The Great Wall

I went down to the hotel restaurant for the complimentary breakfast at around 7:30 AM. They had a huge assortment of western foods, including cereal, yogurt, fruit, eggs, croissants, and good coffee. By 8:00 AM, we were boarding the bus and beginning our trek to the Great Wall. There are different sections of the Wall open to visitors—apparently, most of the tourists go to a particular section about 45 miles outside the City. We were going to a more remote and less visited section about 60 miles away.

The weather was clearing up (though still overcast), and it was a nice drive out. We had a good chance to see Beijing and its suburbs. Just when you thought you'd reached the city's edge and were “out in the country”, you’d come upon yet another parade of 18-story apartment buildings or a textile factory or a nuclear power plant. During the last half hour of the drive, the scenery became hilly, and by the time we reached Mutianyu, we were actually in the mountains. After leaving the bus, we had to run through a gauntlet of aggressive hawkers selling everything from dried fruit to kitschy watches with Chairman Mao’s portrait. It is always a little distressing when you start to view fellow human beings as pigeons or annoying gnats to be shooed away, but that's really how it started to feel after about 300 feet of hearing "HELLO HELLO HELLO POSTCARD! T-SHIRT! WATCHES! COCA COLA! PANDA!". "


When we finally went through the turnstiles, we ascended a steep concrete path with hundreds of stairs winding through the forest up to the base of the wall. The path was crowded with Chinese, American, and European tourists. For those that didn’t want to hike up, there were two aerial tramways that also went up. The rise in elevation was probably less than a thousand feet, but it was a pretty steep ascent.

Once on the wall, we were able to hike a 2 mile restored section. The wall itself follows the ridge, rising and falling hundreds of feet along its course—lots of steps and steep sections, and occasional ramparts. Not surprisingly, in each rampart, there were vendors trying to sell us cokes, postcards, and even beer! It wasn’t too crowded and the foggy damp weather actually made for really pleasant walking and picture taking. While most of us hiked back down, a few people opted for an aluminum toboggan ride that took you to the bottom in a few minutes for about $8 US.

Once we were back on the bus, the itinerary became a little unclear. We ended up in a small village about a mile from the wall where two expatriate westerners greeted us. One (Steve) was the proprietor of a most unusual business enterprise in the village, and the other was his assistant. We were led into a farm-like building and served a delicious meal of noodles and various meats and condiments, still not sure where we were or what we were doing there. After lunch, Steve led us on a hike through the village and over a ridge to a compound of buildings that he owned and operated. He gave us a brief tour and then we headed back into the city.

Steve’s business (The Schoolhouse) is a little hard to describe--essentially, this guy moved from Berkeley to a small village in China 20 years ago to establish a corporate retreat center for Western corporations expanding into the Chinese market. He astutely chose a picturesque village at the base of the Great Wall as the site. In so doing so has given the town a shot in the arm and brought dozens of jobs to peasant farmers. His operation is expanding, and now includes a high-end art gallery and restaurant, several homes for rent, and other high-end second homes that are being sold to wealthy expats. He’s about to start a boutique hotel, which I’m sure will be written up in Conde Nast and probably end up transforming the simple village into Brad and Angelina's next secret getaway. Anyway, it was fascinating to hear his perspectives on China’s rapacious capitalism, business etiquette, and governance.

By the time we got back to Beijing it was almost 5:30. I had the evening free, as I had opted not to go to the Kung Fu performance. What I really wanted to do more than anything was dive into Beijing, as I felt like I had only experienced the city from the window of a bus on a 12-lane expressway.

I left the hotel and found the nearest subway (the entrance is actually underneath a freeway cloverleaf interchange!). I went three stops west to Ti’annamen Square. Since we’re doing the tourist stuff around the Square tomorrow, I headed the other direction into the narrow Hutongs (alleys) that characterize old Beijing. I walked all the way back to the hotel, about three miles, returning around 8 PM. It was a great walk, and I got a much better sense of the City. There are really two cities here, one developed on a monumental scale oriented toward cars, and another developed centuries ago on a fine-grained scale with one and two story buildings along narrow alleys. It was great to find the latter Beijing, and it was so nice to wander through the alleys and see how people actually live here. Well, some people, anyway.

Once I got back to the hotel, I had a nice dinner (Thai banquet) with Bob and Charlotte and then came back to the room. Hard to imagine the trip is now winding down.