Wonder Wall

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After a mildly disappointing trip to the tourist infested Forbidden City, it was with a little trepidation that we boarded the bus for the three hour journey to the Great Wall of China.

We'd heard quite a few reports from people who had to battle their way through hordes of tourists and almost as many locals selling everything from t-shirts to coca-cola (of course).

The hour long detour to avoid a horrendous traffic jam on the way didn't do anything for our sense of anticipation.

But, thankfully, we were to be proved wrong. A million times over. It was stunning. Everything you could imagine from the deserted pictures in the guide book. After a brief spell where we ascended to the wall itself with the rest of our group from the hostel, we were virtually on our own for the whole 9km from Jinshanling to Simatai.

The only breaches to the peace occured inside most of the 32 towers when the refrain of "icee wataa, bee-a, coca" became familiar. Even on the Great Wall the world's favourite beverage was available. Can't imagine a beer would have been too good for you given the dehydration possibilities. We were eternally grateful for our platypus systems.

They were almost an essential item as the water seemed to be pouring straight back out of us. And we saw a few folk who might have been grateful of a bag of water strapped to their backs. One guy looked like he might need an ambulance, and a girl from our hostel gave up early on and went back down the hillside with some of the locals, headed for the cable car.

9km doesn't sound like a lot, but it's the ups and downs that get you. With the effort required to cover a relatively short distance, it's quite surprising that it was such a failure as a defensive shield. Maybe all the soldiers manning the towers were simply shattered from reaching them. Or maybe they were too busy selling coca-cola to the Mongol invaders.

We had around 4 hours to cover the section between the two small towns, and with a couple of hundred photographs to be taken and several well earned sweetie breaks, we needed all the time we could get.

There was a great feeling of satisfaction when we reached the bus to return to Beijing. Although nobody seemed to keen to get onboard. We're not sure if that was a reluctance to leave, or just the knowledge that it was going to be a truly smelly 3 hour trip.

The promise of hot showers was enough to persuade everyone and an early night was had by all.

Needless to say we took it easy the following day. The highlight for Carolyn was an hour-long foot massage costing 38RMB - about 2 pounds 75p. It was raining by the time I was done so someone walked me back to the hostel with an umbrella. You don't get service like that at home!

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Photos

One Sweaty Tourist
Honestly, that's a shadow, not a puddle of sweat.

1334, 1335, 1336
We didn't count, but there were lots. And lots. And lots.

Taking A Break
A rare downhill section

It's not Hadrian's, it's mine!
Carolyn strides ahead

Where's Wally
Can you spot him?

We climbed the wall
Didn't buy t-shirts though. Although it might have been a good move to have something to change into at the end.

Is this the way to amarillo?
Check the arms!

All downhill from here?
Not quite

Sponsored by Cadbury
It's the world's crumbliest, flakiest wall

Walled Garden
Horticulturalists of the world, unite!

Chinese Proverb?
Who knows...

Comments

[Sue]

One word....
Incredible!!!

[deleted_21595]

We don't need no education...
Excellent photos of the wall. Did you see the blokes whose job is to walk up the hillsides picking up the litter? That truly is a tough job. Hope you're enjoying the Tsingtao and the deep fried chicken's feet - wonder why you don't get them in KFC...