The Great Birthday

Today was the greatest birthday ever!  Before we even left China I told Darren that I wanted to spend my birthday on the Great Wall (since we were going to be in the area anyway).  Though it may sound a little cliche, the Great Wall has always been one of those things high up on "my list".  I've always wanted to see it and knew that when I finally did, it would be amazing... and it was!  Blue skies in Beijing are rare, and to have two in a row was a blessing.  Mind you, as per the rules of nature, it never rains on my birthday (*knock on wood), so I knew that that wouldn't be an issue, but I never dreamed we would have such clear skies.

Our day started early.  We booked a tour through our hostel, called the "Secret Tour", and our bus/minivan left at seven thirty.  (Before we left, one of the girls, Sophie, from the front desk, who is the sweetest, happiest person you'll ever meet, gave me a melon and told me she wished me a "sweet" day.)  We drove for three hours, without air conditioning, and it was hot, which didn't help the general sense of fatigue.  Our driver seemed as tired, if not more so, than I was--I think he had just finished a night shift driving a bus--and he kept hitting himself on the head and making loud yawn-like noises, and he spent the entire drive singing, seemingly to keep himself awake.  At one point, Darren said the driver seemed barely able to keep his eyes open he was so sleepy, which could account for his inability to keep the van running properly.  He would stall just before any sort of bump in the road, and it there were a few times I worried that he wouldn't be able to get the van started again.  The drive was long (but after that train ride, seemed like a breeze) and we passed the two-three major tourist sights for the Wall and they were packed.  All you could see were masses of brightly coloured hats moving along the giant stone steps (you see, the tour groups here all comically wear the same coloured hats and/or t-shirts in order to identify themselves, so you always see masses of people in red, yellow, blue, etc. baseball hats following a similarly coloured flag and a megaphone).  So we drove past these few busy sights, not sorry that we were because it didn't seem all that enjoyable, and stopped in a small village at a playground to pick up our itty bitty tour guide.  This woman we 79 years old, and apparently does this tour every single day!  She was easily under 5 feet tall, and was wearing these polyester (?) blue pants (the kind that old women wear), and a blazer... it was over 30 degrees out!  Anyway, we drove five minutes further, just past the village, and were dropped off at the mouth of these hardly discernable trail through the dry bushes.

 

It was about a 45 minutes trek up through the hills to get to the actual wall.  There were only seven people in our tour group, two of which were an older Belgium couple so we took our time and went fairly slow to start.  Our guide was adoreable and gave the other woman, who must've been ten-twenty years younger, her walking stick, and would randomly stop and grab branches to turn into more walking sticks for herself and the older man as well.  She would also make sure to give ample time for everyone to rest, in the most convenient places (under trees, wherever there was a decent rock to sit on), and at one point she even pointed out a place for the women in the group to stop and take a pee.  She didn't speak English, so she just pointed to the large rock, sort of gestured around it, then squatted and made a whishing noise while gesturing the flow of pee with her hands... it was extremely amusing, and none of the men understood what she meant.  Eventually, but surely, we reached the mouth of the wall, and it was rubble.

The whole appeal of the "Secret Wall" is that little/none of it (supposedly) is restored.  It is supposed to be a truely authentic experience, with the original and authentic wall, and for the most part, I totally believe that it is.  Compared to the parts of the wall that we saw on our drive up, our hike was completely different.  You rarely found a piece of stone in one piece, and there were loose pieces of stone everywhere.  For the most part, I believe that what we walked on was the foundation of the wall, most of it seemed eroded away.  There were a few parts where I think some reconstruction has taken place, but most of it seems fairly untouched.  At one point, we had to take a small detour off the wall because the wall was too eroded to walk on in some areas.  It was amazing, slightly strenuous, but wonderful.  Even though it was fairly hot out, once you got onto the wall, there was a nice, refreshing breeze which helped combat the sun (though my shoulders might tell otherwise).

The level of tourism/influence of tourism was also minimal, especially in comparison to some of the other hikes.  We were the only tourists on the wall at that time, we didn't encounter anyone but the people in our group, and the one salesman at the only pit stop on the wall.  At the peak of one of the stretches was a man selling water, cookies, and cold beer, along with some souvenirs.  (We didn't buy anything since the prices at these places are usually jacked), but that was the extreme of our commercialisation.  At the other sections we passed on the way up, there were endless stores and shops selling who knows what!  It was so nice to be so secluded and unbothered by the mass commercialization we run into constantly (as a side note, for example, there is a woman at one of the shops down the lane from our hostel who calls out "Hey Lady" every single time I pass her, which I do sometimes six or seven times a day).

After the hike, which took about three hours or so, our guide brought us back down into the village where a local family prepared lunch for us.  It was excellent, there was rice (of course), two types of sauteed lettuce/greens, some sauteed greens with beef, some sort of dumpling, a chicken stir fry, and sauteed onions, all included in our tour package.  Needless to say, (with five guys and only two women) our group had worked up quite an appetite.  There was also a slew of icy cold beverages on the table (for an extra charge, but very reasonable price) which was more than welcome.  Normally, drinks (beer for instance) is only sort of cold, but these were actually cold, the water was even a little frozen.

With our bellies full, and our thirst quenched, we made the drive back to Beijing (which I slept through as much as I could); after which, we got cleaned up and took a nap.  Later, Darren and I met up with Nan to go out for dinner at a Schezuan restaurant (a fancier one this time).  The food was amazing.  Darren and I tried catfish for the first time and it was pretty good.  It was nice because even though there are bones, the bones are larger, so it's not like carp where you're constantly spitting the damn little things out.  The dish was massive though, way bigger than we had anticipated, and there was way more food than we could finish.  We also had a great mushroom dish... apparently they're called tea mushrooms, and they were unlike any mushroom I've ever had.  They weren't as soft as regular ones, and were almost meaty.  It was all around an excellent meal.

(Mushrooms)(Catfish)

After dinner, we came back to the hostel, and met with Nathalie and Shiri (two Israeli girls we met in Suzhou).  We headed down the lane to Sakura (the local, popular ex-pat joint) for a little cake.  Nathalie and Shiri were super sweet and bought me some cheesecake from a secret little bakery in town, and Nan also bought me a giant (though he said it was small) chocolate fruit-like cake which was delicious.  (I know, I'm spoiled.)  On our way to Sakura though, Sophie (again, from our hostel) ran into us and stopped to give me a present.  She bought me a watch for my birthday.  The best hostel receptionist ever.  I will never forget her.

We ended the evening with mass amounts of cake and a couple drinks.  It was the Great Birthday (get it? the Great Wall?).  It really was excellent, and I'm so grateful to have had so many people make it such a wonderful day.  Even though we're so far away from home and all our friends, it hardly felt like it surrounded by so many special people.  Never had I anticipated that I could fly across the globe and still have so many people to celebrate with.  I guess the girls at the hotel made a note on the calendar because all day the staff have been wishing me a happy birthday.  It really has been such a wonderful day, and I couldn't have asked for more.

It's off to Luoyang next, the Buddhist grottoes and the Shaolin temple.  Happy birthday Aislinn (yay, you're actually 12), and I hope everyone is well!