Flat Seth in China-Days 3+4

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Well, my third day in Beijing was the one I truly looked forward to – it was the day that Jeff took me to climb The Great Wall of China. I chose a section of the wall named Mutianyu ( Moo-Ti-Anyu) as the other sections were either too far away or too busy by tourists. It took approx. 2.5 hrs to get there but excitement was running through my paper veins. When we arrived, tickets were bought and in order to start our walk of the great wall we had to get on a cable car first, which took us over the forest and to the start of the wall. When we had arrived on the wall we had the choice of going right which was renowned for being more steep, wild and less restored or left which was flatter with more views of the wall as it snaked its way across the mountains of the Huairou District. ( I still don’t really know how to say that!!)

Well the right direction was definitely steeper in areas and I made sure to use the side of the wall as my hand hold. There were areas where I had to climb really slowly and carefully and use my hands as support on the step in front. The path ended and became rougher and more wild and there was a warning sign stating that tourists should stop walking. So I backtracked and made my way to where I started and then continued along the left side of the wall. I climbed a few watchtowers that were dotted along the wall and that were originally built to allow guardsman an area to fire arrows and defend against any enemy attacks.

The Great Wall of China is said to be the only man made structure visible from outer space and was built, remodelled, restored , lengthened and built again over 2000 years. It was built over many natural barriers like rivers and mountain ranges and mainly to protect the chinese empire (which at that time wasn’t one big country but divided into many small states) from neighbouring Mongolians and other invaders. Originally it wasn’t one big wall but had different sections in different areas that were joined together by different dynasties and emperors. It is around 2300 years old and when first started it is claimed to have been like building 30 of the Great Pyramids in Egypt – I bet that no one guessed how long it would end up being. It is also claimed to be approximately 4000 miles long today and had millions of people (mainly peasants (poor people), criminals , unemployed people and disgraced nobles ) were made to work on it. But if all the walls from all the different dynasties in northern china are added together, then the actual length would be more than 31,000 miles!!! Wow. Sydney to London is only around 10,600 miles.

Its funny that in China most of the pushing and shoving in lines and tourist attractions is by the chinese themselves. A lot of chinese travel to other parts of china in their holiday season, especially to many of the imperial (royal) and ancient attractions in Beijing, so you don't end up seeing many foreign tourists around. So when you do end up seeing some they are definitely noticeable.

I got used to saying a few chinese words while I was travelling around, which came in handy when asking people directions or to take my photo at different places. To say hello its: Ni-How or Ni-How-Ma which means: Hello and how are you? Or Shea-Shea which means thank you. I was told to firstly say Shee-Shee and wondered why people were giggling and laughing at me – until I asked someone else for the correct way to say thank you. Not many people speak or understand English so it’s definitely good to know at least a few words. I remember once I was asking for a toilet and was making all kind of hand gestures and noises (which were probably a bit rude and naughty!!) but the people did not understand what I wanted. A man even called up his friend on his mobile phone who spoke some English. In the end I was understood and found out that most chinese understand if you say WC – which means Water Closet ( an old term for a bathroom / toilet ). Luckily I wasn’t busting!! Ha Ha.

After an exciting day at The Great Wall of China – I had a great chinese style lunch and then headed back to Beijing via a short visit to The Ming Tombs. This was the burial sight of 13 Ming Dynasty Emperors of China (Leaders like David Cameron ) – who ruled for approximately 276 years. The Ming Dynasty was one of the first and best governed eras for the chinese which had approximately 180 million people under its rule at that time. Luckily I made it back in time to Beijing to go see a Kung Fu show. It is very energetic and fast paced like the Acrobatic Show I saw but more defensive. Kung Fu is seen as a way of protecting yourself by using chinese traditional arts (like Martial Arts) . Again – these guys are real entertainers and very flexible and fast. One guy was doing backwards body flips (like a hand stand) but instead of using his hands to land on used his head instead! Ouch! The whole show told the story of a young boy who had taken up Kung Fu and showed his life through the ages until he became a Kung Fu Master.

My last day in Beijing saw me cram in a lot of sights and sounds – I could of done with another day to save racing around like a headless chicken. I ended up visiting the Olympic Green – home of the 2008 Olympic Games. I saw the National Stadium – nicknamed “The Birds Nest” and the National Aquatics Centre – nicknamed “The Water Cube”. It’s a vast area and the buildings very impressive – even on a grey and misty day. Maybe the mist was more pollution – a huge occurrence here in China and a fact that was importantly raised by the Olympic Committee prior to the games. It’s definitely very hard to tackle such a problem when the world’s largest population lives there and more than 500,000 cars are introduced on the roads each month.

From there I went to one of Beijing’s newest and most striking buildings to be constructed-The CCTV building (China Central Television Tower). It’s amazing that something so weird looking is able to successfully stand up. Its nickname is “Big Boxer Shorts”.

I then got back on the subway and headed to The Palace Museum – also introduced during The Ming Dynasty. It is also known as the Forbidden City as only emperors and their families were permitted to enter. Nowadays it is open to the public and one of the world’s most popular tourist attractions. The Forbidden City is totally walled and has a protective moat encircling it – and has an estimated 10,000 rooms inside!! It took 14 years to build with over a million people placed into hard labour. The materials of the red city wall were of white lime (a rock / building material) and very starchy rice!! And the cement was made using starchy rice and egg whites! I was getting hungry just thinking about the construction materials. As weird as it sounds the materials used are said to have made the wall extremely strong. The main colour in the city is red and yellow – yellow being the symbol of the Royal Family.

The Forbidden City lays in the centre of Beijing and to the north of the world’s largest public square –the infamous Tiananmen Square. Even though it’s impressive in its own right – the square holds approximately tens of thousands of people on most days but is able to hold 1 million people at any one time. It’s where kite flyers and tourists mingle together .At one end of the square flies the Chinese National flag. This is raised everyday at sunrise and lowered at sunset. The most infamous event that Tiananmen Square is attached with is the political demonstrations that took place there in the 1989. They were mainly started by Beijing students and lasted 7 weeks. Protests were non violent but on June 4th army tanks and troops of The Peoples Liberation Army ( The Chinese Army) moved in and used live fire to clear the square of protesters. On June 5th one man stood in front of an approaching line of tanks and blocked their way – making one of the most famous protests of all time. To this day no one knows his name, age or what happened to him.

At the entrance to The Forbidden City is the Tiananmen Tower from where the ancient emperors addressed the public and from where government officials still announce any important news and celebrations. At the front of the tower is a grand photo of the old leader called Chairman Mao. He was the founder of The Peoples Republic of China (the official name of China today) and ruled for 27 years. Most people respect him immensely and he is known as one of the world’s most influential leaders- even though some of his leadership and ideas may have been the cause of a lot of suffering throughout China. But he is also recognised as moving China forward and turning it from being a poor society to one of the powers of the world.

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Photos

The Great Wall of China
Jeff and I at The Great Wall

Mutianyu Great Wall
Taking a break and enjoying the view of the wall snaking its way across the mountains

The Great Wall
Some areas of the wall were very steep !

Mutianyu Great Wall
The wall just goes on forever - but I was too lazy to walk all the way.

The Legend of Kung Fu
Another amazing show.

Kung Fu Show
Action packed

Kung Fu Show
Very Dramatic

The Birds Nest
Where the Olympics were held in 2008

The Olympic Green
Very impressive even on a grey,cloudy day.

The Water Cube
Where the Olympic Watersports were held - a city full of weird but wonderful buidlings

CCTV Building
Another weird looking building in Beijing - nicknamed "Big Boxer Shorts".

The entrance to The Forbidden City
The security guards were getting a bit suspicious of me posing for a photo with Chairman Mao.

The Forbidden City
There was no way I was going to visit the 10,000 rooms - well not before dinner anyway !

Tiananmen Square
Where old emperors and important leaders speak to the people

Tiananmen Square
This protester was nicknamed "Tank Man"

Train to Xian
Having a rest in my sleeper cabin on the way to Xian

Comments

[nuri rent car]

great article..
nice article tips travel ..