The Great Wall. We left the hotel around 8 AM for the 2 hour ride to the Mutianyu Section of the Great Wall. There are several choices about which part of the Great Wall to visit; Mutianyu is a less traveled section with somewhat easier climbs from tower to tower. (I discovered none of it is easy.)We took a cable car up to Tower 8. It was another clear day and the view was spectacular. At Tower 8, Langer gave us a brief overview of the history, and then we began to climb. I made it to Tower 12, I think, but Chris marched on to Tower 18. The paths consist of steep steps, flat areas, really steep steps, steep inclines and long flat steps, with towers in between. As I sat on the side, waiting for Chris, a few people walked by but I was mostly there by myself. I contemplated on the trip as the bees flew around the lavender bushes and apricot trees. It was very quiet except for the cicadas chirping away. I was overwhelmed by the realization I was sitting on the Great Wall of China – what a fantastic feeling.
Chris returned and we set off for Tower 5, backtracking a bit. The views were stupendous and, except for a couple of unruly French boys, the walk was pretty serene. With my usual bad sense of direction, I made Chris go one tower too many, down a very steep set of stairs, which, of course, we had to back track. We ended up at Tower 5, which gave you the option of descending back to the bottom by chair lift or toboggan! The Germans installed the toboggan some years ago and that’s the way we decided to go. It is a metal chute that you ride down in little plastic cars with metal runners. They have a brake (you pull back on the stick) or you can push down on the stick to fly. What incredible fun! Except for the two stupid Indian girls ahead of us, who got frightened and slowed down at most of the bends, I flew down through the trees. It was wonderful.
Down at the bottom, we talked about taking the chair lift back up and tobogganing back down, but decided to get something to drink and go shopping instead. There are LOTS of stalls selling all kinds of T shirts, stuffed pandas, tablecloths, fans and every type of souvenir you can imagine. I bought a pair of Chinese slippers (I tried to bargain but I’m really bad at it) and Chris got some more post cards. Back in Beijing, we all went up the street to have a Peking duck dinner. It was Carmen, Bev and Jan’s last night with us. The restaurant is in the hutong closest to the hotel. Hutongs are the traditional local neighborhoods, full of shops, restaurants and homes, where the people hang out and visit. China is in the process of demolishing the old neighborhoods and rebuilding new structures that will be too expensive for the people living there to afford. It’s very controversial. They have already done that in the area around Tiananmen Square, which now looks kinda like Disneyland.
The duck dinner was wonderful. As we left the restaurant, Langer asked a passerby to take our picture, which he did! With all 3 cameras!
Tomorrow morning is the end of the official tour. I don’t want to talk about it…
http://public.fotki.com/mjlang4952/great-wall/
http://public.fotki.com/mjlang4952/duck-dinner/
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