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Published: September 22nd 2013
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A strangely quiet beep-beep-beep and I realise it’s the alarm. Can’t turn it up but can turn it off. I call the boys’ room at 6:35am. “Hello” says Liam. “This is your wakeup call, get…” he hangs up. At 6:50am Ky goes over and knocks on their door for a proper wakeup. They get organised and we head down to another buffet brekkie. Looks grey outside today. Later we realise its smog – a very thick blanket over the City that limits visibility to around 2km.
Tina collects us, and we drive out towards the Great Wall. A visit to a jade factory furnishes the special chinese souvenir I was looking for – a jade happy ball. The Chinese Beijing National Stone Place provides its own guides that give you a short show of old men carving up jade. The guide explains about the different colours of the jade, how to select real from false, then lets us loose in a large display room. There are amazing pieces in many colours, carved into beautiful shapes with prices from ¥180 up to ¥360,000. I find a fantastic ‘baby dragon’ but at ¥26,000 (A$4,730) I can’t really justify it!
I instead find a happy ball to my liking for ¥360 (A$65), and Liam selects a pair of jade chopsticks that can be used for eating for ¥180 (A$33). The boys have been very bold at using chopsticks in the restaurants so this is a really good choice for Liam.
We carry on our way up to the mountains shrouded in … smog - to Badaling. I’ve read a number of guide books/ sites talking about Badaling vs Mutianyu, and yes there are some stalls selling souvenirs (no surprises), and yes there are plenty of people climbing the wall in both directions, but I didn’t come for all that. I just came to experience and see, which we did.
We walked up the at times increadibly steep path on the wall to the north, going up 500m to stop at a watchtower. The wall and walkway continues for some distance (total length overall is 6,700km), but we opt to just return. The southern route goes up 800m to the first ‘peak’, but also continues on from there. There are also a number of smaller other sections that can be accessed from the
valley leading to Badaling.
The next stop is lunch. An absolutely beautiful restaurant, at the (literally) “Auspicious Business Hotel”, serves up some delightful, tasty and interesting dishes, of which we try: tofu Sichuan style (very spicy), kung bo chicken, pork, beef, and a broccoli dish. On a small stage, a gymnastic display is followed by a lady playing a single stringed instrument. After some chinese tunes, it is disconcerting to hear “Auld Lang Syne”.
After lunch we head off to see the Ming tomb of Emperor Wan Ling at Ding Ling (
not ding-a-ling). The entry area is very peaceful – aside from the occasional tour group marching past with guide in full voice. I am again grateful for the small decision we made months ago, to
not go with a group. With Tina’s friendly manner, sharing life in Beijing as well as the history, and the driver who’s done an amazingly patient job of getting us through traffic jams, they are a real credit to the Travel China Guide company.
A few tomb artefacts are on display in a side building before we descend over six flights of stairs to the
real tomb (as opposed to the many fake tombs created to deter thieves when the tombs were built). There are several large caverns, man-made with enormous blocks of stone. The large stone doors are impressive, but the caverns are surprisingly bare of decoration. I’d expected painted dragons etc.
Later we drive to the Sacred Way, a peaceful willow-lined avenue with large statues of various generals and animals that leads to the area of the tombs. That’s the days events. With a quick last visit to the Happy room, (toilet), we hop in the car for an arduous (for the driver) two hour drive through heavy traffic.
After a brief rest, we walk down Wang Fu Jing Da Jia (big street) to find the area lit up in bright lights, with loads of people out for evening shopping and a stroll. I find some mooncakes for sale in an underground market, only ¥10.60 for 7. Then we find one of two KFCs and negotiate, painfully, a couple of chicken burger meals. It seems that hand gestures, pointing and nods are enough to get by (at least in the big city). The chinese was overwhelming at
first, but I don’t think this trip is going to be as difficult as I’d imagined.
Along with some amusing faux-pas in signs like the cleverly named “Eatalian” sign that then urges us to “Carpet dam”, I spy a t-shirt saying “I©BJ”. Should we tell them about the double-entendre?
Before turning in, we hand-wash some clothes to avoid having to pay ¥25 (A$4.5) to wash a pair of undies. They didn’t even cost that much!
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