Yep, the Great Wall is huge. There is a fantastic view from the top, but it takes some traveling to get there. We left the hotel early and drove about an hour and a half to the northeast side of Beijing. We drove through the countryside roads and saw people farming. We asked to tour guide about the farm workers, and he said a lot of the farmers have changed what they do for a living, and are instead working as merchants in the markets. They make more money haggling tourists than farming and carrying on the traditional work of their ancestors.
The little English they know perfectly relates directly to the goods they are selling. I can't begin to describe how many times I heard "Excuse me miss, you want knock-off? Knock-off. Why you no like?" (of course in a very stereo-typical Chinese accent). They are very persistent. At one point near the Great Wall, the roads were very uneven and steep. The merchants got in my way and I, in turn, lost my footing. After almost falling to the ground, I flailed my hands in the air (subconsciously making sure no one touched by purse) and yelled that I would not buy from anyone that approached me and I will keep on walking if another merchant got in my way, even if it meant pushing them over. Of course, they did not understand a word I said and continued to try to sell me souvenirs. If I saw a disgruntled tourist in America, I know I would step away.
Once we reached the parking lot at the Great Wall, we walked through the street lined with merchants to get to the cable car to take us up to the Great Wall. A lot of people hiked instead of taking the cable car, but no one did on the parent trip. Our tour guide, 'Tony', said that the parents like the cable cars the best. The ride to the top only took about 3 minutes and brought us to the top of one of the peaks. At the top, we walked through a narrow passageway in order to be standing on the wall. The feeling of standing on the wall and touching the Taj Mahal is very similar, but different as well. It's amazing how many man hours went into building the wall as well as how long ago it was built. The materials used originally were stone and sticky rice. Because of the high amount of visitors at the wall every day, the Matianyu section has been restored using cement and stone. It upset me that they did not use the ancient method—it decreased the value of the experience in my mind. A lot of the sights we visited were completely recreated instead of being restored and they used different technologies. By using this method, the fascination and wonder associated with the wall and temples (cities) in Beijing. The steps and walkways were still very hard to walk on and have a lot of cracks.
In order to climb the wall, you really needed to be able to walk without any problems. This is similar to the other World Heritage Sites, but at the Great Wall this was evident. Nevertheless, the wall was magnificent. We were lucky to be in Beijing when it was sunny, so the views were clear. It amazed me how the Ming dynasty was able to complete such a labor-intensive task. It was literally on the top of the steepest mountain. At first glance, I wondered why anyone would even need a wall there—it looked like such a treacherous time to get to the top. Who in their right mind would attempt to overthrow an emperor that could rally his troops to build the massive wall? At the top of the wall, Mom and I took a lot of pictures. I was not able to get as many angles and artsy pictures as I wanted, but I think we did pretty well.
On our way out of the Great Wall, after having a beer at the top, we shopped at the market. Everyone was selling the same stuff and it got frustrating. The t-shirts were only 8 yuen, equivalent to about $1. We would've bought one but they were obviously very poor quality. Instead of a t-shirt, Mom got a rice hat with the wall painted on it, and I got a small replica of a section of the wall. I also found a man that carved my name in Chinese onto a marble stamp.
Once we left the magnificent Great Wall, we went to a 'local' chinese restaurant. After going to India with extreme spices and Vietnam with lime and light spices in everything, the food in China was very bland. Americanized Chinese food (especially at the P.F. Changs) has a lot more flavor. It was yet another food I thought I liked until I had it in the native country.
That evening, we went to the Beijing acrobatics show. I always fall asleep during live performances, but this one kept me awake. The acts included a handstand 50 feet in the air, plate spinning on bicycles (10+ people on one bike), running in rotating metal circles suspended from the ceiling like hamsters, and 7 motorcycles twirling around in a metal ball. At first, the one man inside the ball astonished me; each additional driver/acrobat in the metal ball astonished me. At one point, I was sure they were going to collide.
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