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Tag: Great Wall

Great Wall

by on Dec.14, 2009, under China

Simatai

The Great Wall is the single most touristy thing someone could do when in China. I tried my hardest to make it more intrepid, and I feel I succeeded. My hostel was trying to get us to book with them, but their trip involved a huge bus, food, and worst of all going to Badaling. This is the the most boring and crowded section of the wall, not to mention it would have cost almost $100 USD per person.

My friend Ewa from the hostel told us about another way to get there. This involved first going to the Dongzhimen long-distance bus station (located right off the Dongzhimen metro station). When we got off the subway, there was a Chinese woman waiting for people who wanted to go to the Wall. She showed us to the public 980 bus, which costs 14rmb to go to from the city limits to Miyun. She gave me a card and said her friend would be waiting for us at the Miyun Tai Yang bus stop and he’d take us to Simatai for cheap. I didn’t ask how much because I knew I’d do better to bargain with him.

An hour and 20 minutes later, we were rudely woken up to the shrills of a man screaming we had arrived at Miyun. When we got off we were immediately bombarded by touts, yet thankfully we found our man. Like most people in China, he didn’t speak a word of English, so I had to test my skills. He immediately started off with 70rmb a person each way. I told him his friend said it’d be cheap and I knew 70 was a ripoff. He said fine, 65. Then I said I was Chinese, not a tourist. He said it was really far from where we were and gas was expensive. Since I live here, I know he was lying, so I told him I liked him and didn’t want to screw around, and I only wanted to pay 30 per person each way.

Thinking he was slick and I would fold (he didn’t know he was dealing with a Jewish person), he went to 60. I told him there were many other people standing there who would give it to me for less, and he said none of them had a van for all 5 of us, but went to 55. I finally said the hostel would have been easier, but I chose this method because I thought it’d be cheaper, so he agreed to 45 per person each way. Total negotiation time took 6 minutes, and I know this because Melba timed it.

Another hour and 20 minutes later, we were at Simatai. We exited the van and he presented us with the entrance tickets, valued at 40rmb each. This guy seemed really nice and was on the ball with these things, so we were happy with our choice.

Map

Alfred and Emma took the cable car up for 30rmb and started hiking to the west, while Richard, Melba, and I hiked up the mountain and started heading east to meet up with them. We were expecting to hike up the mountain through a forest, but instead were somewhat disappointed by the cobblestone pathway placed into the side of the mountain. 10 minutes and many stairs later, we reached the first defense post on the east side (if you look at the map you’ll know what I mean). I found Simatai to be absolutely beautiful, and the Wall is an amazing tribute to the ingenuity of Chinese people, although it’s a shame they lost sight of that a long time ago. There are only a few other people at this section of the wall, mostly Chinese people trying to sell travelers drinks and trinkets.

Climbing Higher

We began to descend down towards the number 1 west post because it was beautiful and destroyed. One thing that shocked me about the Great Wall was how thin it was. You’d think it would be very thick, but it wasn’t large enough to told 6 or 7 people across. Another thing was that the sky was a deep blue and there were no clouds in the sky, something very different from the city limits of Beijing. As we climbed higher and higher, it became more difficult to walk. The steps were very narrow and even my average sized feet could barely grasp them. As well, the steps became very tall the further east you go, and without anything to hold onto, it becomes a bit scary.

As we approached the end and the highest point possible, we all sat down and took a photo. The wind was picking up, and the clouds were moving so fast, it felt like a fairy tale. As a species, humans are so accustomed to the sounds of electronics in their ears at all times, so that being in a place like this with absolutely no sound in your ears besides that of the wind is quite freaky.

Top of the Wall

Path of Doom

As if all this wasn’t scary enough with hearing nothing, strong winds, and no railings, our only way down was the “path of doom” as I like to call it. It cost about 30rmb for a one way ride, and I’m glad I only took it one way. It was constructed by a Chinese company and was really rickety. I felt as though it could disconnect from the rail and plumet to the rocks below at any moment. The strong winds made it sway to the left and right, and it was a terrifying experience. I was horrified and let my friends know through the faces I made. It was a terrible 15 minute experience I hope to never relive, but all in all the experience of Simatai was amazing and unforgettable.


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Recap

by on Sep.05, 2009, under Daily Life


After such a hectic first half of August, I got to travel with Alfred, Richard, Melba, and Emma. They came over from the states to visit and travel China. I wrote in a previous post where we were going, but for those of you who don’t know or don’t remember, I’ll write it again. They arrived in Hong Kong and took a bus across the border into Shenzhen. They then flew to Guilin to meet me. Immediately upon meeting them, we took a bus to Yangshuo an hour away. In Yangshuo, we rode in a hot air balloon and rode bikes outside of town.

Next we struggled through a 25 hour train journey to Chengdu in which we had to sit the entire way. In Chengdu, we experienced a minority performance and were treated like royalty by the staff at the theater. We played with pandas and raccoons and ate spicy hot pot food. We hiked to the Fuhu Monastery and slept with the monks for a night and got to see their prayer service in the morning. We went to the world’s largest known Buddha at Leshan.

From Chengdu we went to Xi’an, a city filled with terrible pollution much worse than what I experience in Wuhan. It’s so bad that the 5 of us couldn’t breathe after riding rented bikes on top of the old fortress walls (Xi’an is 1 of two cities in China that has a wall still completely intact). In Xi’an, we also saw the Terracotta Warriors, which turned out to be quite boring for me. In Beijing, we went to the Forbidden City (another boring tourist trap) and took a bus three hours north of Beijing to hike up to a little-known and rarely-visited section of the Great Wall called Simatai.

After 16 grueling days of travel, I’m glad to be back in my new apartment. I went to my school and got my schedule and met my students and co-teachers. I’ll be teaching 2nd grade, which means my kids are 7 years old! My school is 3 metro stations south of my apartment, and the metro station is an 8 minute walk from my building. My other option is to ride the public bikes about 25 minutes, which I think is a much better option for my health! I’m excited to be teaching at a public school because it means I can be a real teacher and not just another white face being paid ridiculous amounts of money for no reason. Stay tuned to see what happens next!


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