Where to start, where to start…today was an exciting day for two reasons. The first was that I got to see blue sky and the sun for the first time in almost a week. I was actually shocked. What’s funny is that there are just as many umbrellas out when it’s sunny as when it’s raining. It’s like these people go without real sunlight for so long that they can’t stand being in it for a day.
The other reason why today was exciting was our trip to the Great Wall (changcheng-literally, long wall). We went to go see the part in Hauirdu (I think) which is said to have some of the best preserved sites. This particular section was built during the early Ming dynasty (1368-1466 A.D).
When I try to tell you it was a straight uphill climb to get to the wall, I mean it. You probably wouldn’t believe me unless you’ve done mountaineering of any sort or have been there yourself. It’s build right along the mountain ridge so you have to go up the face of mountain to get there. They sure didn’t make it easy; we were huffing and puffing like old asthmatic people in the high temperature and humidity (and I’m not that far out of shape!). Still, it was worth it.
It was just like what I’d imagined really. Minus the mobile stands selling hugely overpriced water and drinks under an umbrella. There was a story when I was younger that I loved having read to me. It was called The Seven Chinese Brothers. My parents hated reading it to me since it was fairly long as children books go, but seven identical Chinese brothers with special abilities get in trouble with the Emperor because they secretly helped the laborers building the Great Wall. He was afraid of their power (though he thought it was only one super-powered brother) and tried to execute him/them. Ect., ect., they escape and thwart his evil plans. It’s a great book and you should get it for your kids.
The point of that long tangent was the pictures in the book were exactly like what it really looked like. Real life was better than water color though. There’s a bunch photos so eventually I’ll put them somewhere viewable. It’s very impressive. The mountains in the background are not like any I’m used to. I’ve seen and been to the Colorado’s Rocky mountains, the Catskills, the Adirondacks, and Kaui’s mountains. If I had to compare the mountains in this part of China to anything, I’d say they were most like the cliffs of Kaui-mountains that look like their covered in lush green moss.
There was a gondola that you could ride up and/or down for 35 yuan (about 8 dollars), which we took on the way down. It was a little humbling/aggravating that it took us about 25 minutes to walk straight up and 2 to glide down.
We made some friends with a group of students/young people from Guandong (Canton) while we were up on one section. They really wanted to take a picture with us so we obliged…and it turned into something like taking pictures from 5 different cameras (at least two of them belong to us so I guess I can’t complain). Still, they were fun. People seem to make us into mini celebrities here. I can’t imagine what Yantai will be like since they get far fewer tourists than Beijing does.
The G.W was about an hour drive away from Beida. We took a van(ish) vehicle. Once we got out of the city we went through a bunch of agricultural land and that was pretty interesting. They do indeed still wear those pointed straw hats. There was also several rural small towns we passed through. I would wave to people sitting at their road side fruit stands to see if they would wave back. One woman was very enthusiastic, heh.
I liked the rural town areas much better than Beijing. Sure there might only be one paved road and houses were vaguely more like huts, but it seems like a much more calm way to live. I don’t think I’d mind living in places like that.
I understand now why dogs enjoy sticking their heads out of car windows. I too employed such this way of better seeing the surrounding area while we were riding by (flapping ears would have made it even more fun). This might have been way several Chinese who I waved to seemed entertained. Who wants to look at stuff through an opaque window? I did, however, pull my head in whenever a large truck was oncoming or we went through trees. I wanted to keep it; I might still find some uses for it.
A brief word on Chinese driving. If you were to judge the road conditions according to what Americans think are normal, Chinese roads would rank a, “Dear God, we’re going to [beeeep] die!!!! Ahhh!!!” Turn signals seem nonexistent and I’m not sure if drivers even look before they change lanes. They enjoy their horns too. People honk when someone merges into them, when they pass a bike or another car, or just because…any situation seems to call for the horn. But none of them seem at all phased by anything so I guess that’s normal. It might even be normal for most of the world and we Americans are the weird ones.
There were tons and tons of fruit stands on the side of the road once we got far enough into some different counties. Probably because they had fruit orchards everywhere. One was similar to the two apple picking areas I’ve seen-you go in and pick things right off the tree/vines. Most of the fruit looks mostly familiar but there is a melon or two that definitely look a little strange.
There was something else a little bit odd I found on the roads in the rural parts. They dry grain on the road. You can only drive on one side of the road because they use parts of the other side to dry this stuff. I tried to ask the driver what it was since everyone was sleeping but he could only tell me the Chinese name and that they eat it, which didn’t really help me understand what it was, though I think its grain. It looked like some sort of yellowish grain or millet. They’d be there, walking in their grain patch, raking. Both sides of the road were used for this stuff, though there always seemed to be just enough space for the car to manage if two had to share one side.
My final observation for today. Street vendors are like vultures. There was a row of many small stalls before the ticket booth and entrance to the G.W. Walking through there was like being Princess Jasmine going through the bazaar for her first time. “Lady, Lady! Buy a T-shirt? Good souvenir.” or “You look yah? Very cheap.” They would descend on you if you even glanced in the direction of their wares and with good reason. They all sold the same stuff so they had to be loud and pushy to get your attention. If you moved in their direction at all they would drop whatever they were doing to get you to buy something. Some even tried to stand in your way of leaving. People with a weaker constitution can easily be overwhelmed.
I found it all very entertaining. For my first purchase I paid a little too much, but I got better at the bargaining game as time went on. I couldn’t help but wonder how many foreign tourists come in and are the Chinese equivalent of a gringo-paying the first price they name. Probably too many judging by from how high they start the game. I can’t wait to do it again. And spending money? That’s just an added benefit.
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