The Great Wall (Beijing)

...for my bluntness and simplicity; The Great Wall does exactly what it says on the tin! Yes it IS a wall! But the word great is there for a reason.) If you approach this unique sight on a similar level as this traveller, you will not enjoy the experience and subsequently you will probably not enjoy my reviewing a wall. However for those still interested, here it comes!

The Great Wall of China! Great indeed! If you look through any guidebooks ...
...information about the Great Wall. It is impossible to go to Beijing and not be able to find one way or another to get yourself to it.

Prior to paying for an expensive trip (and expensive they can be) and to enhance your enjoyment of it, you should ask yourself one question. What kind of traveller are you? There are several sights open for public nowadays and all have different requirements of fitness. The main two are Badaling and ... more

First of all and before I get to my review, I would like to quote one person whom I met on my travels. He said: “It’s just a wall, man!” And frankly, it annoyed me! I just wanted to hit that person. (I didn’t, as I am a very loving person. But pardon me for my bluntness and simplicity; The Great Wall does exactly what it says on the tin! Yes it IS a wall! But the word great is there for a reason.) If you approach this unique sight on a similar level as this traveller, you will not enjoy the experience and subsequently you will probably not enjoy my reviewing a wall. However for those still interested, here it comes!

The Great Wall of China! Great indeed! If you look through any guidebooks available to purchase about China you will find tons of information about the Great Wall. It is impossible to go to Beijing and not be able to find one way or another to get yourself to it.

Prior to paying for an expensive trip (and expensive they can be) and to enhance your enjoyment of it, you should ask yourself one question. What kind of traveller are you? There are several sights open for public nowadays and all have different requirements of fitness. The main two are Badaling and Simatai.

Badaling is the part that has been in operation as a tourist attraction for longest. The Chinese government has spent millions on cosmetic enhancements both for safety and visitor satisfaction. We all have some sort of image of the Wall in our head and it could prove very disappointing for some to discover that the attraction that they have paid so much for is in fact a heap of crumbling rocks. Stretches of the Wall have been resurrected and railings have been added to parts of Badaling to make sure that it can comfortably host thousands of tourists on daily basis. It is very popular and most trips organized from abroad will therefore take you to Badaling, making it even more commercialised and you have to approach it as such. The majority of organized trips from Beijing will include only the price of transport and entrance fee. There are restaurants available to make sure you don’t go home starving, stalls to sell light refreshments, hawkers to sell you postcards, trinkets and bits of the wall and even KFC for those who can’t abide Chinese cuisine. I would recommend this part of the Wall to families and people who like to travel in some sort of comfort. There is even a cable car for those who don’t want to or can’t do much hiking. We haven’t particularly warmed to the idea of going to Badaling as the asking price of Y300 (£20) per person for an organized trip just wasn’t in our budget. Not that I would want to skimp on anything of such magnitude but the money just wasn’t there (after 7 months of travelling) to be spent. I have not experienced this part of the wall myself as it wasn’t really the kind of Wall I was after and forking out my last money on an experience that I would not appreciate just isn’t the way I work.

Simatai on the other hand, even though it is changing very rapidly, is still classed as the more adventurous section. It is said that this trip is not for the faint hearted. With slopes without railings and sheer drops not suitable for those who are scared of heights. Also proper shoes are necessary, as you will do some serious hiking there.

Obviously there are stretches of The Wall all around China but travelling on your own (as a foreigner) still doesn’t come recommended. I am not saying that it is not being done, however none of the main guidebooks will support you in doing so. There are two reasons for this. Firstly! Even though most of China is nowadays open to foreign travel, there are still some parts of it that you need a permit to. Unfortunately for us travellers even the Chinese officers don’t really know which parts they are. Equalling in fact – should you be strolling through some more rural parts of China not accompanied by a Chinese person (guide) and the natives wouldn’t like the look of you, you might be escorted out of there by a government officer. This has not happened to me but I wouldn’t want to chance it. And secondly (probably more importantly) – Safety first! All the non-commercialised parts of the Wall are not in a safe state to be climbed. Definitely, not by one person alone! Those parts also do not have insurance, if you get injured climbing one of those don’t even bother asking your insurance company to pay your hospital bill.

When you decide which part of the wall is the most suitable for you half of the job is done. Now you have to decide how to get there.

Buses to Badaling leave on daily bases from Beijing Central Train station (also a bus terminal) and it is enough for you just to hover around there to get several offers to take you to this tourist delight. But observe, calculate and speculate before you shake hands with someone of the street.

It is also possible to get to the Wall on your own by negotiating a rate with a taxi driver or even better hiring a driver for a day. I would still recommend visiting only those parts of the Wall that are mentioned in your guidebook due to the facts that I have listed above. Unfortunately it is still virtually impossible for a foreigner to hire a car outside of Beijing. Especially if you are a tourist! Just forget it! I personally do not blame the Chinese government. The drivers in China break just about all of the logical rules of driving. No matter how good a driver you are in your own country you are no match for the black belt of Shaolin driving school and Mortal Combat driving skills of everyday Chinese Joe. Breaking their driving Chi with your rules would just lead to chaos and most definitely a car crash.

Probably the easiest way of visiting the Wall is to join an organized trip from a hotel or a hostel. You do not have to take part in a trip organized by your 5 star hotels that would most definitely cost you a fortune. All the youth hostels do the trips for affordable prices and will have a great variety on offer. The prices vary. (The most expensive being Badaling.) Shop around! You do not have to pay the 300Y a person. We didn’t and enjoyed it all the more.

But enough of facts! As for our adventure:

Lost in the mayhem of collected information and in doubt whether we will ever visit the Wall (also slightly annoyed that we have spent most of our money so soon), we ventured into our hostel’s (Jing Hua Youth Hostel) travel shop. We talked to the travel agent Leo (check the lonely planet) about the different options. After we explained that we were on a tight budget and were looking for a more authentic experience, he offered to take us on of his special trip to the part of the Wall that had been “newly discovered”. To support his sales pitch, he showed us several pictures of his previous expeditions followed by some testimonials of participants, all of which looked just right. Maybe too right! I became sceptical of it as the whole trip for two, including meals and transport came to just about the price of the advertised trip to Badaling for one.
We have been ripped off on our travels before so we approached his offer cautiously, as we have learned that in China nothing is for free. If it weren’t for another couple attending this trip I would probably have said no there and then. After all, he could have been planning to take us to his back garden for all we would have known. It’s not like his little trip was advertised anywhere and so I feared the worst. However there was something about this Leo guy which intrigued. Maybe his enthusiasm? In the end, we conceded that as this was probably our last chance to see the Wall before leaving Beijing, we wouldn’t get a better offer anywhere else. After all, losing this amount of money wouldn’t have been that painful. We decided to go ahead. Looking back, I am really glad that we have trusted Leo! Half the price, twice the experience!

Our day started off with a rocky ride out of heaving Beijing at 8:30 in the morning. The five of us have managed to squeeze into the prepared car and off we went on a three-hour ride to the mountains. After passing the Ming Tombs we just headed higher and higher until we stopped in a little village at the side of a valley. That was our lunch stop. We ate traditional Chinese food in a traditional Chinese house. Great food, great hospitality! The ladies of the house and Leo kept on encouraging us to eat more and more and soon we were to discover why. From the lunch stop it was all by foot.

We started off on an ordinary road which soon turned to a country path and then after crossing several farmyard fields it was all up hill. Our anticipation was very high, as we were all looking forward to see the Wall. We kept on climbing up incredibly steep hills with only bushes and heavy undergrowth to hold on to. It started raining and the ground got really slippery. Soon our shoes, trousers and hands became muddy and our morale sunk a little. The Wall was nowhere to be seen. Occasional dislocated rocks made our climb even harder. However, persevering, our tour guide kept going on and on. For a small Chinese man he moved at incredible speed jumping from rock to rock and we just had to follow. I consider myself quite a fit person and to judge by the speed of our group I was the fittest one there. Despite this, I tried in vain to keep up with Leo but I couldn’t and the others were trailing far behind me. We were knackered. Very soon I slumped back into my sceptical mood and regretted to have taken this trip. It got to the point that the thought of conquering another awkward and slippery rock would bring me to tears. And that was the time when sweaty, exhausted and with mud up to my eyeballs I finally caught up with Leo. He stood on a little clearing looking to horizon. Without a word explaining he helped me up to his little rock and pointed to the view that I had been waiting for. All around me, from horizon to horizon, there it was. The Wall!

At that moment I have realized that the incredibly sharp rock that we have been climbing was in fact the Wall. And that was just the start of our three-hour hiking trip. From there on, no one was tired. It was the expectation of something even more spectacular that could unravel around the corner that kept our spirits high. This part of the Wall is one of the oldest, built mainly during the Ming dynasty. Would you believe that the farmers who use the hard rock to repair their houses and to support the fences around their fields are now slowly dismantling it? What a shame! We had to be incredibly careful, as not many of the rocks were steady. But once we reached the little watchtowers and climbed to the top of them, all the anxiety of the unsteady and exhausting climb was gone. We just sat there in silence as we marvelled at the scenery all around us. I kept on thinking of what it would have been like as one of the soldiers posted there thousands of years ago. Lighting the beacon fires to warn the nation of intruding enemies. Or just watching the never-ending ribbon of the Wall outlining the country. The sea of green forests and fields, occasionally giving way to a sky blue river or lake. And the air! The air is something that you really appreciate there, especially after coming from polluted Beijing.

It takes a while for this experience to sink in. There are so many things playing on your feelings, emotions and mood. But suddenly it all comes together and you feel the pride of the Chinese nation. And it is an overwhelming feeling. You can understand why for so long, they felt they were at centre of the world. Protecting, protected, safe! As behind this wall, there sleeps a mighty dragon.

I felt like a little hobbit from the Shire. I bow to the Great Wall and I praise Leo for not letting us down. This was by far the best adventure I have ever had.

Maybe I am a dreamer. But dreams are just a first step to adventure.

Trying to sum up the Great Wall in words would be doing it a great injustice, so I will stop here. You have to see it for yourself!

Until next time….enjoy!
 

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