To the walls conquered and those that aren't

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A monument built hundreds of years ago, which took thousands of years and various empires and the lives of their slaves, to complete, reconstruct and extend, to keep out the dangerously wild horsemen of Mongolia and save the poor, peace loving innocent farmers of China. I was going to be part of that history with my little black umbrella on a cold day in September.



I'd booked a tour with the downtown backpackers hostel and we were set all set to leave at 8 am. The hike was 6km long and was between Jinshanling and Sumatai. A section of the wall that hadn't been renovated. It is 3 hours away from Beijing and that's half the reason its been left alone. Hardly any tourists out here, and very very few hawkers.

Had a pleasant ride on a minibus to the starting point. Enjoyed the early morning views of Beijing, dozed off, got up again, lovely countryside, fields, the sky was overcast, dozed off again, no sign of any buildings, random steel arch as a bridge support in the middle of nowhere.. dozed off again...

It was drizzling by the time we reached the starting point. Not only was there no clear blue sky but it had started drizzling! So we set off, four couples, one from Germany, two from US, one from Australia, a guy from New Zealand, another from Belgium and me. All of us with our rain ponchos/coats, jackets and me with my umbrella. SO i did climb the wall, holding a lovey black umbrella.

Thankfully the drizzling didn't last too long. The cameras came out as soon as it seemed safe to do so and everybody started shooting. (Shooting the great wall, shooting themselves on it and shooting from it, shoot shoot shoot, how fitting :P). The hike began and it wasn't easy. Even though we weren't all that high up, I was catching my breath often and was very slow. It was a steep climb on that wall, and there seemed to be many more ascending sections than descending ones. Wasn't in too much hurry, but slowing down meant, feeling cold. The views were spectacular! The wall snaking over the mountains for as far as the eyes could see. The guard towers punctuated the wall and the smallest ones visible, so far away, guided your senses to estimate the length of it all!

Climbing up and down as the wall did on these craggy mountains, slowly got a hang of it. At many places half the wall has fallen out, the steps have missing stones and some of them are really steep. There were times when I didn't want to look back for fear of imagining my fall. Many of the guard towers are without roofs, some without walls. The ruins are wonderful to fuel your imagination, one can think of a catapult that may have brought it down. Or maybe the Mongolians had managed to climb up to this one and destroyed it. Looking through the windows, I could think of the guard who had to stay up on a particularly cold, snowy night looking from his station for any sign of an attacker, any movement in the distance for they'd been forewarned. Life must be hard up here, they'd have had to keep small fires lit to keep themselves warm and if the wood ran out or was too wet to burn, the night would turn evil.

Not thinking of all the people whose blood had been smeared on this wall or the Mongolian horsemen who still rode on the walls at night, we kept climbing on. Somebody on the tour asked me what I thought of the wall from an architectural stand point. What if I was commissioned to design one today. I thought that question to be strange, I mean who'd want to wall off anything in today's day? Sure we have walled communities and higher safety standards. But, a wall of this scale !? With globalization, bigger-faster-more efficient airplanes, countries depending on each other for so many things. We've come much further from the times of The Great Wall.. or have we? It struck me that today's Great wall already exists. Its the firewall. The restrictions online, the restrictions through visa's and taxes and so many other things. We don't need physical walls anymore as we've made so many virtual ones, especially the one at the airport. Who needs a physical wall, when you can keep an eye on everybody who enters and exits and deny entry to whoever they feel unfit.

What about the imaginary walls made between communities or between people with different ethnic backgrounds. How we frame ourselves and others to fit a certain picture and then there's just no crossing those boundaries. Even if we physically enter a country, how many of us are able to lay our guards down and really experience the place in its here and now. Travelling makes you come face to face with these things. It challenges our assumptions and presumptions, surprises you, you surprise yourself. Most foreigners hang out with other foreigners instead of getting in touch with the locals, including me. Its just easier. But every once in a while you make a little extra effort, go out of your way and get to know somebody for real. Not like they're some kind of museum piece, or that they are your source for all things Chinese or Asian, but to really get to know them as fellow humans. And I'm not talking about being able to find the best restaurant to mingle with the locals or find out their most popular pubs. I'm referring to having an intimate conversation with a fruit seller, even if its in sign language, or talking to somebody about their grandmother over a pot of tea. Now that's what I'd call conquering the Great Wall, the Great Divide. That feeling when even though you look, talk, feel, smell different you still realize you're the same.

Tired after the hike, we filed in to our bus and rested while the same countryside and buildings zipped by, this time in the mellow evening sun. I knew I had to get to Ghost street. Had to have the famous peking duck on my last night here. I'd seen the ghost street on way to the Acrobatics show the other night and had noted down the metro station close to it. Yet I got lost while trying to find it. After forty five mins of wandering around, I got a glimpse of the red lamps that I'd seen in such grand no's the previous night.

My step quickened and I finally got to the right street. It was as magical as I'd imagined it to be. One of the typical Chinese experiences you would expect to have before you actually got to China. They swayed in the breeze hanging above all across the sidewalk. People waited outside restaurants, there was music and even movies being screened for them.

I hadn't been able to find a restaurant where I'd get the famous duck and I was starting to lose hope. Then suddenly my eyes caught a man dressed more smartly than others standing next to a menu stand. There was no restaurant immediately around him and so I walked up to him anyway to see the menu. God bless China for having pictures for every item in their menu cards. There it was on the first page, a beautifully roasted duck.

The man, probably recognizing the look on my face directed me to the wall at the far end with a doorway. It was just one of those doorways, you knew would hold something very pleasing on the other side. With its warm glow and people to serve you waiting right at the door ( Maybe it was all an illusion considering I was aching with hunger at this point). I would really recommend all of you having read this post till here to really make the effort to go to this restaurant. If you ever find yourself in Beijing in the evening, its called Hua's Courtyard Restaurant and its on Ghost street.

I ordered my half a duck, some appetizer and a cold drink. The restaurant was almost full and very lively. Seemed to be a popular place with the rich people in Beijing and the expats. The service, the food, the ambience was outstanding. One of the manager's himself taught me how to eat the duck. Its quite a delicacy. The photos have explanations of how to eat the duck.

They even had entertainment. Chef's were performing for everybody. They seemed to be bringing all the fun they have at the back in the kitchen out to the tables. One of them had a dough on his head while he was himself balancing himself on a single wheeled cycle and slicing the dough while another man tried to catch the sliced dough on a tray. Another chef was rotating long thin straws and balancing plates on them, while he juggled a few other plates. There even the famous mask dance, where a man wearing traditional Chinese dress changes his masks in a second. He changes them so fast (swish swash) that you cannot see the old one come off or the new one go on, you might miss the fact that he's changed it altogether! Some say they use thin paper masks that can come off and are so thin, that they manages to hide it in their robes before you can see it. This was much better than what I even saw at the Acrobatics show. Way more entertaining and fun.

Walked back to my hostel to absorb a little more of the hutong magic of the night. Who's ready for Mongolia ?? 😊

PS: I think I left my black umbrella up there on the Great Wall, it hasn't been spotted since. Maybe one of the old men who live in the guard towers and sell tea and snicker bars would have it. 😊

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Photos

Snaking away
As far as I could see

A school trip
Waited for about 20 mins to let them all pass

Clown chefs
I'm not sure about these guys making my dinner

The Feast
Two sauces, two side dishes, thin pan cakes, and one really well done duck! I don't know if they do this everywhere.. but I sure did feel like a royal when this was brought in front of me.

That's how its done
You put a little bit of everything, and then fold up the pan cake to make something like our Indian samosa. Then you just pop it into your mouth and chew into the heavenly sensations in your mouth :P

Comments

[Dinesh]

walls are everywhere!
Walls are needed to protect, to demarcate, to keep outside things out and retain those within. But they need to be broken up to bring in change. The Chinese made it may be for some of the above reasons, but it did not keep the Mongols out. It was too huge and difficult to maintain and guard. But then in China, everything is planned and executed in such huge scale. Its mind boggling. Even today the tradition continues in their projects, the industrial capacities, in planning and strategy.

[apoorva]

walls everywhere
Sure is... more than anything else.. just the fact that it was made!