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Published: August 6th 2005
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Hi,
Arrived to Beijing in the middle of the night (what can you expect for the cheapest flight available?), still feeling sick, and lost in the huge city trying to find the youth hostel, hoping they still keep my bed for me.
The first thing I did in Beijing was to go to another hospital. After six days on antibiotics and wit no real improvement - I decided to look for a second opinion. The hospital here was better, and the doctor decided that I do have an infection (a different kind, though), and since the antibiotics didn't help she gave me a traditional Chinese medicine. It is sort of a powder that I have to melt in hot water and make some kind of tea, and I should drink it three times a day for a week. As septic as I had been (already in Europe I had been septic...), I gave it a try - after all I am in China. And amazingly in a few days I felt perfect again. I guess the saying one billion Chinese can't be wrong is true (well, maybe I shouldn't go that far...).
Didn't really want to spend all my time in
Beijing, so decided to head out to a short trip.
Five hours away from Beijing there is a little town called Shanhaiguan. There aren't many travelers coming here, mostly Chinese tourist, and I don't really know why. This is where the Great Wall begins, right at the ocean. I visited the ending point of it, about 5000 km to the west, and it's only symbolic to reach this point as well.
The city itself has a wall around it as well, with a fortress called The First Pass Under Heaven. Reached there in the after noon and walked around the old city, and then went a little west of toown to the first climb the wall is doing up a mountain. Arrived too late and the cable car was closed, so walking was the only way to clomb. Went only half the way, since I was still sick and weak... This part looks very similar to the better known parts of the Great Wall, the ones around Beijing.
The guesthouse was very basic, and didn't even have a shower. That night I went for the first time to a Chinese public shower. It wasn't such a bad experience as I
thought. Now I can really say I have experienced everything China has to offer 😉
The owner of the guesthouse has a strong need to take a picture of his guests and put them on his wall. He took a picture, and in the morning, just as I left for the wall again, he came after me and gave me laminated copies of the picture with him.
The beginning of the wall is about 4 km east of the city. There is a big fortress there as well, guarding the sea front, and they have a museum there with all kinds of old weapons and ships. Walked on the wall all the way to the very end (or beginning), into the ocean.
They left a small section of the wall without reconstruction, so it is possible to see how it looked. It is very different than how they built it now, and it looks more like the part I saw in the west - made of sand stone.
The watch tower had small windows and the views from them were interesting. I spent there quite a long time trying to take good pictures that shows both the inside and the
The climb
The sun was in front, bad shooting angle, sorry - no other choice... outside... I know most of you will say I am crazy, but I liked the result.
Also in that site there is a temple to the goddess of the sea. It is a little bit to the south of the wall (inside the area that is guarded by the wall...), and it is used for keeping the sea calm. The goddess is a young girl who knew how to swim and saved many ships from storms. It is the first female god I saw in a temple in China.
The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to the beach, catching some tan. Didn't know if it's OK to go into the water, even though the locals did - China has so much pollution that I was just sure the water is too dangerous...
Later I took a train back to Beijing, and that evening I met with the El-Al crew that came that day from Israel for a dinner. I got some stuff from home, and I met an old classmate from high school who works for El-Al now.
The rest of my Beijing stories will be told later,
R.
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Nathan Gray
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First Pass Under Heaven
For a great travel book on China read First Pass Under Heaven published by Penguin and available on Amazon in ten countries. It's the leading authority at the moment on the Great Wall and is a best seller. Click onto: www.greatwalldvd.com if interested.