Got picked up at the hotel this morning for a day trip to Mutianyu, one of the sections of the Great Wall open to visitors. It's about an hour and a half's drive from central Beijing, but in an air-conditioned car the journey's not too bad.
The scene between the car park and the entrance to the Wall lived up to the information in the guide books: both sides of the narrow road dense with stalls selling "I climbed the Great Wall" t-shirts and sundry other nicknacks. "T-shirt one dollar!" is the chant at every stall on the 100 metres to the chair lift that takes you up to the Wall itself.
Once at the top our guide gave us a brief history of the Great Wall and left us to it, promising she'd be back for us in around an hour and a half. She advised us not to take it too fast (it was 35 degrees up there, and must have been 90% humidity). She needn't have bothered -- fast is not possible! I saw many people in apparently better shape than me (honest!) struggling to cope with dehydration, shirts soaked through with sweat. I actually had the insight to stuff a spare t-shirt into my bag, and a bottle of water in both pockets. I could have done with more of both. The moments of relief from the heat came in each watch tower - the breeze through the narrow windows was such a comfort it was hard to get moving again. In the end we only visited five towers out of the eight our guide had recommended, but once you've seen five towers...
The downward journey was much more fun than the chair lift; we took a toboggan! Great fun except for the idiots in front who chose to stop (there's a brake) to take photos, causing everyone behind to have to brake suddenly. They didn't seem to understand my screamed request to get a move on. Maybe I used some expressions that Berlitz don't cover.
The day trip was a pretty good deal: chauffeur from from hotel and back, guide, chair lift, Wall entrance fee, toboggan and pretty good lunch all for RMB530 each.
Tomorrow: flight to Xian.
The scene between the car park and the entrance to the Wall lived up to the information in the guide books: both sides of the narrow road dense with stalls selling "I climbed the Great Wall" t-shirts and sundry other nicknacks. "T-shirt one dollar!" is the chant at every stall on the 100 metres to the chair lift that takes you up to the Wall itself.
Once at the top our guide gave us a brief history of the Great Wall and left us to it, promising she'd be back for us in around an hour and a half. She advised us not to take it too fast (it was 35 degrees up there, and must have been 90% humidity). She needn't have bothered -- fast is not possible! I saw many people in apparently better shape than me (honest!) struggling to cope with dehydration, shirts soaked through with sweat. I actually had the insight to stuff a spare t-shirt into my bag, and a bottle of water in both pockets. I could have done with more of both. The moments of relief from the heat came in each watch tower - the breeze through the narrow windows was such a comfort it was hard to get moving again. In the end we only visited five towers out of the eight our guide had recommended, but once you've seen five towers...
The downward journey was much more fun than the chair lift; we took a toboggan! Great fun except for the idiots in front who chose to stop (there's a brake) to take photos, causing everyone behind to have to brake suddenly. They didn't seem to understand my screamed request to get a move on. Maybe I used some expressions that Berlitz don't cover.
The day trip was a pretty good deal: chauffeur from from hotel and back, guide, chair lift, Wall entrance fee, toboggan and pretty good lunch all for RMB530 each.
Tomorrow: flight to Xian.
