Wall's end

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We took an overnight train from Lanzhou to Jiayuguan, travelling in soft sleeper class - an air-conditioned cabin with 4 berths in 2 bunks, i.e. roughly equivalent to 2AC in India but with less legroom and luggage space. This was our first train journey in China and threw up its own mysteries like why is your ticket exchanged for a plastic card at the beginning of the journey and then changed back again at the end, and why is a small mesh pouch provided on the wall of the toilet cubicle so that you can stow your mobile phone while taking care of business yet nothing is done to prevent said toilet being seemingly hit by a diarrhoea bomb after about 10 minutes of travel.

The table in the cabin bore a vase and flower, as well as a metal dish of a kind normally seen containing bloodied bone fragments in an operating theatre. We shared the cabin with 2 Chinese guys but unfortunately the language barrier prevented more than "Ni hao"s and smiles.

Dawn revealed a light-brown landscape of sand, though I could still see snow-tipped mountains in the distance (in fact a possible day-trip from Jiayuguan is to a glacier). The dry heat once we left the train was palpable, but this soon degenerated to a dull sky with spots of rain and the occasional roll of thunder, which persisted into the next day.

We had come to Jiayuguan because it marks the western end of the Great Wall of China. Here, 5,000km from the parts of the wall that most travellers see near Beijing, is the real boundary with the unknown. Condemned criminals were expelled from the country here - the RG contains a couplet evoking the desolation of the place: "One more cup of wine for our remaining happiness. There will be chilling parting dreams tonight."

However the pass that the fort was guarding, between the snowy Qilian mountains to the north and the darker Horse's Mane range in the south) was the most important one in the Hexi Corridor, the strip of land representing the only viable route from Central Asia into China and a part of the Silk Road, so anyone evicted from China would no doubt have had to dodge camel trains and caravans on their way out.

With the countryside being flat, we hired bikes to visit the main sites. The fort was impressive, being originally constructed in the late 14th century though restored substantially in recent years. The Great Wall itself was fairly dull, being simply a plain, high, thick wall with no detail resembling the usual pictures you see of it. There were surprisingly few tourists of any nationality and, as you strolled the fort's ramparts with the wind gusting and the metal casings of the floodlights clanging dolorously in the breeze, it did feel as though you were at the edge of civilisation.

The on-site museum was dedicated to the wall in general, and included photos of sections of it from all over northern China. It appears that there were actually several walls constructed by various dynasties, beginning with the Qin before the birth of Christ and continuing until the Ming in the 14th century. Some extended what had been built before, others started completely new ones - it depended on just which pieces of land a dynasty was interested in defending. Approximately 25,000km of wall was constructed and, with practice, the beacon towers could transmit messages along its length at about 250km/h.

Regarding Jiayuguan Fort itself, the architect supposedly calculated the number of bricks required so accurately that only 1 was left over. Much of the stone for the Fort was transported from the Horse's Mane mountains by splashing water over the road in winter then sliding the stone over the resulting ice.

It was then a 40 minute cycle to the Overhanging Wall. We saw a sign declaring the "Overhanging Wall Scenic Reserve" so turned off into a small complex that appeared to be deserted. Snaking up the ridgeline of the hill above was a section of wall with 2 watchtowers. We gained access to the lower part of the wall without encountering a ticket booth or anyone looking remotely official, which seemed a little strange.

This section of the wall, heavily restored but using traditional mud/straw techniques, was much more like the image you probably have in your mind's eye, with a pathway atop the wall flanked by crenellations. In fact it was so recently restored that the bricks comprising some of the steps hadn't even been cemented together, leaving them wobbly and mildly treacherous. There were also no other tourists on the wall.

This all began to make sense when we reached the higher of the 2 watchtowers, which afforded us wide-ranging views over the surrounding terrain. On a similar ridge a couple of kilometres away was a similar-looking stretch of wall with a similar pair of watchtowers. Tracing the line of that wall down to the plain, we could see what looked suspiciously like a ticket office, which we would have reached if we'd cycled along the main road a few hundred metres further rather than turning off. It appeared that we had inadvertently stumbled into a section of the Overhanging Wall not yet open to the public.

The Overhanging Wall is not surprisingly connected to Jiayuguan Fort by a crumbling section of wall, and we cycled along the rough trail next to this until we reached the road back into town. Though only a few kilometres of wall, it did start to convey the magnitude of the building operation that had led to thousands of kilometres of wall across the country.

Our hotel was not the easiest to sleep in. The neighbouring room - which was empty as far as we could tell - was the recipient of umpteen phone calls on our first evening. When those calls stopped and our own started ringing, we surmised that it was probably local prostitutes phoning round the rooms looking for custom. We'd heard about this before (though not in connection with Jiayuguan or our hotel in particular), so we disconnected the phone.

On the second night, there was knocking at the door at 1:10AM. This continued for several minutes, and I was torn between answering the door and giving the person a piece of my mind, and lying there in silence until they went away. I chose the latter and, after trying the door, whoever it was walked off.

I also have one culinary hint, acquired via a menu misunderstanding - lamb's stomach lining is really not so bad when shredded.

Dull but possibly useful info
Getting there: Take a train from Lanzhou to Jiayuguan (many through the day - we took the 8:50PM), costing 267 yuan for soft sleeper lower (10 yuan less for upper) and taking about 11 hours.
Stayed at: Xiongguan Hotel. Cost 130 yuan for a double. Hot water available 7PM-midnight and 8AM-1PM. Would stay here again.
Notes: i. The best train site I found was China train timetable. Don't be put off by the amount of Chinese characters on the site. The left half of the box is the departure point, and the right half the destination. Choose the appropriate province from the drop-downs (second box) in each half then the town from the list below.
ii. For bike rentals, head north up Xinhua Nan Lu from the Xiongguan Hotel - however don't bother doing this before about 9AM as they don't set up until then. It cost 15 yuan to hire a bike for the day with a 400 yuan deposit.
iii. Entry to the fort cost 61 yuan (31 for students).

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Photos

Gate detail
Jiayuguan Fort

Table on the N851 from Lanzhou
Note essential vase and flower

Archery practice
Jiayuguan Fort

Military leaders planning strategy
Jiayuguan Fort

Camels and horses awaiting tourist arses
Jiayuguan Fort

Comments

[Shanna]

Fellow traveller's comment
Spectacular! we're planning to visit China really soon. enjoy the rest of the trip and thanks for sharing the pics!