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Published: April 24th 2009
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The Great Wall
Great Wall of China, at point 'Ba Da Ling' The Great Wall of China - 'Ba Da Ling'
We went to the great wall as one of our major reasons for travelling to Beijing. Jet & Evert, the couple from Holland had told us the night before to take 'Line 5 Subway' and then change when we got to 'Line 1'. Then to exit the subway system and look for a bus with the number 919. Sounded simple at first. Navigating the tube system was extremely easy, and we found our drop off point without a tiff. The bus and transit system is a completely diferent story. Hardly a soul spoke english, and if they did, they would pretend that they didn't. We walked a mile or so and found some busses that were marked 919, but could not board. We figured we had gone the wrong way, so we turned and walked twice as far in the opposite direction. We were getting warmer, as more and more '919' busses were passing us in the street. Again we tried to board, and were yelled at from the driver to get away from the bus. After trying with 10 or more people on how to board, we got a
Myself on the Wall.
This is a shot of myself on the wall. Unfortunately the good shot of me was ruined by some douchebag that decided to stick his hand in the photo at the last second. break. I saw a Chinese woman who appeared to be inquiring about the same issue as us. We took a chance and followed her, fortunately to the correct place to board.
The trek was close to an hour and the line-ups were already absurd. The Wall on an average day sees 10,000 tourists, and today was no exception. We went to the point of Ba Da Ling which has the highest density for tourists because it is so close to Beijing. The other option was a tour with our hostel but the price was 300 RMB. They offered a bus there and back, a non-english speaking tour guide and that was it. We decided to pay 2 RMB for the tube, 12RMB for the bus to the wall, and 45RMB for the entry to the wall. We ended up walking about 2kms from where the bus stopped because that is how long the line up of vehicles were to the front entrance. There were little shops, meat markets, and people in dress everywhere. We immediately purchased our tickets, and started to ascend. We were in complete shock and awe at the size and magnitude of such a structure. Words
Me with a Chinese girl
I'm not sure if this girl was working or not, but I had to have a picture with someone in this kind of dress. cannot fully describe what was seen that day, and the pictures are a little subpar, but will have to do. We climbed (because it was more of a climb than a walk) up the wall until we reached a maximum point. At some points it was actually a fight up the wall because of all the tourists and crowds trying to make their way up and down. Alas, it is China, and the crowd is something you do tend to cope with. As far as the eye could see, the Great Walled stretched and zig-zagged through the rolling mountains. The fog that lay in the mountains made the structure appear to run into infinitum. With a little imagination, one could being to dream up what it must have been like when it was being constructed. After climbing for about an hour, we had reached a maximum point and decided to rest a while. While sitting, a group of 7-10 Chinese girls walked by us and asked if one of them could take a picture with us. One sat down, and another snapped the photo. As soon as that was complete, another one jumped in her spot. This continued until all
Great wall cont...
This isn't the greatest of photo's, but just to show how steep the climb really was. of them had had their picture taken with the "white man!" This was not the first time this has happened, as we have probably posed for about twenty pictures with random people by now.
After soaking in some of the scenery and snapping a few of our own pictures, we made our way back down. Once off of the wall, we decided to walk around and check out some of the vendors and look at their merchandise. One man was chipping a picture of the wall into marble and tried to sell us one of his pieces of art for 200RMB. I offered him 50 in return and he said no. I simply said ok, and walked away. After about 4 or 5 steps I could hear him coming after me with "
OK ok ok.. 50 ,,.. 50!!! OK!!!" I ended up purchasing it, even though I have a pretty good feeling it isnt even worth 1RMB. On our way down through the market, we decided to barter for some figurines of the great wall. Again, they started around 200RMB. After Dave and I bartered for a while, we were able to drop the price to 20 RMB. When
Great wall cont..
Just another shot of the wall... she finally accepted that as a price, we told her we wanted 2 figurines for the price. New strategy. Barter and barter until you get a ridiculously low price, then ask for two of whatever you are buying. It always works. She was pissed, took our money and practically through our newly acquired junk at us. We had won!
Hostel and City Life
The hostel has been a very pleasant experience. The washrooms are cleaned it seems every two hours, the rooms are clean, and the staff is about par. There is a bird on the outside of our room that can speak Chinese, and takes full advantage of that....he is extremely talkative between the hours of 3am - 6am, so we fully enjoy what he has to say. We call him Jungle Bird, and he must go. We have heard stories where the staff have attempted to overcharge, not give back change, etc... but here in China, that is what happens. It seems as though they don't necessarily rip you off by pickpocket as much as right to your face. I want to go back a little to when I spoke about the rickshawls. Earlier, when I was speaking to the guys from Michigan, they told me a story that had happened to them. They had taken one of these rides in a rickshawl and were taken in the completely wrong direction and driven behind some abandoned parking lot. There, the driver attempted to extort money out of the boys, and asked for 600 RMB. One of the boys gave him 300 RMB and took off running. The driver got enough of his shirt to rip it in half, and the boy ran away unscathed. Another scam that is very popular here has to do with 'Art Students' or 'Tea Party's'. Chinese men will approach you, strike up a very friendly conversation, and let you know that he is an art student. Then he will tell you to come to his art shop to get some free or very cheap art. Once inside, they extort you for money. This scam happened to us as we were walking down one of the main streets in Beijing, although we had no intention of going behind a church, down a dark alley to see his "Art School". The tea parties are one of my favourite. This scam usually happens with a pair of fairly attractive asian girls. They approach white men, and ask them if they would like to go have some tea. Same as the previous scam, once inside, you are extorted for money.
Everything here in China is negotiable. We had walked into an art store where the asking price for a set of paintings were 450 RMB each. As soon as I look discusted with the price, he knocked off 60%! (MISSING)I still didn't buy the paintings, and am glad that I hadn't. We have seen the exact copies
EVERYWHERE!
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Karen
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ni hao ma?
Hey White Man! glad to see you're enjoying all your asian adventures! don't u feel like a superstar over there? no one ever wanted to take pictures with me :-( i only got the pity pictures. awww, look at that little asian girl. she thinks she's canadian. isn't that cute? have fun in the phillipines!