China Day 5

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26th September 2006

Our next full day tour was to the Great Wall of China. We were collected by our guide, and there was no one else on the minibus. On our way to the wall, we past the building work going on the Olympic stadium, truly it does look like a birds nest. We also drove past some of the other buildings that are being constructed for the 2008 Olympics, together with the athletes’ village. On our way to the Wall we stopped off at a Jade factory which had some truly lovely pieces at some very nice prices. The biggest thing that I learnt was that jade is not just green, but white and orange too. When we got to the wall, we were greeted by a very odd sight, and something that I really had not expected. There is a bear enclosure there, which is a very odd place to see bears in captivity. Once again there were lots of other Chinese tour groups, which our guide explained were visitors from the country whose children had probably paid for a once in a lifetime trip to the capital. We had two options for climbing the wall and opted to follow the wall to the right and see if we could climb to its highest part. The weather was fantastically warm and we had great views from all of the wall. The walking was quite steep in parts and although I thought we were adequately equiped for the walk, the Chinese seemed to be dressed in suits and dress shoes rather than trainers. They were all carrying their tea canisters and we had bottles of water. I can report that the facilities here were possibly the worst we encountered all holiday and not even with the tiger balm could I go over the doorstep. Our guide gave us just enough time to make it to the furthest tower and back again, before we went on to the Ming tombs. I have to say that these were disappointing. The pictures that are in all the guide books are not what is available to the general public, and in fact we didn’t see the statue lined avenue at all.

After a full day of activities, our guide asked us if there was anything else we would like to do. She offered a trip to the Peking Opera, Shaolin monks acrobat show, Peking duck restaurant or to the traditional housing of the people of Beijing with a trishaw ride, market visit and dinner at someones’ house. We had seen the monks before in England and the opera was not really something we wanted to do, however the Hutong excursion sounded like the most interesting option, and we had nothing else planned that evening.

The taxi took us further into the centre of Beijing and into the less accessible areas where we were asked to get into our trishaws. The man riding the trishaw certainly earned his tip, and pedalled at a furious rate. We were taken to a traditional courtyard house and offered tea whilst the son and father explained the set up of the houses and who lived where. We were then given the opportunity to take photos and carried on to the market. We were given the opportunity to look round a fruit and vegetable market where local Chinese people do their daily shopping. There was also a butchers area with roasted pork hock and bakery with fresh breads. We were then taken to a lady’s house which was at best a 1 room house with the living room, dining room and bedroom all in one where we learnt to make dumplings and then across the passage way she made an amazing meal for us. There were two starters and three main courses with rice. Somehow, the Chinese seem to serve the rice way before the rest of the dishes are ready to be served which means that either you eat the rice then or wait until the main course by which time the rice is cold. Timing is not something they seemed to have mastered. It was certainly one of the best evenings of the entire trip, and the food was lovely and we couldn’t thank our guide enough for showing us the side to Beijing that most tourists don’t get the opportunity to see. It was the side to China we had been hoping to see, and if you get the opportunity grab it with both hands because these traditional ways of life will not be there for much longer.

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Photos

Jade factory
Impressive ship entirely out of jade

Great wall
Entrance

Great wall
Steep sides

Great wall
Amazing views

Hutong
Trishaw ride

Hutong
Traditional Courtyard House

Hutong trip
Local Market

Hutong trip
Our Chef