My Dream Day

Tuesday 15 August

The skies were grey but the sun was shining - our leader said it would be fine and warm today. We set off about 08.00 in our coach for a journey of over two hours to reach my goal – the Great Wall of China. When we started arranging this trip, my aim was to stand on the Wall on my birthday. Our chosen itinerary would not allow us to wait a further two weeks – so here we are today.

The spot chosen for this monumentous occasion is Mutianyu. We passed through leafy green countryside outside of Beijing (it takes an age to actually leave Beijing behind, it’s so sprawling) with lots of orchards and chestnut trees and fields of sweet corn and vegetables – all organic we were told. There were many holiday settlements as we got near our destination, with lots of building still taking place. Apparently Beijingers come out this way for a weekend break.

We arrived at the point at the base of the climb and were immediately enveloped by hundreds of street traders, all wanting to sell us T-shirts, hats, post cards and souvenirs – “3 for a dollar” – how do they make and print three T-shirts for 50p? We finally escaped, had the obligatory visit to the loo – we’re back to those awful holes in the ground again – and then to the cable car, to take us to the start of our climb. The small orange cars swung slowly round the carousel and we got on whilst it was still moving – just like the London Eye really. But then, it went through a beam and the doors banged shut and whoosh, it swung off at great speed upwards, just like a plane (for those who go skiing this is probably the norm, but I haven’t done that - - - yet). We flew up a few hundred feet through the trees to the landing stage – and there we were – at the base of the wall. We were given two hours to explore. By this time the sun was shining overhead and the temperature was easily in the mid 30’s – a bit warm for a strenuous climb – but what am I here for?

The path on the wall is quite wide – four people could easily walk abreast – but it undulates all the way – up steps and down slopes, steps narrow and high, shallow and flat, slopes steep and gentle – you are not able to get into a rhythm. We reached the first guard post eager for a bit of shade, and after a few gasps to get our breath, we traveled onward and generally upward. At times it was extremely steep and those of you who know me, know that going up stairs is enough to puff me out! But I was determined to reach the topmost point we could go. The last stretch of steps is a long haul and we could see it beckoning in the distance, getting nearer and nearer. At the final lookout point before the top, we climbed a rusty ladder to reach the last climb. There must have been over a hundred steps up, but the last twenty are very big and we had to “monkey” climb in order to get to the top. But what a panorama – up there among the mountains, covered in green forests with cicadas chirping loudly in the background and just a couple of other people. It was amazing. The sun was still extremely hot – the phrase “Mad dogs and Englishmen” sprang to mind. But I had made it.

Colin had stopped halfway up – he still has a terrible cold (picked up on the train) and he decided that he would prefer to be the official photographer. So I had climbed up with Avril and John. When I looked down from the parapet to where he was waiting, he was in miniature. But I waved and he says he took some piccys– so when we’ve downloaded them I will post some on the blog – hopefully tomorrow.

Getting down from the dizzy heights, back to the allotted picnic spot, was much quicker, but still quite treacherous – some of the slabs are very damp and slippery. We arrived exactly on time and to celebrate our achievement (along with several other members of the party) we were given champagne as well as lunch. Sitting in the shade of a tree, munching sarnies and salad, we looked up to where we had climbed and it looked a bloomin’ long way!

After another ride in the cable car, and beating our way through even more traders, desperate for us to spend our dollars, we went to a “Cloisonne” factory where they make vases, jewellery and a lot of “dust collectors” from copper. We saw young girls pasting minute pieces of copper wire to vases with rice glue, and then adding the enamel paint and polishing it till smooth and shiny – for which they are paid by the number of items they make – some vases take a week just to stick on the wire! The vases look similar to those we see in our shops (and Colin spied a web address as he was going in) – they are the ones that look like Moorcroft but cost a fraction of the price! I bought some chopsticks, a frog and a bracelet as souvenirs of my visit to Beijing – they seem to do fridge magnets here.

On tours like this there’s always someone you have to wait for, and here it is the Trinidadian family – always last back to the coach, or someone is dispatched to find them. Time keeping is not their strongest point. Today they had to be fetched after the Wall and more than twenty minutes behind everyone else at the factory – and did not seem to have bought any more. Harry the Dad reminds me of Patrick on East Enders – to a tee.

When we got back to the hotel, Colin was feeling exhausted, so he had forty winks (it was about forty minutes) and I went for a swim. The hotel itself is fine, quite functional, and that is how I would describe the pool. Though it was colder than I expected when I got in – as I was the only person there, perhaps that should have told me something. There was a large Jacuzzi bubbling away all the time which was very warm, so ten minutes to unfreeze at the end and I was feeling quite refreshed.

Tonight we were on our own – Lei was going out with friends. We decided to go downtown and find some food, although not all the party were going to be so adventurous – June was hoping she would find some English food in the hotel or nearby – there is a Maccy Ds about 50 yards up the road! We hailed a cab and showing him a card with the Chinese for Wangfujing Street, we just hoped we would get there in one piece. The traffic in Beijing is nowhere near as mad as that in Russia or Mongolia (particularly St Petersburg and Ulan Bataar). As a pedestrian you need to be aware of cycles as they don’t stop for any lights, but the cars and buses do try to miss you on the zebra crossings.

We arrived at our destination where there are lots of designer shops with familiar names. After strolling around for half an hour or so, we found a “Dumpling” restaurant and ventured in. Luckily the menu was in English as well as Chinese. We chose sweet and sour radishes and a potato and ham salad as a sort of starter – it does appear first, but the rest of the food arrives before you’ve eaten it – followed by some beef and chilli fried dumplings and chicken and mushroom steamed dumplings. With soy sauce. We couldn’t finish it all, but were quite amused that a Chinese man on the table next to us had a large tureen of soup and a small bowl of a different soup, and three plates of dumplings to himself. There were fifteen dumplings in each portion!!!! But he slurped and chomped his way through all the soup and about half of the dumplings. While we were there one of the girls pushed the wrong button and the lights went out – and then the fuse box flashed. As we left, customers were helping staff to rectify the problem!

I was a very expensive date for Colin tonight – the return cab fares, the food and two large bottles of beer came to less than 10 pounds GBP. Perhaps he’ll take me out again!

Today has been fabulous for me. I have long wanted to stand on the Wall, and still can’t quite believe I have done it. Although this is now only a tiny part of our journey, it was the point of coming all this way and has been the pinnacle of the trip so far for me.
Have a lay in tomorrow as we are not out until 09.30, so going to have an early night and catch up on some sleep (most nights its after midnight by the time I have written the blog). Colin is already zzzzzing so think I will join him.