Another brick in the wall

Friday, 23/11/2012 – 162 A.D.

Today I woke up to what I thought was the sound of a toilet repeatedly refusing to flush. Our toilet. I should point out that yesterday evening before heading out for our tea, we noticed that the cistern was refusing to fill up and for the second time on this round the world trip I had to fix it (again it was a question of jiggling various pieces). Anyway, you may recall that we had a “guest” sleeping in the next room to us. I had visions of Haven getting up in the morning to use the bathroom, being unable to flush the loo, but trying again and again and again to make it work.  But when I got up, threw on some clothes and headed next door, I found her zonked out for the count. Goodness knows what I’d been hearing, but it wasn’t our toilet!

There were no shenanigans in the night, of the saucy or the scamming kind. And naturally there shouldn’t be, but our minds have been poisoned. We were pretty sure now that Haven was the antidote to said poison, but we were never going to be 100% satisfied until this whole situation came to an end. That wouldn’t be too long to wait, as she had to go to visit another former classmate a little outside of Beijing and we would be heading off to see The Great Wall of China. And so, to round things off, we all went down to the hotel’s restaurant to get stuck into a tasty breakfast as the morning sun shone in on our beans, mushrooms and tomatoes.

[Haven attempts the full English breakfast...and likes it!]

With full tums, and with day bags packed, we left the hotel with Haven, accompanying her back to the metro, though she suddenly decided she wanted to go down so-and-so street because it was known to be an interesting one for shops. And so we said a fond goodbye. Then we realised that we still had plenty of time before our train went, so we waited five minutes, then went back to the hotel to check that nothing untoward had happened. And it hadn’t, so NOW we were satisfied! Haven, you have restored our faith in the Chinese people to approach strange Englishmen for nothing more than friendship! Yes, we were a bit suspicious of your happy-go-lucky approach to finding accommodation for the night, but at the end of the day you’re a just a free spirit who wants to have fun, meet new people and learn all about different cultures. Cheers, hon!

Trains to the Great Wall go from Beijing North Station, which was a new one to add to our tally. The most famous part of the wall, i.e. the part that’s the most restored, is at a small place up in the mountains called Badaling. This is where you go if you’re only going to see one part of the wall. Our hotel ran tours to see the bit at Badaling, as well as some of the parts that are dilapidated. We did have an interest in seeing these too, but it meant a 7 – 5 day with the chance of being driven to places where the guilt trip is applied to buy something, and we didn’t fancy it. Nope, we’d be masters of our own destinies and simply hop on the train to Badaling.

The train journey takes about an hour and 20 minutes and it was refreshing to sit where we liked, not mess about with reserving a specific seat and having to show your ticket every five minutes. Like all Chinese trains, this one was clean, warm enough, and by Mao did it have loads and loads of legroom! Never before have I been able to sit on a train and stretch my legs out completely without coming into contact with the chair in front! The journey contained some cracking scenery too. Once we’d left the suburbs of Beijing we were straight up into the mountains and surrounded by the snowy remains of the recent blizzard. The guidebook said to allow a drop of five degrees between Beijing and Badaling and I was wearing one layer of clothing for every degree of droppage. 

[Main aim of this pic is to demonstrate legroom, not to embarrass my brother.]

Like all Chinese trains, ours pulled into Badaling station bang on time. We’d seen glimpses of the wall through the window, but there it was in the distance in all its glory! The 800 metre walk to the entrance wasn’t too taxing and we always knew there were going to be plenty of people, despite it not being the weekend. After buying our tickets for 45 yuan, we had the choice of turning left to the south part of the wall, or right to the northern section. Everyone seemed to be turning right, probably because left was straight into the blazing sun, so we decided to put up with the crowds and go right. 

So, a bit about the Great Wall of China - it was built over 2,000 years ago by the first emperor, him of the Qin dynasty, who united the previous warring states and wanted to keep out the enemies of the newly-formed nation. And by all accounts it did a pretty good job as well, although within China itself there was plenty of chaos and fighting. Even though the part I was walking upon was fairly recently restored, it was still an awe-inspiring feeling to imagine how extensive this piece of construction was. Curving across the mountains it went, completely out of sight in either direction. I’m not sure if it’s true that you really can see it from space though! And boy was it steep to climb in places! I would say that I am not currently as fit as I am back home, but it’s not as if we don’t put in the mileage and shoe leather on this trip. However, I was panting and gasping for breath on many occasions, and glad of the handrails! Going down was okay, but pretty tough on the knees. Still, none of this hardship could detract from such a spectacular sight, it really was truly amazing to be there.

[For those even less fit than me!]

You can get so far on the north part of the wall before it is blocked off and you have to turn back. The authorities wouldn’t want people trekking miles along the wall, forgetting where they are and getting caught out after nightfall, would they? Plus it’s less for them to have to maintain. The crowds were a little bit annoying, but only when the walkway became narrow and people had to shuffle along together. Goodness knows how the guards managed to patrol up and down on a daily basis back in the day – they must have been super fit! But we still had some energy left come 15:45 when we returned to the north wall-south wall crossroads. The next train was at 16:21, the one after that 17:39. If we opted for the first one then we’d have to leave at that moment. The sun was a bit lower in the sky and not as blinding, so we opted for the second train.

We definitely made the right choice. The south side was pretty much deserted, save for the odd couple of people here and there. For most of our trek we had whole sections of the wall to ourselves! Not that it wasn’t any less steep, and the views weren’t quite as dramatic (but still dramatic enough), though not having to push past slow-moving people was a huge bonus. There are few things in this world that genuinely deserve to be described as “awesome”, but for me the view from the Great Wall of China is one of them.

[The finest view I have ever had from a public restroom.] 

We arrived at the end of the southern section just as the sun was about to go down behind the mountains. It was about a 30 minute walk to get back, but we knew we’d have enough light. By the time we reached the train station it would be dark for the return journey to Beijing, but chances are we’d nod off from all the afternoon’s exertion and wouldn’t miss the scenery anyway. A great day – first Haven’s honesty, then the Great Wall’s history – China just gets better and better! 

And finally, a word for my sponsors…