Greatwall of China

I've been meaning to write a few lines about the Great Wall of China. Clair and I traveled there two years ago during Christmastime. We flew in from Osaka, arrived in Shanghai on the 22nd.

Soon after our flight touched down, we took a 14-hour night train from Shanghai to Beijing. I insisted on getting a little privacy so we got one of those soft sleeper cabins. There are four beds but luckily it was only me and her the whole time. I don't deal very well with sleeping with strangers. (not being sarcastic, I can't sleep while traveling)




the corridor outside the cabins, the dinning car was
cozy too, a bottle of inexpensive local red wine and
northern cuisine agreed well with my stomach

When we finally arrived in Beijing it was cold, around 30F the week we toured it. It was Christmas after all and I had the bestest time, even though there were no hints of Christmas anywhere. We did the Summer Palace, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and a couple of other touristy spots. The crown jewel of the trip was of course the Great Wall. We signed ourselves up on a local bus tour which their only responsibility was to bring us from our youth hostel to the Simatai section of the Wall and back. We were supposed to get back in the afternoon at a specified location for the return ride. However that's what we had to figure out, we were given minimum directions. If I didn't speak the language the whole group of foreginers (a bunch signed up for the same tour, but then we were "sold" to a bigger bus, joined with more foreigners) woulda got lost pretty bad. I wonder how business is usually conducted.



It says, "The Great Wall of China is the greatest
[wall] in the world; the Simatai of the Great Wall
is the greatest of the Great Wall."

To get to the Great Wall from downtown Beijing takes a while, at least two and a half hours if I remember correctly. And Simatai is where you should go if you're a little adventuresome. Some people upped the ante and got dropped off at the other side perhaps 15 miles away at the next section and hiked their way to this side of Simatai. We weren't that crazy becuase it was December. And we didn't want to get too worked up.

We went there on Chirstmas day.

We did quite a bit of climbing. The Great Wall was . . . great! It goes up and down and the winds were unforgiving. The weather up there is very changable. Clair, of all people, got scared, and so we had to stop at one of the beacon towers to wait for the winds to die down. Apparently platform shoes don't help on steep steps. I promised not ever to tell it but I doubt I'll see her again and, who reads these posts but me anyway. It didn't snow. But on our way up from the city on the bus we saw residue of grey snow and quite a few dead animals, hung under the weak sun to dry. Interesting selection of delicacy that I won't ever consider trying unless my life depended on it.

Some parts of the wall are so dangerous. With the wind
blowing, it's a small miracle there aren't injuries.

After we did Beijing, we took the same train back to Shanghai and met up with Izumi (sweetest girl) for New Year's in Shanghai. It's such a different town.

side notes:
There were lots of "farmers", who claimed to have lost their jobs, selling postcards and pictures at the Great Wall. One of them kept bothering us, but I felt horrible for her. I gave her some money and told her we didn't want the stuff she sells.

The Great Wall has always been on the top of my list of things I want to do. Now that it's done I feel like it was the most appropriate time with the right person I couldn't have chosen if I wanted to. It was short-lived but an unforgettable piece of memory I'll take to the grave.

Pics aren't mine, I searched and found some on the 'net. I didn't have a camera, but if I had one, I'd have taken very similar pics. Sorry for stealing yours.

While writing this post I can't shake the song by the band Japan, led by David Sylvian: Communist China.