Me and Julio Up On The Great Wall

Caveat emptor: this post about climbing on the Great Wall of China is mainly not about climbing the Great Wall, so save your money and leave before the high-pressure sales pitch starts. You'll see what I mean later.

Let's start at the beginning: Great Wall tours can range in price from 150 yuan to 500 or more. Mostly, they are full-day tours, but there's no real reason for this, since one well-restored section is less than an hour from central Beijing, and three other popular sections are an hour and a half away. When I visited Tiananmen Square, numerous mosquitos and tour guides harangued me, and some of them stuck business cards in my pocket.

So we used one of those cards to arrange my GWOC trip--200 yuan for Ming Tombs and a section of the Wall called JuYongGuan, departing at 8:30 from the corner across the street from TB's flat. I was tempted by a similar package, a little more expensive, involving a cable car ride instead of any climbing, but it left an hour earlier. (I opt for sleeping in whenever possible.)

About ten minutes late--I'm starting to wonder if I missed the bus, so to speak--a cute young woman approaches me, and leads me to our Mercedes mini-van, in which there is one other passenger/tourist, who is the spitting image, practically, of Brittain Lawson. If you don't know who that is, it doesn't matter to the narrative that follows. Actually, it doesn't matter even if you do.

Lem, our tour guide, speaks weak intermediate English, and Julio is Colombian, so English is his second language. However, his English is quite advanced and we are able to converse with ease. I end up doing Engrish-English translation for him as the day goes on.

The success or failure of an experience like this--three people thrown together for a day by essentially random powers--depends on certain intangibles. Fortunately, we hit it off pretty quickly, as it turns out my tour-mate is an engineer working for Exxon-Mobil who extended a business trip to Hong Kong so he could do some sightseeing. His questions were always interesting.

Before we even go to the Ming Tombs, we stop at our first destination: a cloisonne factory, where we see step by step the production process for this traditional Chinese copper pottery. It was interesting, but I didn't take any pictures because I was aaving my batteries for the GWOC. No surprise, after the tour we were led into the showroom, where a massive inventory of moderately overpriced cloisonne was available for purchase.

Our next stop was the famous Ming Tombs--well, a Ming Tomb, anyway. Lem informed us that this site--or series of sites, since the 13 Ming Tombs are spread widely across the valley--came to be after the first two Ming emperors died; the third one (Yongle) moved the capital to Beijing and selected a new tomb location. Feng shui was an important factor in this decision, as a valley oriented to shield the necropolis from evil northern winds was necessary.


The main gate of Emperor Yongle's tomb is now a museum, with a large statue of Yongle in the center. The relics in the displays surrounding him are mainly replicas. Indeed, the only attempt to excavate one of the tombs ended in disaster, as the tomb was found in pristine form but its treasures soon disintegrated due to poor storage techniques in the 1950s.

The photos below show the Emperor's spirit tablet and a stamped brick, which shows its origin and purpose. All things considered, this part of the tour has little to recommend itself, except for hard-core history buffs.



Now it was on to the Great Wall, right? Nope. First we stopped for a tour of a jade factory with its massive showroom, and lunch at an adjacent set menu restaurant. The food was certainly edible, but pales in comparison to the food I'd been eating all week (a post dedicated to food is upcoming). The jade was nice, too, but not at the low, low prices you expect in China.

Well, neither Julio or I are big shoppers, so we asked Lem if we could forgo future shopping side trips, and just get to Juyongguan. Turns out, we could not. The tour company has a contract with these places, and the kickback essentially subsidizes the tour, which is why it was so inexpensive (200 yuan is under USD 30). So we dutifully tromped through the silkworks and pearl showrooms.

All of the showrooms guaranteed the authenticity of their products because they were government facilities. So the Chinese government supports cheap tours to the Great Wall, hoping to make the money back in curio sales.

The section our tour went to was called Juyongguan, as I mentioned, which is the closest stretch to Beijing, but also the steepest and most strenuous. The stairs were very uneven. I would suggest an advertizing theme along the lines of "Juyongguan: No Two Steps the Same!"

So, without any further ado, here are My Pictures From the Great Wall of China:




I bought a Great Wall baseball cap, and we came home. Oh, and the tour guide thought my price on the tour was 150 yuan, which is USD 21. Oh, and also, I wore my PeaceFire tee-shirt, which is an internet free-speech group.

Beijing Hutong Tour

One of the tourist standards, a pedicab tour of the hutong around the Bell and Drum Towers started our Saturday afternoon. But first, some refreshments on the roof of the Bell & Drum Bar I mentioned earlier (that's TB in front of the Bell Tower, and me in front of the Drum Tower). These towers were used to keep time and announce warnings or fires to the populace beginning in 1272, though they have burned down and been rebuilt twice. Reminds me of Bosingak Bell Tower in Seoul.





Here is what the pedicab drivers do while they wait for customers:


Right next door to the bar is a ticket office where you pay a set fee for a forty-five minute hutong tour--hutong, for the uninitiated, are these ancient, walled, winding streets that look incredibly run-down but are actually high-priced dwellings for the elite.





The pedicab got a flat--on Tanner's side, I swear. The repair was made while we went inside a courtyard abode--actually a bed-and-breakfast type of place. Feng shui is important here, so the arrangement of rooms is very particular--eldest son on the west, grandparents on the north-east, etc., around the central courtyard.






That effectively ended the tour, and we spent the next couple of hours exploring shops and hutong on our own.








We eventually came to a really cool, new restaurant deep among the hutong which was a renovated icehouse of the Forbidden City that is located a few blocks south. We didn't eat there, since it was still a bit early, so I can't vouch for the food, but the atmosphere was phenomenal. Named Royal IceHouse Restaurant, it has a website here and a few interpretive displays. Note the bricks stamped with the Emperor's imprematur, which we see at numerous Imperial sites. Groups can even hire the icehouse downstairs to view a movie, if they like.

Beijing Ritan Park

This is the Mural of Ritual Sacrifice to the Sun in Ritan Park, just west of the old Embassy area in eastern Beijing. It is six meters tall and 15 meters long. "On its center is Gold Crow, the god of sun. Flying Asparas, emperors and nobles, as well as their officials and people are around the god to offer their sacrifices, which is a grand ceremony."

The Beijing government has taken great care throughout the whole park, which was built in 1530 for the sacrifice ritual illustrated above. In the north section, there is a large "ritual circle" where today people practice tai chi and fly kites. Nearby is an exercise area--check out the climbing wall, complete with North Face logo.



As charming as this was, we were surprised by the rock and water gardens on the west side of the park. In the background of the bottom right photo, you can see the rock shown at top left.







Past that is the south gate of the park, opening onto the old Embassy area, Jianguomenwai. But the coolest part of the park experience has to be Qinghui Pavilion, which I'm guessing is its highest elevation. The weather was cold, but it was clear and bright, affording awesome views of the CBD, or central business district.






Remember, you should click on photos to see the full-size version!

Panjiayuan Market

Above is just a taste of what's available to you at the Panjiayuan Market in southeast Beijing off the third ring road, where thousands of merchants hawk their wares every weekend. That being said, the atmosphere is quite laid-back, with pressure only being applied once you pick up an item to examine it more closely.

A few rows are devoted to Chinese art from ancient to postmodern, though caveat emptor applies to this as much as antiques, curios or carvings. Still, the final question is, Do I like it?








Price is not as simple a question, as the 1/2 rule may not apply--sometimes, foreigners pay five times the going rate. On the other hand, from an asking price of 120, I bought a trilobite fossil (2 pieces, split) for 50 yuan. As we walk away, Tanner tells me the vendor said, "You got a better price than Chinese people!"

Here are a few more shots to give you an idea of the range and atmosphere. The incredibly handsome man at bottom right is not for sale. The one at left is free, but there were still no takers.