Day 3: The Great Wall

Before I get to the good stuff, I have to comment on our breakfast, which we had in the Hotel. It had many elements of the European breakfasts, such as the baked beans, and tomatoes, as well as the continental rolls and fruit. However, a new dish introduced itself to me. Fried Pumpkin bread. It is more of a dumpling, and indeed, was shaped like a little pumpkin, about 1.5" in diameter. It is deep fried, as are many dishes in China. But more on that later. Inside this little delicacy was a sweet red bean, or kidney bean paste. That is the best description I could get out of Saimiya and Megan, who had them before. IT is a strange combination, the pumpkin, flour, kidney beans and sweetening that is all deep fried. It doesn't sound good, but it is! I only wish I had a picture of it to show you.

The Great Wall is an understatement. We drove for almost an hour outside of Beijing to go to the Badaling area of the Great Wall where we climbed it. Far before we got there, we saw the Great Wall, snaking along the side of the road we drove. When I first spied the Great Wall, my excitement jumped 100%, at least! But we kept driving. As our driver spoke no English, and only Bob and I were in the car, we had no idea of how much further we had to go. The Great Wall is Humongous. As I remember it even now, I am in awe.

This is the only place in China where we encountered queues of a substantial number. I had expected all of China to be quite crowded, but was pleasantly surprised with the absence of the expected extreme crowding. We were standing in line, when a few women came up from behind us, started talking to the ladies in front of us, and basically, cut in line in front of us! We all looked at each other, wondering what action to take. So far, all the Chinese we interacted with had been very polite. We heard that China was re-educating their people on "queueing" for the upcoming 2008 Olympics, as the Chinese do not understand "queueing" as Westerners do. Saimiya listened to what they said, and relayed to us that they were all from the same village, therefore, used that as the reason to cut. We smiled and let them without any flack from us foreigners. But, as we moved on, we saw a chance to cut as well. I forget why or how we decided to cut, but we did, and laughed because we had 'fellow villagers' to cut with. I noticed a nice looking Asian kid that we had just cut in front of, so I smiled, and told him thank you, 'xie xie,' (pronounced shey-shey.) He gave me a big smile back. I took a photo of him with Megan and Saimiya. A couple minutes later, in fairly good English, he gave he a piece of paper with his email address on it, and asked if I'd send him a copy of the pictures. I assured him that I would, but, unfortunately, due to my disorganization, I still have not found where I put that piece of paper. He must think me very rude! Sorry, dude, wherever and whoever you are.

I am pretty sure he let us cut because Megan is so cute.

Megan would say, "BOM, Bom, bom," every now and then to punctuate the moment. I got so used to hearing that, that even now I find myself singing it in my head. She also, very sweetly and in such a way that it didn't seem negative to me, would grumble about all the Kodak Moments I made every one join in. But I bet she's happy now to have a picture with her Villager Boyfriend! Aren't you Meggos? BOM Bom bom!

Back to the Great Wall!! We got off to a fairly fast start, thanks to our fellow Villager, whomever he is, and started to walk up the northern side. Saimiya warned us several times before we got there that the Great Wall was like this, and she'd hold her hand six inches in front of her chest to indicate how steep it was. It looked to me like she was describing climbing a ladder! I had my doubts that it would be that steep. It sure didn't look like it so far!

Tim has a fused ankle, so he wasn't able to go very far. Saimiya, Megan, Bob and I set off after Tim settled at a wide part in the wall where he could observe and relax. Megan soon passed us. I photographed several interesting people and had Bob take a photo of me, and Saimiya take a photos of us before I really got started. This photo is from the vantage point of where Tim stayed. You can see up to the last Guard Tower. I made it to the one just before the one at the top of the Mountain, just about 1/3 from the right hand side of the photo. These hills could pass for the hills around Simi Valley.

Here I am, before the climb. Ignore the bad hair,

the missing button on my coat, and my torn belt loop. Look closely at the picture of the things surrounding me. Keep that in mind for later.

Vendors place themselves strategically here and there on the Great Wall, selling refreshments, souvenirs, junk. All of the above. They are always at a segue, or a bottleneck area, so you have to pass by very near to them. Very enterprising, these people. Very crafty.

Anyway, off to my march. In our travels, some of our favorite places are the ones where we physically accomplished something. Throughout Europe, we climb all the cathedrals and towers we can. At St. Paul's in London, for example, Bob and I climbed all 427 steps. I think. I'll have to check my facts with Rex and Chrissy. The stairwell going up was narrow, very narrow, and cramped. It was physically exhausting to climb and dodge people coming and going at the same time. Another place that was a challenge was Trafalgar Falls in Dominica. We hired a local to guide us up there. It WAS straight up at times, to get to the top. Our reward was great there, for once we got to the top, we enjoyed a dip in the pool of a hot springs mixed with the cool waters of Trafalgar Falls. Ahhh...

Back to my march up the Great Wall. I kept trucking up, and there would be passageways through the Guard Towers. These created wind tunnels through the windows, like the wind in between the high rises in Chicago-The Windy City. Also, a couple of times, the way up the wall led to the side, down a narrow hall with steep steps, and you had people not only going down, but coming up as well. This proved for some very slow goings. Bob got frustrated about then and said he was going to wait for me there. I pledged to continue up to the top of the mountain, and

then come back, although I could have gone all the way up to the top, gone down to the right a long ways, and then come back. But with all the Senior Citizens waiting for me, I thought it would be rude to make them wait for me to do all that. Now, I wish I had gone the distance.

Megan is in the white coat, just below the lime green coat to the right of the photo. Notice how steep it is getting.

Saimiya had gone back as well, not wanting to leave Tim alone for long. She worked on her phone the entire time we were on vacation. Her fellow employees couldn't go a half hour without conferring with her on one subject or a belt. You can see Saimiya Gong Ming in the photo to the left; she is wearing the ever-fashionable ripped jeans and a white hoodie, with the phone plastered to her ear. That Saimiya! I miss that girl.

With just me heading up the never-ending wall, I was able to go at my own pace. As much as the crowd would let me, I would move it! For the most part, I made good time, stopping a few times to take in the view and snap some photos.
Here is one of my photos I took about half way up the Wall. It was at one of the Stair junctions, which was really steep. The steps were not uniform in size or height, making the ascent difficult, and the descent downright perilous! At one point in my ascent, a tiny Asian girl, descending, wearing stilettos, tumbled into me. No doubt due to her "Dressed to Impress" motto, and not "Safety First." I caught her and all was well.

I made it to the 2nd Tower from the top. As I said, I am going back, because I want to climb more! It is fun, it is exhilarating! It is so cool! Here is my photo from the top, well, of where I climbed to. You can see the Guard Tower that is one higher up than I went. If only...

If I could insert here the cartoon sound effects of Tom and Jerry, where Jerry is shaking his head in disbelief with his eyes bulging out in a Double take, I would. What the heck? A Gondola!! We could have taken a Gondola?? I vaguely remember Saimiya now saying that was an option, but we didn't think it was the way to go. Next time, yes, I'll take the Gondola for part of the way, and hike further. Only, I'll take a picnic basket with me.

The descent was almost as hard as the climb. Steep and treacherous at times, I had to take baby duck steps. You can see just how steep it is by the position of the guys head in front of me!

I made it down quickly, and saw Bob not too far from where I left him. As I said before, I was exhilarated from completing a strenuous hike and on such an ancient structure with so much history. This was only our second full day in China. I had not bought anything yet, except for the fruit, and Saimiya got that for us. I passed by a vendor on my way down that I had passed going up. Remember the picture I told you to look closely at? Do you remember what was in it?

Well, selling things in China is a bit like selling things in Mexico, only on steroids, as Bob puts it. He isn't far off. These people grab your arm and push the product, whatever it may be, in your face and say, "You buy?" only it comes out more of a directive than a question or an offer. This old Chinese woman grabbed my coat arm, and shoved this picture of the Great Wall in front of me and said, "You buy, Lady? How much?" I thanked her politely, said no, and kept trying to go. She was insistent, however,wouldn't let me go, and said "How much?" again. To my protests, she only said "You buy 500 RMB. Made with feathers!" RMB is the Chinese denomination for money. Either RMB or yuan. She then fingered the picture showcasing the feathers. Huh? Feathers?

I could see Bob leaving me behind, going to find Tim, Saimiya and Megan. Remember, I was on an ethereal high from my triumph of the Great Wall, and I just wasn't in my right mind. (This is my story, and I'm sticking to it.) That, and I don't see well up close with out glasses, which I had none. True story. Finally I thought I'd get her off me by offering a ridiculously low price, countering her 500 RMB selling price, with 100 RMB. Surely no one would go to 20% of the selling price. That would be robbery, and clearly she was dependent on selling her wares to the tourist for her daily bread. She tried to haggle a bit more, and I thought 'aha, I've got her now, she'd be a fool to go as low as 100 yuan.' But amazingly quickly she said, "okay you buy 100 RMB." Right then, I knew I'd been hoisted by my own petards. I looked around for salvation from Bob, but he was nowhere in sight! I briefly considered running away, but instead, I reluctantly got out a 100RMB bill and gave it to her, took the photo, sheepishly, knowing I'd have to face Bob.

His face showed the 'Father Knows Best' look of disappointment and knowledge that I had bought something. Something Stupid. Now, usually, when we are travelling to foreign countries, when I do buy something, it turns out to be really cool and worth the price. Like the Don Juan and witch Marionettes from Prague, or the German 'Smokers' (incense burners) and a cuckoo clock from Cologne, or crystal from Vienna, or a Saks Fifth Avenue purse from New York, but I knew this time, it wasn't.

Bob says to me, rather too sternly for the occasion, "What did you buy and how much was it?" The tone in his voice denoted a hands on hip stance, with a tapping, impatient foot. I said, feigning excitement, trying to disguise my shame, "This cool picture of the Great Wall! It was only a hundred RMB. Look! It's made of feathers! How cool is that!?" I asked. Didn't fool him one bit. My gusto faded, as I had to admit to him it was a hoax on myself. He wanted to throw it away right there, but I defended it in spite of myself. I said "No!" much more loudly than I planned to, and gripped the picture tighter and closer to my chest, for safety. He wasn't going to get it from me, no matter how stupid it was. It was now mine, for better or worse. I carried it all the way to the car, and showed it proudly to Tim, Saimiya and Megan. Cruel people that they are, making fun of my first ever purchase in China.

Here it is for you to judge. Note the beautiful feathers. Actually, looking at it now, it ain't so bad, is it? It's almost worth the 100 RMB. That is $14 US Dollars. Nope, I didn't get ripped, not me! Imagine peasant Chinese, huddled around a pile of feathers, working late into the night, arranging these feathers into a piece de resistance!

I am sure the old lady packed up her goods and went on a months vacation! What a sucker, she thought, when she sold it to me. It wasn't worth .14 cents, let alone $14!!! Sheesh, what was I thinking??? Oh yeah, I was totally on a high from climbing the steep walls, breathing in the fresh air and from my physical strain. That, plus I had no glasses. True story.

Now, go back to the picture of me before I started the climb. Do you see the nefarious picture on the table of good to my left? Your right? Yep. That's it. My undoing.