The Great Wall

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We caught a high-speed bullet train from Xian to Beijing. The approximately 4 ½ hour ride was very smooth and comfortable and the train reached speeds of 307 km/hr. Between cities much of the land was cultivated but all in very small plots. Sadly, the pollution got worse as we drew closer to Beijing.

At a Beijing Cloisonne factory we saw just how much work it is to shape copper wire into leaves, petals, feathers, etc., and glue them onto copper vases, pots, pens, Christmas ornaments, etc. Then the spaces in the wires have to be filled with enamel colour until the wires no longer protrude, fired numerous times during this process, polished, and glazed. The vast factory store had many beautiful pieces but with four more weeks of travel ahead we managed to resist buying. We’ve been in China almost three weeks now and have yet to buy one souvenir, which must be something of a record.

Today we visited the Forbidden City, a rather barren looking compound without flowers and trees. It was hard to imagine what Pu Yi felt as he left his only home for the first and final time. Yesterday we walked a part of the Great Wall and began to appreciate the enormity of the task of building it, not only because of its length but also because of the hilly (mountainous?) terrain. The experience was spoiled somewhat by piped music and a woman’s recorded voice constantly requesting us not to start fires, or leave graffiti, and to respect the environment. Looking over the green hills that rolled away into the smog I felt mostly sad and wondered what Emperor Qin Shi Huang would say if he could see the state of his glorious country, wondered whether it would ever be unsullied again.

China has come a long way in recent years but has a lot of problems. A recent newspaper article discussed trying to address the fact that all the rivers and lakes are polluted. Cleaning them up would be a huge task and, as the article pointed out, trying to deal with it will only cause other problems. At present no one has water that is safe to drink without boiling it and even the bottled ‘purified’ water has an odd taste that makes me wonder what is in it.

While China is interesting it is also the least favourite country we’ve visited in recent years and we are not sorry to be moving on.

Sign on the breakfast buffet: bacon – may contain pork.

P.S. On our last day in China we revisited the wall –this time at Mu Tian Yu where we rode a cable car (the same car Michelle Obama rode apparently) to gain access to the wall. It was a lovely day and at times there was almost blue sky as we climbed above the smog up the Stairway to Hell. They also didn’t turn on the annoying messages until we were almost down again. Afterwards we sat at an outdoor café enjoying the beautiful day and rehydrating while Hero, our intrepid guide, took our driver a Burger King burger for lunch. Having soaked away our aches and pains in the bath tub we are just about ready to meet up with our friends for a Peking Duck dinner and the end to an excellent day.

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Photos

Bullet Train
Xi'an to Beijing in 4.5 hours at 307 km/hr. Impressive!

Business class
Very impressive

Summer Palace
Very crowded

The Great wall
There are sections of the wall that are not crowded

Great Wall sign
No translation required.

The Great Wall
Well worth the walk

The Great wall
Keeps going as far as the eye can see, which unfortunately is only as far as the constant pollution faze will allow.