We got up at around 6:30 or 7AM. Today was our day to visit the Great Wall. After getting ready we took a cab to Tiananmen’s Square. There were plenty of people there wishing to sell you a ride to the Wall. We got on a bus and waited. Chris later found that the bus wasn’t getting back until 6PM, too late for me to catch my plane back to Shanghai at 6:30PM. So we left the bus.
A man on the street asked if we wanted a ride to the Great Wall. He put us on a cab with a driver that didn’t speak English. He drove us to another part of the city. They were going to put us on a bus, but we said we needed to be back by mid-afternoon. They told the driver to take us to the Wall.
Chinese highways are much like the U.S. Interstate system. They have exits with gas stations on them. At one point in the journey we got caught up in a traffic jam in Beijing. I would imagine the city is known for traffic jams since this is the 2nd one we came to in our stay. We waved at some Americans in a tour bus along the way.
We drove up in the mountains. We stopped to get some gas. We past by what was a construction site for a Chinese Disneyland…complete with a castle.
We saw the Wall from the highway. It was spectacular. We got off at Badaling. We bought our tickets….one to the Great Wall, the other for an Alpine slide. We rode up to the Great Wall on the side.
I cannot express in words how spectacular the Great Wall was. I felt like Richard Nixon during his 1972 visit to Beijing. You could tell the Wall had been rebuilt. It was a rough climb during parts of the wall. At steep sides there were steps. During some of the more gentle slopes, there were no steps. I paused and took several pictures. Chris and I got separated and I got some other tourists to take my picture.Great Wall
Throughout the wall, there were several gift stands. Everytime I walked by these people, they would say “Hello, Hello, Look, Look!” It got to be very annoying after a while. I told them I wasn’t interested each time I went by, but they didn’t get the point. I noticed on the wall you could get your picture made on the back of a Yak.
After a few hours at the wall, Chris and I decided we had had enough, so we got on the alpine slide to go down the hill.
I paused to buy a shirt for 8 Yuan. The shirt was made of cheap material and said “I climbed the Great Wall.”
On the way back our driver asked if we wanted lunch. Chris said yes, so he took us to what seemed to be a real backwoods area. The people there seated us in a separate room.
It was at this point that Chris and I got into a big argument. Throughout the trip to Beijing, I was a bit nervous. Everytime I would mention that I didn’t think I had enough money to get back or that I was nervous about missing my plane, Chris would yell at me. Chris had been in Taiwan since September ’99, while I had been here in China for 7 days. Everytime I seemed a bit anxious about the situation, Chris would yell at me for no reason. Looking back at it, I think I really shouldn’t have taken it. Chris had no right to yell at me. He was always threatening to leave me on the side of the road in Beijing and letting me find my way home. I thought it was best to keep my mouth shut until I made it back to Shanghai. Chris was mad at me for not eating. I told him that I thought the place was a dive and unsanitary.
We were charged 498 Yuan – about $40 for the meal. Afterwards we thought that we were taken for a ride at the restaurant. We should have refused to pay such a high price. I have a feeling our cab driver was in on this scam. He is the one who suggested this restaurant. He was probably getting kickbacks for driving rich American tourists here.
Then we went to the Ming Tomb. I was unimpressed by it. There was stone carved furniture. People were throwing money inside of the glass cases which contained the furniture. After a short time we decided to go back. Our driver took us back to the street outside of the hostel. Chris told me to wait in the lobby while he tried to find an ATM or bank of China. After several minute he returned. He hadn’t found a bank of China. I needed to leave the hostel by 4:30PM in order to make to the airport an hour before my flight at 6:25PM.
He got back at around 3:45PM. He invited me to come with him while he continued to search for a Bank of China. We took a taxi to downtown China. I saw a McDonald’s. Chris said that I could go in there to eat because the stuff they would serve on the plane would be Chinese food. I went in and got a cheeseburger and Fanta. Chris showed up a few minutes later and got a chocolate Sundae.
We got a taxi back to the hostel so that I could get my stuff and go to the airport. From the hostel Chris hailed a taxi. I was a bit nervous about getting back to the airport….not having enough money to pay the driver, etc. It was a long ride to the airport. During the long drive it seemed the driver was driving really slow compared to the other drivers. I saw what looked like a presidential procession with black limousines.
I got to the airport and checked in. It was relatively easy to find my gate. I had to pay the domestic airline tax of 50 YUAN.
I got to my gate and waited. It seemed like it was getting really late. I started talking to a westerner. It was a guy from Holland who was a worker for a textile company. He was on a business trip to Beijing. He was on the same flight I was on. I made small talk with him while we waited. Finally after a long time, they called for the flight at 7:15PM (a full 45 minutes late).
I got on the tram to go to the flight. The plane was huge; about as big as an international flight.
A guy came in and sat next to me. I found he spoke English pretty well. We made small talk about Chinese geography. He showed me a picture in the Chinese newspaper about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s trip to Beijing for the Special Olympics.
The flight lasted 2 hours. I got out and the guy who was sitting next to me asked if I had a ride home. I said I would try to hail a cab. He noticed I was having trouble getting a cab, so he told me to come over where he was at. He hailed a cab and both me and him got on it. He said that where I was going was near the airport and that he would have the taxi driver take me there. We got there and I tried to give him money, but he refused. This is another example of Chinese kindness.
I got back and went up to Mark’s room. I had left my stuff up there. While I was there I packed and talked with Mark. He seemed pretty tired.
I went back to my room at around 11PM or midnight. I had to get up at 4:30AM in order to leave by 5:30PM. My flight was at 8:45AM, but we had to get there 2 hours before due to it being an international flight.