TOBOGGAN

---

This blog probably should be called 'The Great Wall' or something like that, but unfortunately there was toboggan, and that kind of makes a better title.



However, I made it! I woke up every hour this morning until six am, and then decided to get up, wriggle into my clothes, and was out the door in five minutes. Booyah!

It took me a while to find the bus station from the subway, but the map found online was considerably better than the one I used to find my tickets. I had to walk a mile or so past the bus station to a yard filled with coaches. I took bus 867 at 7am to Mutianyu. The journey cost 16yuan (£1.60) and took about two and a half hours, but I made friends in the queue with a Chinese pharmecutical *blank* (we never did work out what his job was, but it was in a factory and he has published chemistry articles in journals). He became my translator for the bus lady, but got off the bus the stop before mine to meet his friend who may (or not be) a kind of mayor for the town of Mutianyu.

I bought my tickets at the first office (for there were many), separate ones for entrance to the wall, the cable car up and the toboggan ride down. all in all it came up to about £14. It was possible to walk up to the wall, but it was a sheer 3km stairway, and I've not been practising (plus I have no comprehension of how long a km is... it's shorter than a mile, but beyond that, who knows). The walk up to the cable car was lined with the usual tat shacks selling pictures, wall hangings, water bottles, magnets, etc, with the ever-eager proprietors shouting at the tourists to badger them into buying something. I caved. Aisling, there's a magnet on it's way to you.

The cable car was pretty standard as cable cars go; it sat six people and went up. The view, however was incredible, and I was far to busy looking to take a photo, my apologies.

I am very glad I went to Mutianyu, the wall is completely surrounded by dense forest as far as the eye can see, and it was nice to see the first signs of autumn, something I missed last year. There are, I imagine, lots of flowers in the spring and summer, but there were still some hanging on.

The wall itself, was quite impressive, and it was difficult to tell which parts had been repaired as the job was very good. I took the up-and-down walk much slower than the red-faced, heavy-breathing others, and I think I enjoyed it more. As usual with these kinds of things, there were many children crying and complaining, and many parents encouraging and bribing them. I can't blame the kids for being like that; I remember what I was like at that age!

The wall followed the ridge of the mountain and seemed to just be a little addition to it. There were watchtowers every few hundred yards or so, and some of these were impressive, especially the ones you could go on top of.

There was a watchtower that was of particular interest as it was rare for the great wall. Zhengguantai (also called San Zuolou) is a group of three buildings built in 1404bc. The three houses are right next to each other and are each two stories high with their own observation pavilions. It was a nice place to sit... until these hardy insects found and attacked me. They then followed me everywhere. They were about the size of a 10p, and really hard with amazing grip. I couldn't shake them off, I had to flick them. Eugh, horrible.

At Zhengguantai, I turned back, you could only go a little further and it was all steps. The fog that had appeared very mysterious and beautiful was getting thicker. I went back to my way down; the toboggan.

The toboggan weaved it's way down the side of the mountain, through the forest, giving some excellent and hard to get to views of the wall. About halfway down I got stuck in a queue behind an elderly Chinese woman who hadn't quite grasped the concept of pushing forward on the lever, and was going down at barely a few miles an hour. C'est le vie!

As with all heroes who conquer the Great Wall, I was in need of sustenance. Something befitting for the journey. So I had a six inch veggie delight, a packet of crisps, and a fizzy apple drink. Yes, it may be China, and yes, it may be the great wall, but it was either that or pizza. (There may have been some other restaurants back up the hill, but I was heading towards the bus stop and had been walking uphill all day).

I have nothing to say about the bus back; I fell asleep.

And now I am off out for my tea. Going back to the dumpling place, they were so yummy. Then, I will be coming back to the hostel to plan tomorrow as it is my last day in Beijing. On Tuesday, I will be getting the train to Ulan Bator (Ulaan Baatar, Ulanbaator, etc etc.).

---