Hacking & spitting

---

If you aren't interested in reading a long drawn out blog then you might as well find something else to do with your time because although I have decided not to put the whole Beijing trip into one blog this is still a very long & drawn out segment. On the other hand, if you are interested then I think you should pour a cup of tea & settle down for a while. Enjoy.
On my little sister's birthday (Aug 10th) we hit the road again. Actually we hit the air but that sounds weird so we'll stick with the rubber meets the road saying because it sounds better. We flew with Singapore Airlines & enjoyed it as much as ever & the food was great. When we were about an hour away from our destination (Beijing China) our pilot made an announcement that he was obviously a little apprehensive of giving. He announced that due to very bad weather in Beijing, the Beijing airport was closed down so we would have to land in Shanhai & wait until we could land in Beijing. The entire plane let out a similtaneous groan & immediately the assistance bells were heard coming from all areas of the plane. The stewards & stewardesses were kept very very well occupied for the next while attending to the crys of I'm not sure how many people. By the time we did arrive in Beijing our plane had been delayed 7 hours. We had been sitting on a plane for 12 hours & I was exhausted as usual. We strapped on our packs & set out to find what we could find, in the dark. I had my first introduction to China shortly after stepping out of the airport door. By examining our map & a sign that had Pynin as well as characters for bus destinations we determined to get on a shuttle bus to the district that our hotel was located in. We figured that we would be within a a km or two of our destination & could afford a taxi for the rest of the distance. I stood there patiently waiting to get my bus ticket but soon learned that I would be standing there all night if I didn't jab someone with my elbows & get up to the front of the line. I am much taller then these people so I should theoretically be capible of throwing my weight around & getting what I want. The people at the bus were more then willing to make sure that we were getting on the right bus & that went a long ways to making me feel better about things. We kept half an eye on our map whenever we passed street lamps in order to have some idea of when to get off. So there we stood on the side of a 4 lane road with a few cars here & there passing by, & we started to flag down taxis. We didn't know which direction we wanted to go so after the taxis on one side of the road all said no to our request (thankfully Choon had written the name of our hotel in Chinese characters for us) we crossed over to the other side of the road. It wasn't long before we started to wonder if maybe we were staying at a very uncommon hotel. Now I think the real reason that the taxi drivers said no to us was that we were actually too close to our hotel to make it worth it for them. Once at our hotel we entered a more extravagant room then we had yet stayed in (it was a 2 star hotel i think, hehehe). I immediately scrambled into the bathroom to have a scalding hot shower (after most bravely killing a cockroach) (the choice of water temperature was either ice cold, or scalding hot; it was still well apreciated) then put on my paper slippers & sidled up to the TV to watch a few minutes of Chinese television. We watched a lady saying some thing in a very sing-song manner while some clakers kept the rhythem, apparently she was quite skilled at it because she ended up with a lot of applause. We remembered that Colleen had told us that we had one free day in Beijing so on that day it would be good use of our time to find a way to get to the Great Wall. We took a quick look at our photocopied pages of the Lonely Planet & decided that we would go the Sumatai section of the wall because it sounded a little less touristy.
So next morning we exited the Far East Hotel, my enthusiasm & excitement caused a bouce in my step & I peered around my new surroundings with curiosity. I would have to say that the very first thought that poped into my head was: "my shooting stars, do these people ever stop spitting?", I was shocked, I'd never seen anything like it before. Walking along I felt like I had to keep one eye on the ground to ensure that I wouldn't slip, not to mention the sound that the action of regurgitating saliva makes! Truely astounding. I have since learned that spitting is illigal in Beijing due to the fact that the officals are attempting to have the city looking it's best for the 2008 Olympics. I realize that my experience in Beijing was very limited & inconclusive indeed, never the less from my vantage point I don't really think the law is making much of a difference...not so far anyways...I do believe in miracles though... I don't like the idea that the local people should change their ways just to accomidate foreigners, it just doesn't seem right at all, but I do understand the logic behind encouraging the people not to spit. Inspecting the street around me I was pleasently surprised to see that from the very moment we exited our hotel it was very apparent that we were in entirely different country then just one day before. I thought that maybe the asian countries I had seen might start to carry a general theme & that I would not be able to tell which country my pictures had been taken in. However from that very first moment, there was no doubt in my mind "hey yo we're in China DUDE!!!". I have found that where ever a person goes they will encounter unusual smells, but on a whole I must admit that China has always left an impression in my mind as being a country infused with strong & memorable smells. There have been times when I thought that there would be no point in taking a movie of the area because it just isn't quite right unless you can inlude the pungant & fowl odor. (yah, ok, so, we're kind of getting off track here...umm, right walking down the street...yes that was SOO exciting) Ok, ahem, so we were toodling down this little back street... There were little shops all along the narrow street, old men sitting outside the doors with their shirts off while they play cards or a game with large chess-like pieces, actually the vast majority of the male folk (the ones with good abs & ... & others too) didn't wear a shirt & if they did they had the bottom pulled up to their arm pits, tons of bicicles ringing their bells as they zoom past, little kids running in the street like it was their personal play ground, lots of trishas (propelled by a guy on a bike) also jangling their bells on the way by, piles of fruit & vegtables for sale & the smell as I remember it there: like a whole whack of rotten food. I think it was something kind of like rush hour then & we got stuck in kind of a trafic jam composed of bicicles, pedestrians & one or two cars. By the time we were onto a more major road we were already engaged in the never ending scavenger hunt for water. We had no relative idea of what water should cost in RMB so we asked the lady (by our usual ruitine of acting out the fact that we are clued out about how much money to pay). Although Megan's tried & true method of acting out the question "how much does it cost" had gotten the desired responce in other countries this lady just looked at us as though our heads had fallen off & were rolling in the mud. I groaned, this was not my idea of a very good start. After handing the lady a wad of cash & accepting any change that she wanted to return to us we started to hike down the road. Water in hand, herds of bicicles charging past us & fleets of dragon flies zig zagging around our heads, we were in search of a money changer for the last of my American cash & a subway station. The smog/fog did strongly attract my attention since it was very very heavy feeling. I have heard that during certain seasons it does lift a bit. We rode the subway with relative ease although I was surprised to have a lady sit down beside me with part of her hip on my lap & her purce on my shoulder, it's like "hi, I do exist". Megan & I learned very quickly that if you want to get on the subway: then poke, jab, push, shove but whatever you do... just get that body of yours on. There is no such thing as "personal space" here whatsoever. The moment that we stepped out of the subway we were pounced upon like a lamb with a lion on it's back, uh, ok we're getting a little grafic here. I'll try again. The moment we stepped out of the subway station we had some guys advertising a tour to the Great Wall attach themselves to us. We said "no" half a million times & eventually got into the whole body demonstration of the word NO. They were all over us like flies Megan & I just couldn't shake them. I felt just about ready to scream. "Ok everybody just give me some space PLEASE!" ahhh. It took us quite a while before we could even start to think. Megan & I are under the impression that it is never a good idea to take the first option that you see so somehow we did start walking down a street. We did manage to find what looked like the "long distance bus station" discribed in the LP book. Unfortunately we never did find the minivans that we were to supposed to find there, so somehow (if I went into all the details this blog would be monsterous) somehow we got onto a bus that would take us to a place, about 80 km outside of Beijing, that was on the way to the Sumatai part of the Great Wall for 16 Yuan. The lonely planet guide stated that once we were there, we could make a transfer to a minivan that would take us straight to Sumatai. We sat on the bus, & sat, & sat for 2 hours. We were finally kicked out onto the side of the road & there sat a minivan that had apparently been arranged for us. Yes, another guy with some nasty Great Wall offer for us! We looked around our lonely, dusty surroundings & concluded that this was our only option. I was imeadiately thrown into a vile mood because he charged us 160 Y round trip, & LP claimed that we should be able to get on a mini van for under 10Y. RIP OFF. Grrrr. By the time we finally reached Sumatai (110km outside of Beijing) we doubted if we even had time to even climb the wall because we were parked a fare distance away from it & I wasn't sure how fast I would be able to climb. However, once up on the wall all frusterations vanished. We were almost completely alone (once we made it past the people following us with post cards & T-shirts to sell) up there in the clouds, climbing the famous wall in the quiet still air. We said to each other "well this was worth it for sure" as we breathed a big sigh of relief. It was really hot climbing, but kind of addicting: once we reached one look out tower we wanted to climb to the next & to the next one after that. The guys that are up there working on the wall live in the look out towers. We sat down & ate the green been paste buns that Choon had sent with us. It was really serial up there, I was just thinking "I'm actually on the Great Wall, now that's cool". It was beautiful, & it looks just like the pictures that you may have seen of it. Back at the van I discovered I had to pay 5 Y for parking, that was the last straw for me & I brought out the paper that said 160Y for the trip but they driver ignored me & made it quite clear that he wasn't going to go anywhere until I paid for the parking. On the long trip back I was completely drained, I still can't sleep sitting up. Instead I calculated the 160 Y for the van, plus 16 Y each/two ways = 64, plus 5 Y for parking equals a grand total of 245 Y, so actually the nasty guys at the subway station had a reasonable offer after all: 200 Y & no hastle. When the mini van dropped us off to catch our bus I gave the driver 155 Y & the parking ticket but he yelled "NO" loudly at me so I gave up without a fuss. Life.
After we got off at our subway station we decided that we needed to find a proper meal. We chose a restaurant that had picture menus & ordered, feeling quite pleased with ourselves. The food came: one heaping plate piled full of extreemly fatty bacon-like meat & one plate of some spicy ground meat mixed with century old eggs (century old eggs are eggs that have been buried in a dirt that has some kind of acid in it, the result is perhaps like a pickled egg although they are a blackish/blue/green color). Megan brought the waitress's attention to a neighboring table & pointed out a bowl that had a small amount of rice in it. So the waitress brought us empty bowls. I took her over & pointed out a bit of spilled rice on the table & she did bring us rice in bowls finally. I have found that everything is MUCH more complicated here in China, not sure why. We were back in our hotel by 10pm, although all my body wanted to do was sleep we located internet & checked Colleen's email to see when our tour for the next day would start. We found out that we had to contact our tour guide to find out the start time. We also found out that the agent with our train tickets (to get to Harbin) had come by the hotel & had sat waiting for us for hours (duh, I mean really who sits in their hotel room all day, I really think he should have phoned ahead) & if we didn't get these tickets they were our last option so it would be quite a while before we would be able to leave Beijing. We also never really had time to think of how we were going to get money to pay for the train tickets & the tour. "Ahhhh, Megan, what is to become of us?!" I hardly had the energy to climb into bed.

---

Photos

Beijing
wow baby, we're here!

Beijing
ATM!

Beijing
walking up to the Great Wall

Beijing
walking up to the Great Wall

Beijing
my favorite picture of the wall

Beijing
still working on the wall

Beijing
if I look a little over heated, that's because I was

Beijing
yes I climbed the Great Wall!
& no, my belly is not fat...that's my passport & tickets etc

Beijing
the Great Wall

Beijing
yes we like riding on the subway