China Diaries 3 - The Great Wall

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Monday, November 12, 2007


China Diaries 3 Great Wall and beyond

Hello! The last place I left off is when it was Sunday morning, the day of the competition and the ever so awesome breakfast they serve at the hotel. Much has happened since then..........

Sunday afternoon, the American and Chinese drifters competed with a mediocre crowd. The funniest part about the day was the organizers threw us on the middle of the asphalft during break time to entertain the crowd, but we really didn't know what to do, so we just decided to dance around doing the tootsie, electric slide, MC Hammer dance.....and the crowd loved it! Once the competition was over we took alot of photos for press and then headed off to dinner. The one thing that's cool here in China is they have huge resturants in buidlings that are separated by rooms. It's almost like an oversize tea room, with chairs seated around a table. Then each room has servers who start you off with alittle bit of everything. You can find yourself complaining abit because the table is so large, and the dishes come out relatively small, so you think you're getting assed out with the meal, but they keep serving! So before you know it, you're eating so much because it just keeps on coming, and it's all sorts of fun stuff to eat.



The head honcho of WDS was celebrating his mums birthday in another room and they were getting hammered. There's a type of liquor here that tastes absolutely potent and will get you wasted in no time. We all went into their room to sing her happy birthday, and not only were the Americans getting wasted, but the Chinese were getting wasted in the room too. It was funny to see the amount of people get tipsy as fast as they did, including the birthday girl. One Chinese guy got so wasted, he passed out on the chair and wouldn't wake up. People were taking the piss out of him, writing on his face, others were dancing around in circles, it was a huge festivity. Needless to say that Chinese guy was so wasted, he vomited all throughout the hall way....still passed out.

Since it was Sunday evening, some of the crew decided to go clubbing but I was so beat that as soon as we got back to the hotel via the bus, I jumped on my bed and passed out until 7:30am the next morning. As much as I would of loved to gone out, we were told we were heading to the Great Wall the next day so I wanted to be up to par. I'm glad I didn't go out that night either as everyone who went to the club didn't get back until 6 am and had a 9:45 am rendevous time to head to the great wall.

After I woke up in the morning, I had some awesome breakfast, went to the 24 mini mart, loaded up on some snacks and green tea, went back to the hotel, got dressed, met everyone in the lobby and jumped on the bus. Our bus driver spoke a lick of English and everyone convinced him to take us to McDonalds before the great wall. I already loaded up on snacks so I wasn't keen on McD's, but everyone wanted McD's. The driver managed to find a parking spot near a joint, and our tour guide who spoke little english must of ordered 50 chicken sandwhiches because she came back with a box full. That sandwhich wasn't looking too tasty but everyone needed something to soak up the alcohol prior to climbing the great wall. Once the box came on the bus, we headed off.

The ride took about 2 hours up which took us through Beijing and small roads leading through what seemed like the slums of China. The roads were dirty and you can look out the window and emerge yourself in their way of life but it wasn't pleasant. It definitely opened your eyes to see street markets and dirty dirty dirty buidings, roads, gates to government owned factories, people selling fruit. The fruit was the brightest thing you can see on the road while other objects and humans seemed to all blend together. It humbles you to say the least and it's just a feeling to know that half of China lives like this. Our ride was educational enough as far as economics and foriegn affairs alittle behind in China, but it was the way to the great wall and as soon as we reached the parking lot to something you learn about in books in elementary school. One of the wonders of the world.

We all exited the bus to the brisk cool air and gloomy fog. The day wasn't the best of conditions but we were all excited to be there. Once we all got in, I kind of broke off and did my own thing. There's two sides of the great wall, the west and the east, you can actually climb the entire thing in one day I assume, but you will need to be fit for all the steps, height, and physical strength it requires. I was determined to make it to the top, the steps aren't all the same height, certain parts of th steps are worn down from so many people walking it. I'm sure if you live here in China, climbing the wall is nothing and perhaps some people climb it daily for exercise but if you're not use to it, it's tough. I thought to myself that I can either screw around and take my time getting as far as I can, or I can put my head down and push myself to the top of the west side, I decided on the second option.

Periodically, I would stop to catch my breathe and take some photos but the ultimate feeling is reaching the top of the west side and saying you climbed the great wall is such an emotional high. When you look down the stairs and see how high it actually is and that you climbed it, it's an overpowering feeling that you accomplished something so magnificant on one of the 7 wonders of the world that can be seen from outer space. I did however, have this impression that it's extremely long, which in a sense it is as it was a defense mechansim to keep the Mongolians out, but I imagined it going for miles on end when infact it doesn't. It cirlces around a dam in the middle of the mountains, but don't ever under estimate the length of wall.

When I finally made it to the top, I took some photos and wrote my name on the bricks to leave a trace of me on there and took a photo of it. Shortly after, I headed back down listening to my ipod admiring all the other tourists and locals be amused of this great wall along with myself. The hardest part of the wall I actually think is going down as the steps, you have to keep moving as your knees and legs start to shake a bit. Of course in my nature, I hauled ass back down the steps and headed to the little vendors to buy some suvenirs. Our call time back to the bus was 4pm and as much as I was willing to walk the east side of the wall, I didn't. Once everyone headed back to the bus, we all headed out and back to the hotel.

Our call time the next morning was 4:30 am as we were heading to the airport to head to Hangzhou south of Shanghai. WDS had atleast 40 people in the group so hauling luggage for 40 people, checking in, so on and so forth it is a bit of a challenge but it seems like everyone manages to maintain composure and get to where they need to go. I still perfer to travel alone though just because I'm anal on time and waiting around for people, but for the amount of people travelling, I think we get an A for group effort of punctuality.

At 8:45 am we took off to Hangzhou via Shanghai airlines. The flight was short, 1 hour and 45 minutes and once we landed in Hangzhou, we headed to the hotel after we piled into another bus like sardines.

The hotel we're staying at is called Joy Hotel next to the stadium were the series is gonna be held this week. Hangzhou is suppose to the be the nicest area in China and so far it's living up to its expectation. Hangzhou and Beijing are complete opposites! Hangzhou is absolutely gorgeous and it has such a European feel to it. There are loads of trees, everyone seems happy, overall it's such a step up from the last city.

As soon as we arrived, there were a couple camera guys waiting for us as we got out, after we all dismounted the sardine mobile, we threw our stuff in our rooms and headed to lunch. After lunch, we had an hour break before we were going to go sight seeing at a place called West Lake. At first I was hesitant about going as I was abit tired but I'm soooooooooooo glas that I choose to go because that Lake is stunning.

Right now I'm typing on a Dell computer provided by the hotel to each room so I can't upload any photos of today but you HAVE to see how beautiful West Lake is. I'm too tired to write anymore, so tomorrow I will write about West Lake in more detail but I absolutely LOVE Hangzhou and within the 10 hours I'm here, I encourage anyone to come here and see the sights for yourself. I'm signing off from the blog, I'm beat, and I didn't proof read it so I apologize if it's a bit off....More tomorrow....night night!

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Photos

WDS Models
We were working out there and we were freezing.

Another good shot of us
in Beijing working for World Drift Series.

Candid shot
Joanna, Sahar, I forgot her last name but we called her Ariel, and myself at the stadium.

A taxi next to us
I thought this was a funny photo. We took this on our way to a club at night. lol

Driving to the great wall
You have to drive through some really eye opening towns to get the great wall, and realize that it's not far from the city.

Beginning my journey on the wall
It was very cold this day, but well worth it.

Streets of Hangszhou
Hangzhou is a beautiful city in China. One hour south of Shanghai, it's such a dope city.

Here I am
On West lake