they really try to rip you off. One lady tried to sell me a small (2 yuan) bottle for 20 yuan.
You really need that water on the Wall. We started hiking at tower 14 and climbed up to tower 20. It was hot and arduous but the air was still very clear and the view breathtaking. Shane said it was always like this 20 years ago (he grew up in a Beijing suburb), but between air pollution and fog you often can’t see far. Not a problem today!
Judy counted the steps up: 866, one, way, not including “ups” going the other way (you pass through a saddle) or ramps (of which there are many). We were exhausted and water went fast.
The Wall itself is as remarkable as you’d expect, following the mountain ridges. For all our pictures, click here: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=172066323/a=102868539_102868539/t_=102868539.
It’s hard to imagine how any army could penetrate it. Shane said the few successes were due to spies on the inside, who let invaders through the entry gates. Building the walls was an amazing engineering feat, at the cost of uncounted human lives. Many of the forced laborers who built the wall are buried within it. Dan says the Great Wall was viewed as a source of shame until Nixon brought détente and a pronouncement that the Wall was a remarkable achievement. Now it’s a source of pride: Shane pointed out that an American astronaut (Neil Armstrong?) had seen it from space.
After running the tourist gauntlet again, we hopped back on the bus & were taken to a jade factory, where we were fed a big, delicious lunch and given a tour of the facilities where they cut jade and jadeite (a much harder form) into jewelry, sculptures, etc. We also got a demonstration on how to tell real jade from imitations, which are common. And then, a course, an opportunity to buy lots of jade stuff.
From there, on to the Ming Tombs, where 13 of the 16 Ming emperors are buried. What about the other 3? The first had not yet moved the capital north from Nanjing to Beijing. A second was overthrown and disappeared – nobody knows what happened to him. The third took over when his predecessor was captured and imprisoned by the Mongols. When he was released a year later, he wanted the throne back and prevailed in the ensuing power struggle. The “temporary” emperor was buried as a prince, not a king. Our pics of the Ming Tombs are at http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=172066838/a=102868539_102868539/t_=102868539.
We went to the tomb of JuDi (easy to remember), who established Beijing as the capital and built the first tomb. The area was selected for its excellent Feng Shui. That was broken by the last emperor, who fled the Forbidden City in a peasant revolt and hung himself just outside the gates: the site is marked with a plaque at Jingshan Park. He is buried south of a river which marks the southern border of the rest of the tombs, ruining the Feng Shui (according to Shane).
While we were waiting to get into the Ming Tombs, Shane was on his cell phone. When we got back on the road again, he asked if we’d ever been to a silk factory, and would we like to see one. My guess is that he saw Judy pick up some expensive jadeite at the jade factory, and it was exactly that possibility that led the factory to feed Laowai and give them tours. So we were buyers, and he called a friend at the silk factory to arrange a similar tour. That’s my guess, anyway. At any rate, we took the silk factory tour but without great enthusiasm. It was interesting – extracting silk thread is still a very labor-intensive process, involving considerable skill. And we got to see a woman weaving a silk carpet on a loom. But we also got a pretty heavy-handed sales pitch, and by 5:30 we were tired. So we went back, regrouped, and went out for dinner. Dan took us to a hole in the wall the boys had discovered the night before, where 600ml beers were 5 yuan (70 cents). It was dirty, no English, great food: more than we could eat. Dan also bought a small bottle of Baijiu (“By-Joe”), a dirt-cheap Chinese liquor reminiscent of Tequila that he insisted that we try. Everything – food, a couple of beers each, the Baijiu – for about 160 Yuan, or just over $20.
Judy & Chris went out to shop. Shortly thereafter, a police wagon pulled up. The restaurant owner had taken some tables & food out onto the street, which apparently was a no-no. He got a citation, and the patrons on the street either came inside or left. I’m not sure what that was about – there were street vendors less than a block away – but maybe he needed a permit or hadn’t paid off the right guys. Go figure.
After running the tourist gauntlet again, we hopped back on the bus & were taken to a jade factory, where we were fed a big, delicious lunch and given a tour of the facilities where they cut jade and jadeite (a much harder form) into jewelry, sculptures, etc. We also got a demonstration on how to tell real jade from imitations, which are common. And then, a course, an opportunity to buy lots of jade stuff.
From there, on to the Ming Tombs, where 13 of the 16 Ming emperors are buried. What about the other 3? The first had not yet moved the capital north from Nanjing to Beijing. A second was overthrown and disappeared – nobody knows what happened to him. The third took over when his predecessor was captured and imprisoned by the Mongols. When he was released a year later, he wanted the throne back and prevailed in the ensuing power struggle. The “temporary” emperor was buried as a prince, not a king. Our pics of the Ming Tombs are at http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=172066838/a=102868539_102868539/t_=102868539.
We went to the tomb of JuDi (easy to remember), who established Beijing as the capital and built the first tomb. The area was selected for its excellent Feng Shui. That was broken by the last emperor, who fled the Forbidden City in a peasant revolt and hung himself just outside the gates: the site is marked with a plaque at Jingshan Park. He is buried south of a river which marks the southern border of the rest of the tombs, ruining the Feng Shui (according to Shane).
While we were waiting to get into the Ming Tombs, Shane was on his cell phone. When we got back on the road again, he asked if we’d ever been to a silk factory, and would we like to see one. My guess is that he saw Judy pick up some expensive jadeite at the jade factory, and it was exactly that possibility that led the factory to feed Laowai and give them tours. So we were buyers, and he called a friend at the silk factory to arrange a similar tour. That’s my guess, anyway. At any rate, we took the silk factory tour but without great enthusiasm. It was interesting – extracting silk thread is still a very labor-intensive process, involving considerable skill. And we got to see a woman weaving a silk carpet on a loom. But we also got a pretty heavy-handed sales pitch, and by 5:30 we were tired. So we went back, regrouped, and went out for dinner. Dan took us to a hole in the wall the boys had discovered the night before, where 600ml beers were 5 yuan (70 cents). It was dirty, no English, great food: more than we could eat. Dan also bought a small bottle of Baijiu (“By-Joe”), a dirt-cheap Chinese liquor reminiscent of Tequila that he insisted that we try. Everything – food, a couple of beers each, the Baijiu – for about 160 Yuan, or just over $20.
Judy & Chris went out to shop. Shortly thereafter, a police wagon pulled up. The restaurant owner had taken some tables & food out onto the street, which apparently was a no-no. He got a citation, and the patrons on the street either came inside or left. I’m not sure what that was about – there were street vendors less than a block away – but maybe he needed a permit or hadn’t paid off the right guys. Go figure.
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