I was on the Great Wall of China today. I’m tempted to end the blog right there because honestly I don’t know how any sentence could ever get cooler than that. But I guess I can elaborate for the sake of those who are living vicariously through me on this trip :).
Let me first start by saying that foreign tourists are strongly encouraged NOT to visit China for this exact week that we’re here, because the entire country has this week off due to National Day that was celebrated yesterday (October 1). The catch is that is the exact reason we’re here on this week; we wanted to visit with Em and Steve and this was the week they had off work (they’re teaching English in Shanghai) so we came over here at this time to see the sights with them.
Anyway, my point is that there’s a lot of people here right now. Yesterday Kirsten and I were getting on the subway on the station near Tianenmen Square, and we were the only two people going down onto the subway against thousands of people coming up! Thousands is literal, by the way, not an exaggeration.
So not only is this week the busiest week in China for travel, but today of all days is the busiest day on the Great Wall. Under normal circumstances there’s no way we would have chosen to visit on this day, but we had four free tour tickets and figured that a free trip to the Great Wall is totally worth that feeling of being herded like cattle.
So we were picked up by our amazing tour guide named Jackie Wan (he was very sure to clarify that he would not perform kun fu moves like Jackie Chan would) and headed off into the traffic on our way to the Great Wall. He was so knowledgable about China’s history, at first I thought he was just giving a memorized introduction to the trip but he went on for hours about different aspects of history, and why certain buildings were shaped and placed where they were, it was incredible! Also hilarious though, because although he spoke English very well his accent made him pronounce words like “visitors” as “wisitors,” which always makes things more interesting :).
First he took us to the Ming Tombs, which was a nice little extra surprise on the trip. My favorite part here was learning about ancient ghosts, and how they couldn’t fly like our good old Western ghosts do. Instead they glide along the ground, but they don’t have knees. This being the case there’s steps in front of the doorways around the tombs so they ghosts can’t get out. My favorite visual is imagining an angry ghost ramming up against the door but not being able to get out because he doesn’t have knees :). I’m so glad we’re promised so much more than that!!
Then we went to a jade factory, where the the factory’s tour guide rushed us through demonstrations on how jade statues were made, then made us walk around and see all the beautiful things we could buy. Of course I didn’t buy anything, I wanted this tour to be as free as it could be!!
After the jade factory and lunch, we finally finally FINALLY headed to the Great Wall!!! We started driving towards mountains that look a lot like the mountains in Santa Barbara, and eventually it was just there on the side of the road, going up the steep slopes with a watch tower at the top. I couldn’t believe I was looking at the Great Wall with my own eyes, it was just so amazing and beautiful and actually there!!
It was amazing too to be driving along and see just how long the Wall is. I mean we didn’t even see close to all of it, but we were driving for a while and I never saw it stop. Like I said before though, there were TONS of people going to see the Wall today. So many in fact that we had to get out of our bus on the freeway and walk to the entrance. Thankfully there were two gondolas we could take, one that would take us higher but where there were more people, and another that was less crowded. We opted for the less crowded.
The gondola ride was incredible, the leaves are just starting to change here so it was like soaring over a Santa Barbara mountain peak, except with little patches of bright colors everywhere. I loved it!
And then all of a sudden we were standing on the Great Wall. Thankfully the good people of China seem to be impressed by higher walls, so there really weren’t too many people on our section of the Wall. The entire experience was so surreal, even thinking back on it seems like it could be in some movie or magazine, but not real life! The mountains look so similar to the mountains in Santa Barbara we were all saying that it felt like we could be back there on a hike, yet there was the Great Wall cutting through the landscape! I could never see it stop in either direction it was so long, and the watch tours were so beautiful and strong looking I would seriously be intimidated if I ever intended on attacking China. (Which for the record I definitely do not).
We had a lot of people ask us to take pictures. Not take their camera and take a picture of their group, but actually stand next to us, pose, and take our picture. It was hilarious! I didn’t realize how just being foreign made me something exciting. Even our buddies that were on the tour with us from Bangladesh wanted our picture, which was really cute and fun. There were only three other men on the tour, all of them here in China on business. It was great getting to meet new people like that!
So that was my first Great Wall experience. I say first confidently because we already have plans to go back on Tuesday, to a less crowded section. It’s so easy to do since we didn’t have to pay for today! What an amazing blessing that was. I can’t believe I was on the Great Wall of China today!!
Now we’re back in our lovely hostel, but this time with a private room. Last night we had a private room as well in a different hostel, but it was literally a closet with bunk beds built inside. Totally hilarious. It was really nice having Em and Steve there too because they had a much nicer and bigger room where we kept our stuff. But tonight we have our own room and own bathroom!! Biggest treat in the world, and it’s only a couple dollars more per night.
Wow, I never realize just how much I’m writing on these things. If you made it this far good on ya, stay tuned for more stories from the East! :)
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