#20 The Great Wall - Simatai

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September 13th 2005

Published: December 12th 2005

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dancywalden

Great Wall - Simatai

I think that says it all...

Friday June 3

Our wake up call did not happen, but Zoe and I are up anyway at exactly 6:30am. Lousy kids. Breakfast is quick - good old broccoli and poached eggs. As it has been all week, the weather is clear and warm. A taxi waits outside the hotel gate for us. The driver is prompt, and grumpy that we are delaying him even though we are not. Two ladies from the hotel share the ride, Lisa and Jane. Met Lisa last night, she and Jane just came from Xi’an so maybe we can get some info from them on hotels.

The taxi inches through Beijing’s crunch hour; many delays and turns later we are finally dropped at a parked tour bus. The bus is filled with backpacker type tourists from Scandinavia, Germany, US, Australia and places unknown. There is much ado about accounting for the passengers and our destinations - one of two places, right? I inconveniently forget the receipt for the tour, but who knew you needed it… At last we leave. The bus creeps down featureless shop lined thoroughfares, drab and uninteresting for many miles. This is Beijing’s suburban sprawl. Further out though, we pass

Great Wall - Simatai

This is what we have to tackle off in the distance!

through small villages of traditional Chinese design - the atmosphere is livelier, and I catch glimpses of a more colorful China.

Just as we start to make progress the bus pulls into a gas station. The tour guide says we are taking a restroom break, but really he and the driver need to hose off the wheels before we chug up the mountains. To keep them cool I suppose. The entire busload heads for the WC. All the men go in and take care of business. All the women go in and promptly come back out. Inside is one of the most disgusting bathroom messes I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen plenty. Stinky campground outhouses, sludge filled porta-potties at Summerfest, squalid squatters at the Thai border - nothing prepared me for this. Muck smeared, the room is clouded in a choking stench. I’m going to add this one to The Bathroom Diaries.

We ladies hold it.

Winding along the bumpy, dusty highway the view improves on the ascent as the flat spread of Beijing fades away. Far off I see part of the wall and what looks like a castle. Over two hours into the trip everyone is dozing,

Great Wall - Simatai

I think you know what they mean.

even through the numerous construction obstructions. I know that the destination is not far from the city, yet this is taking forever.

Those of us who are taking the Simatai route are dropped off with these instructions from the tour guide:

“The driver will take you to get tickets, then you wait for him and he will drive you to the entrance.”

We are at a crossroads with a stone, whitewashed gateway arching over it - there is an inscription on it, Chinese of course. So who knows exactly where we are?? Bleary-eyed we do as we are told and board a van with a non English-speaking driver. More bumps and dust in a cramped, stuffy van, only six of us go this way, the rest of the busload goes to Jinshanling. This route is scenic, but the windows are dirty so I can’t enjoy the view. Half hour later the driver unloads us in a parking lot, which I assume is the place to get tickets (see above); then he will drive us to the entrance.

Near as I can figure from the official Beijing Tourist Map, this is the route we have taken: highway

Great Wall - Simatai

Part way up the entrance path - Mandarin Duck Lake below

101 going northeast, then off on a secondary road to the “suburban” boundary of Beijing Municipality, 3 hours and about 75 miles later.

We see the driver drive off.

We guess he’s no longer in the plan.

Easily locate the ticket office next to a line-up of a dozen souvenir vendors. T-shirt, water, hat!! Fork out Y30 each and ask for a map. T-shirt, water, hat!! Now we mill about wondering how to get to the wall, seen off in the distance atop a formidable mountain range. T-shirt, water, hat!! A young couple with our group asks some questions of one of the vendors. T-shirt, water, hat!! They discover the entrance is through the line of buildings, just beyond the hostel. T-shirt, water, hat!! Zoe’s insistent NO to all of the vendors’ offers goes unheeded. They laugh at us. T-shirt, water, hat!! Maybe with enough encouragement we’ll take them up on it. Twenty precious minutes have been wasted - we have no idea how long this will take because again we did not do our homework. The documentary last night was too engrossing …part two of the WWII US envoy team in China.

The grounds are

Great Wall - Simatai

Only 11 more towers to go

meticulously cared for, and the government insists that tourists take an active role in keeping it so. Clever signs are posted all around; the slogans give Zoe the chuckles. Wish they would invest in a sign leading you from the ticket office to the entrance... Of course the smartest thing would have been to just walk towards the mountain with the wall on it.

The newly constructed paved and walled path matches the stone of The Great Wall high above us. It winds up the side of a hill around to the entrance point. Many touts and hawkers congregate alongside the path, lounging in the shade of a few scraggly trees they eye us for signs of naïveté. A 60-something lady takes pace with us, attempting to make herself useful with useless conversation. Despite our unresponsiveness she pursues. Finally she gives up on us and latches onto the couple - they seem happy to have her I guess, or they just think she’s being nice. I appreciate that the locals need to make a living and that they have limited opportunities, but I don’t want this exceptional experience to be marred by constant chatter, even if it means missing

Great Wall - Simatai

Steep. What else can I say?

the history.

We crossed over Mandarin Duck Lake, a small dammed reservoir, to get to this path; across the gorge to the west, you can see the Jinshanling section of the wall. How did the Ming soldiers get from one side to the other? Was there a bridge linking these two sides at one time? Try finding the answer at a most bizarre Great Wall website.

Stark, unblemished blue sky, sun beating down, the walk up to the entrance has us panting. Of the six of us who take the Simatai section, the couple, Zoe, and I take the strenuous trek up. The middle-aged Kansas guy is nowhere to be seen. Also, the last we saw of the fit looking German was near the ticket office where he was lounging, partaking of his lunch.

The extremely steep steps of varying heights force us to look down most of the time just to make sure of our footing. Zoe says she doesn’t think she can make it, yet she keeps plodding along. We take, and require, frequent stops to slug water, lingering in the cooler air of the towers as we reach them. Situated next to each tower are vendors hawking souvenirs,

Great Wall - Simatai

Looking west to the Jinshanling side

ice cream, soda, water, and even beer. I plan to indulge on the way down.

Trudging upward along the ridge, the mountain slopes severely either side of the walkway. When we stop to rest the scenery around us takes over. The wall appears delicately balanced on the peaks of the Taihang Shan Mountains, swaying to an ancient wind. So compelling it is that it’s hard to resist gazing long, letting the wind evaporate the sweat.

A lunch break is desperately needed. In the shade of a tower - one that doesn’t smell like urine - we unpack the snacks we bought last night. That shopping trip was frustrating because the labeling on the packages was all in Chinese. The pictures promised healthful dried fruit. The bags of nuts, well, you could see them - nuts is nuts. We bought the most appetizing of the lot. Excellent idea.

Yuk. The mango looking thing is fuzzy and tough. Raisins are doused with hot spices. And who knows what that other dried fruit is - I won’t try it. Zoe does, but 86'es it. Ironically, the real oranges are dry. The almonds passable, we eat them with Ritz crackers and

Great Wall - Simatai

Crumbling section

toss the rest. Envious of the French tourists who brought a picnic basket, we salivate over their vin and gateau spread. Stylish and unblemished - they have come down from the cable car ride - they eat cheerily.

Lonely Planet exaggerated the difficulty of this hike. Neither of us is an athlete, and though the incline is grueling, the sun hot, and the climb exhausting, we feel pretty confident about reaching the end.

The views are magnificent, Inner Mongolia to the north, undulating hills fade to the horizon, south the mountains are rugged and imposing. Villages below lay in peaceful contrast to their protector. According to history, the mountain passes along this stretch and west to Gubeikou were the sights of many invasions, hence the reason for the wall. Why did the Manchus and Mongols choose to march on China through this treacherous country? For a weighty explanation of the various invasions and dynasties have a look at this site: The China Army Area Handbook.

Divided by the towers, each wall section presents a new challenge, a few are extremely steep, others have sketchy footing. Each tower is a unique design, though I’m just too tired to look closely. Past the

Great Wall - Simatai

Do they mean by accident or choice?

cable car entry, there are fewer people. Most tourists are taking the cable ride up then hiking down. We reach a point where the wall crumbles to a narrow path; we scramble up to find the last intact section. Signs state that you can go no further even though it looks doable. Intriguing, the ridge beckons to points higher, but we obey. Note, later I find out that the last section has been closed off due to its dangerous terrain - several people have fallen to their deaths.

There are 17 towers on the Simatai section, and we have reached the 12th. The highest point, which is off limits, is said to be approximately 1000 meters high, and holds the Watching Beijing Tower where if one was to ignore the warnings, climb the Stairway To Heaven (and apparently that’s where you’ll end up if you lose your footing) and be stupid enough to do this at night, one could view the sparkling city lights of Beijing.

Zoe and I are tired and look forward to getting back; the trek down is difficult as you really have to watch the narrow, uneven steps. We meet the Kansas guy taking

Great Wall - Simatai

More up

photos - as we figured, he opted for the cable car, says it’s due to a knee problem. Hot and hungry, I indulge in an ice cream bar at the first available stand. Ha! You thought it was going to be a beer!! Not on this terrain. Even the locals succumb to the late afternoon heat; a young man is stretched out and snoring under his Nestlé’s vendor umbrella, touts cool off in the towers.

We miss a turn for the exit by looking down so much and almost end up taking the sliding way down. That’s where they strap you into a harness and shove you off the cliff and you slide down on a skinny cable to the bottom of the gorge. Sounds like fun.

I buy postcards from a shriveled up lady who gives me the hard bargain. Realize her market opportunity is limited and business is not booming, but I think Y15 is plenty for the dog-eared packet. Finally we reach the bottom a little after 2:30; total time 2 1/2 hours or so. The tour bus is parked and waiting in the shade next to the lake. A restaurant advertises, via a 20

Great Wall - Simatai

South or southwest? Could be the Taihang Shan mountains

ft banner hoisted over the door, its inclusion in Lonely Planet. Looks good for a snack. We order dumplings - what arrives is a mountain of them, very oniony, but very cheap at Y15. Zoe checks out the WC - it is filthy, worse than the gas station.

China. What gives with the nasty toilet facilities?

The Beijing Simatai Great Wall International Youth Hostel is just up the hill. While waiting for the rest of the hikers we check it out. Nice, clean, has a huge wooden deck (with bar & restaurant) overlooking the lake, good sized rooms w/private bath, twin beds, and TV. No one is in the office but a young woman runs up to us to see what we want, just prices, thank you. (Oh, and thanks for the use of your clean squatter.) She tells us to wait, then races off, comes back with business cards. Says the price is Y260 but will go down to Y200. Not sure why the instant discount. Next time I’m here (with Tony next year?) will do both hikes and stay the night. Imagine, relaxing on the deck, next to a peaceful lake, your view is The Great Wall of China as you sip

Great Wall - Simatai

North-ish towards Inner Mongolia

an ice cold Tsingdao after a long day in the sun!

We amble around killing time. There is much construction going on, they are building many more units, so by the time we get back to Simatai it will be a hopping' place.

We board the bus shortly before 4pm. Beet red stragglers are dragging themselves the last few feet to the bus. Lisa and Jane are the last of the last - looking very cat-dragged-in. Hmmm, the Jinshanling side must have been much harder, or these folks are really out of shape.

We wait. And wait. And wait. Three people are missing. The tour guide counts and recounts the passengers. Hey, I don’t think they are hiding under the seats. And besides, your instructions are lousy, who knows how they interpreted them. He gets off the bus and searches the entire grounds and comes up empty. After waiting an extra 45 minutes the bus takes off. We’ll never know what happened to those three. Murder? Suicide? Lost footing?

On the way I catch a better view of the surrounding countryside. A picturesque stream races us down the mountain, the forest recedes, and the tranquility diminishes.

Great Wall - Simatai

The snaking Jinshanling section

Back on the main highway there are many hitchhikers, all men - apparently a common mode of commute. This is an endless ride back and seems to be taking much longer, noisy, bleating horns, pointless lane changes. We stop at the same putrid gas station to hose off the wheels. We know the drill and we won’t be fooled again.

Resuming, but not for long, we hit a traffic jam. Rubbernecking drivers. Slowly it becomes clear that a terrible accident has just happened. A van has been literally crushed to an accordion by a monstrous truck, there is man lying in a ditch. No one could have survived that crash unless through divine intervention. Yet the swerving and honking continues as the scene is quickly left behind, forgotten. A Google search of these words: driving accidents Beijing, delivers 137,000 hits.

At last we reach central Beijing where we are transferred to a van, then driven through the narrow hutongs to our hotel. Though tired and cranky, we decide to clean up and hunt for food. The first night here we saw an Italian restaurant on Dongsinan Street and go in search of it, up and down the street

Great Wall - Simatai

Completely deteriorated section

and side streets too, but we can’t find it. All we need is more walking. This is the second missing business! Just before tempers flare, Zoe spots a pizza place, but they are closing in 15 minutes and won’t serve us. Boy, these Beijingers are really strict! The manager is very sweet and tries her best to help us out, so we get the “American”, a cheese & pepperoni, to go with a veggie salad for about Y70. Not great but it does the trick.

Big day tomorrow - off to Xi’an, but not till we’ve squeezed another tourist sight in: The Summer Palace!

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