The Wall

Although the Great Wall was visited from Beijing and thus should have been included in that section, we both felt that this day was worth its own blog.

 

Ever since the release of the seminal album by Philip Bailey "Walking on the Chinese wall" I have also wondered what it would be like.  Today we got our chance (for those not old enough to know what I am talking about - google it).

Instead of picking the typical tourist tour we opted for the Secret Wall day trip organised by our hostel in Beijing which promised unrenovated sections and no other tourists.....it did not disappoint.  The bus trip to the wall was nearly 3 hours (should have been 2 but the damn traffic again!) and we passed the more tourist sections of the wall.  From the motorway you could see the thousands of people all climbing the very steep sections.  Our feeling was this was not how we wanted to see the wall.

We eventually arrived at our destination and were dropped in the middle of nowhere where a very old, very small woman wearing a suite and some deck shoes, who spoke no English, met us.  From the gestures of our driver she was to be was our guide for the afternoon.  After the long drive and with only 4 of us on the trip we all needed to use the facilities....except there were none.  The only building for miles around was a small hut which had no roof and no door.  So it soon became clear that this was going to be a back to nature job behind the hut.  We let the other lady go first to allow her some privacy, but our guide, then realising that everyone needed a toilet break, grabbed Emma's hand and proceeded to walk her round to the side of the hut being currently used as a female toilet. Once around the other side the guide stood and watched!

 

Realising this event may happen on our travels I had bought Emma a small present some months ago.  Its called a Sheewee, a device that allows women to pee like a man and keep some dignity.  Emma attempted to use said device but the guide was fascinated by this and kept moving round to get a better look at the bright pink contraption.  Suffice to say stage fright took hold and the deed had to wait until a later time.

The start of our guided walk took us up hill for around 45 minutes through light forest and blossoming tress.  After pretty much all city scenery since our trip began, it was so nice to be out in the countryside and to hear nothing except the sounds of nature (or not in the case of Emma).  As we climbed up we were soon to be presented with this incredible sight of the wall snaking across the hill tops way into the distance.  The first sight of the wall will go on the "most amazing things we have seen" list as number one (so far!).  What it must have taken to build this wall for thousands of miles in the mountains taller than Snowdon......quite astonishing.  On reaching the wall we walked for 4 to 5km along it taking hundreds of pictures, every new corner or new angle presenting ever more incredible views.  And not another person in sight!  This is one thing the Chinese had not over-hyped.  

 

The wall itself, although sold as the unrestored sections, in many parts were still almost as good as new although this would be fragmented by other sections that were fallen down or had fallen into a greater state of disrepair.  Nonetheless it was still incredible that it was over 2000 years old and still standing. 

 

Every so far along the wall were what looked like turrets.  Many of these were in ruins or looked like they were about to collapse, but the final one on our trip along the wall was much larger and looked nearly complete.  As we came nearer we could see a Chinese flag sticking out of the top and a man standing in the doorway wearing military clothes.  As we approached he waved and shouted hello in his best English and he called out to us as we climbed the stairs.  On reaching him we realised he was not military but still could not work out who he was until we entered the turret.....yes, you've guessed it....he had set up a souvenir shop selling junk to tourists!!  Considering we were the only people we saw for 3 hours you have to give him 10/10 for dedication.  I was so impressed with how entrepreneurial he had been I bought a bottle of orange pop from him (well over priced).  As we stood talking to him, we asked him how old the guide was.  We learned that HE was 69 - ow you should have seen the girls faces!  Emma was just glad that he only got a good look at her Shewee!

 

We estimated that we saw over 30km of the wall meandering off into the distant mountains.  We only spent 3 hours on the wall and could have spent days walking and exploring this incredible structure.  As you can imagine we have taken loads of pictures between us and when we get some half decent IT and un-restricted internet we will post the best.

 

Amazing sight and great day.  We always wanted to see it and it definitely did not disappoint.