Beijing Part 2: The Great Wall and Forbidden City

Monday, May 17

“He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man.”

-Mao Zedong

And I had always thought that I was a man after my Bar Mitzvah eight years ago.  Well, I guess I never asked the CCP for their approval.

After hearing about my family friends Gary and Judy’s trip on the Great Wall a few weeks ago in HK, I vowed that I would do the Great Wall the right way.  I had heard that this trip would require two days, and I had planned as such, however, after reading up a little bit, it seemed like doing the two day hike was not really necessary, and could definitely be done in one day.  Given the amount of time I had in Beijing (only 3.5 days) and the number of places I wanted to see, I decided this would be the prudent move.

Luckily, I didn’t have to do this trek on my own, as I had thought I would, and there was a trip of about 8 of us from my hostel going to do the Jianshanling to Simatai route of the Wall. This was supposed to give a good balance of a great hike, some restored parts, a lot of original stretches, and very few tourists.  I can now confirm that this was completely accurate, and I can’t imagine having done the Wall in a better way.

The day started at 5am, as seems to be a trend these days of not much sleep, with the dryness that an only occur after it has poured rain all night.  I was hopeful for the weather today, and was rewarded with the best weather I can imagine – clear enough to see most everything, but still cloudy so that I didn’t die in the sun beating down on me a la Cambodia.

We had to take a 3-hour minibus out to the site and then began our walk to the wall. As promised, there were literally zero other tourists except for the occasional camped-out group every hour or so.  The only people joining us were a handful of older Chinese women who were hawking their postcards, t-shirts and of course, what would a Chinese hawker be if they were not offering cold water, soda and beer on a long hike.  As usual, I talk to these women in my limited Chinese, and make fun of the fact that they want me to buy things, but that I am a student, and thus have no money (this was actually true at the time). It was so crazy to think that literally every day these women get up early and trek the Wall trying to sell to the few tourists who cross this area.  The other funny thing was my realization that they must have extremely little luck each day, because only Westerners climb this area of the Wall.  It seems from my observations so far that Chinese people are almost deathly afraid of exercise, and sightseeing for them only involves just that, seeing/viewing sights and capturing their obligatory 80,000 pictures with their “V” for victory signs along the way.  Case in point was our “guide” from the hostel.  This guy could not be more than 25 years old, yet, a) had never visited the Wall before (something that surprised me to no end) and b) after just the first set of maybe 15 stairs, this guy was out of breath and sweating profusely.  Again, I mention the perfect weather we had of about 70 degrees and clouds, so there was really no reason for this other than he had never gone up stairs in his life.  Add this to the idea that they take escalators and moving walkways EVERYWHERE, and the picture starts to get a little clearer.

The Wall itself was unbelievable.  This part of the Wall straddles two provinces, Hebei (where Beijing is) and Inner Mongolia (hundreds of years ago, actually Mongolia, home of the Mongols like Ghengis Khan and Co.).  Bottom line, they made a really good wall.  It is hard enough to scale while on it, that I can’t imagine someone with the gall to try to get up the mountain, and then over the wall itself. Plus, thinking about how hundreds of years ago, people, especially Chinese people, were even smaller than they are now, just adds a cherry on top.

The surrounding landscapes are incredible.  Lots of rolling mountains, rice terraces and some rivers cut through the area that was to be the main defense against foreign invaders.  Every few minutes I’d stop to take in the scenery (read: take a breather) and just think, and struggle with the fact that I was on the Great Wall of China.  I still don’t believe that I did it. One way to tell you how amazing and beautiful and inspiring this was, is to look at my pictures.  They basically all look the same for the most part.  What this tells me is that even though I was taking pretty similar pictures, at the time, I must have thought each place looked increasingly amazing.  The power of nature and man-made structures that fight against the natural terrain really make for some great views.

(This is the Hebei (China) side of the Wall)

(Out into Mongolia (now the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia)

(Note how nobody else is on the Wall)

(Inside one of the towers, still in original condition - amazing!)

(Not as well preserved... damn erosion)

(I can't imagine trying to get through this stuff)

(It was a good decision to wear sneakers today)

(Our fearless tour "guide" who had never been to the Wall)

(Climbing down was hard than up usually)

(Thank goodness we stopped before having to scale that!)

(Crossing a bridge at the end, beautiful views)

The people on the trip were just as excellent, and provided for some awesome conversation as usual. A couple of Brits, who I ended up spending most of the day, as well as another British 20-something couple, two loners like myself, and a family of three whose son was studying in Shanghai this past semester.  The parents here were really interesting, and ultimately, their slowness allowed the rest of us to catch breaks at every tower as we waited for them to catch up, which was quite helpful. We all got to talking about our travels, the routes we had taken, and the highlights of it all.  All I can say is that, 1) I have so so so much to cover and see and 2) I’m really glad that I’m starting early! The fact that I’m not going to be doing another one of these trips for another year (remember our deal Michael Chen!) makes me feel sad and almost useless, as I see traveling as having such high value, that other things seem to be a waste of time.  Of course, I realize and cherish my education, but man, it doesn’t even compete in terms of enjoyment.

(The crew)

After about 5 hours on the Wall itself, we descended into a random, middle-of-nowhere town that served solely to feed those who climbed the Wall, and indeed, ate lunch.  Finally around 3, we made our way back into the minibus for the 3-hour ride back, which was much more enjoyable this time that it was not 6am and that we now had a bit of a relationship built among the group.

When we returned to the hostel, we all were just so exhausted that we could only make the efforts to eat dinner and watch a couple movies in the hostel’s common room before heading to bed before midnight.

Tuesday May 18

Today I slept in until around 8 – what a joy! To my delight, I woke up and did not feel any excruciating pain in my legs after the hike. Only now can I fully appreciate the multi-daily walks up and down the I-House stairs, and the inevitable mountain climbing around the CUHK campus.  After a hearty “American” breakfast at the hostel of eggs, toast, sausage, and really uncooked bacon (apparently this is how the British like it, someone should explain that to them) I went off for the day with my two British friends Ryan and Zach.  These two were about 23 and had finished school and were now working in between travel journeys for the past couple years, taking them through South America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and now China, and heading to Nepal and India for three months afterwards.  Talk about the right priorities!

Around 10 we set off for Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City as our main goals for the day.  Beautifully situated, the Leo Hostel was just a 10-minute walk south of the Square.  This place is just enormous. So it seems everything in China is, the Square is overwhelmingly large.  Word on the street is that on multiple occasions Mao addressed audiences of over one million people here. Yes, that is the entire state population of Wyoming…. twice. The space itself is massive, so much so, that even when there was a million people, I still think it was probably not that crowded.  Walking around the Square, you get a small feel for Red China.  Tens of huge Chinese flags raised high in the sky, pictures of Mao in the distance with the Forbidden City, and police/army officers everywhere.  All I could think of was how it was like just a few months after I was born in May and June 1989, when the student pro-democracy protests occurred here and the ensuing unrest that led to one of the most famous pictures in world history.

(Monument to the People's Heroes)

(Tiananmen Square - all I could think of was tanks rolling in)

(The Great Chairman Mao)

(I was still amazed by the vast numbers of people at this point)

After strolling through the Square for a while, we headed to the Forbidden City.  I had thought, based on some pictures of Mao addressing crowds here, that the City is just ahead of the Square.  Things can be deceiving, as it was a good half mile through the Square and up to the front gates of the City, passing through the famous archway that contains the massive (seems to be the only way to describe things in China) portrait of Chairman Mao.

The Forbidden City was really hard to take in all at one time.  Ideally, I would have liked to do it more times with a little less pressure.  Ultimately, the late morning was a poor timing choice to go, as this must be when every single tour group in Beijing is at the City (though I think it always feels like this).  W#hat this implies is that even in such a huge huge huge place, literally the size of a small city, that it was difficult to walk around without being customarily pushed and shoved by Chinese tourists – from young men to old women (they are especially ruthless) you could barely peak in to see the different halls for more than a few seconds.  This was a bit disappointing and only adds to my frustrations with the Chinese tourist.  Note, that this only refers to the seemingly millions of Chinese from places other than the location I am at (i.e. not native Beijingers) who flock to these attractions and historical locations to take their own pictures, and take part in the game of shoving, touching every part of the museum/attraction they can, and staring at / taking pictures with white people.  The album that I started a few months ago for all the Chinese people I have taken pictures with has grown exponentially since starting my trip.  At one point, an older woman motioned to Zach to pick up her ~5-year old grandson and take a picture with him.  The funniest part about this was that Zach was smiling, the parents were ecstatic, but the kid looked like he was about to throw a tantrum.  Afterwards, the parents made him say thank-you in English, and you could tell how ridiculous the situation was.

(My new friend Ryan, posing with his adopted child, who doesn't seem to be enjoying the parading too much)

(Scariest turtle I've ever seen - check out those claws and fangs)

(Ancient fire extinguisher - big vat of water. Used to be heated in the winter so it wouldn't freeze over)

(I would be totally intimidated if I were some official walking in here for the first time)

After a couple hours in the Forbidden City, we strolled south for a few kilometers along the lovely, tree-covered streets of Beijing – trying some street food along the way – my favorite being the Beijing burger (not sure what the Chinese name is), which consists of a hand-sized pita pocket filled with minced beef, onions and deliciousness.

Our final stop for the day was a trip to the Pearl Market, which is a four-floor indoor market that sells the typical clothing and electronics, but also some jewelry on the top floor, which of course, we did not visit. We spent the afternoon taking the metro back to our area and walking around the Qianmen district, which is a place rebuilt to look like Old Beijing, but in reality, is as touristy as anywhere else, and then heading back to Leo’s to rest for a bit before dinner.

Excitedly, we had planned to do the much-anticipated Beijing Kaoya (Peking roast duck) dinner tonight, and got a nice recommendation to a nearby restaurant that had this dish as its specialty, and for student prices.  The dish was huge! and we definitely over-ordered with the side dishes.  The dish was a whole duck, bones and all, filleted nicely for us.  Then you put it on a thin palm-sized pancake with some vegetables and a fantastic sauce, roll it up, enjoy and repeat.  This was easily my best meal in China thus far, and I only wish I could eat it more often.  Duck is amazing, end of story.

After dinner, we made our way to Sanlitun, supposedly a hopping bar area for both backpackers and locals.  After some mix-ups with the metro and hailing a taxi, we arrived on this street full of bars where the employees stand outside trying to lure you in with drink specials, which are identical from place to place of course.  Eventually we decided on a random bar to enter after bargaining for some beers (kudos Michael Chen) and were surprised to find that the place was mostly empty, and only occupied by a few choice locals.  The beers were obviously good, but I think we were expecting more from a Tuesday night in Beijing, whether this was a valid expectation or not.

We went back to the hostel soon after and kicked back a few more Tsingtao’s and chatting before calling it quits a little later on.  I was waking up early the next morning, so I bid my new friends good luck and went to sleep, mentally preparing myself for a busy and exhausting next day, once again the norm these days. My motto is, if you don’t sleep well at night, you’re not exhausted enough, which means that you didn’t do enough the previous day. So far so good I think.